‘Right to Work’ battle in Wisconsin

Scan page 11

MADISON, Wis.—As many here expected, so-called Right-To-Work legislation has come to Wisconsin. Re­ publicans, who control both houses of the legislature, an­ nounced on Feb. 20 that they would seek to fast-track a Right-To-Work bill over the following two weeks. Gov­ ernor Scott Walker, who had previously called the legisla­ tion a “distraction,” announced that he would sign the bill when it got to his desk.

The introduction of Right-To-Work in Wisconsin follows the same pattern as its passage in Michigan and Indiana in 2012. Both of those states’ governors pretended to be un­ interested in Right-To-Work while they sought to woo the votes of socially conservative white workers, but predict­ ably threw working people under the bus once they were securely in office. “Right-To-Work” is a gross misnomer; the legislation at­ tacks unions by prohibiting so-called “fair share” dues, or slightly lower dues paid by workers in a union shop who aren’t full union members but receive the benefits provid­ ed by the union.

Removing unions’ right to a closed shop divides work­ ers between union and non-union members in the same workplace, weakening the union and making it extremely difficult to organize a strike.

Median wages for workers in states with Right-To-Work laws are almost $6000 a year lower than in states without them.

Anti-bill rallies organized by the AFL-CIO drew 20003000 on Feb. 17 and 18 and about 10,000 on Saturday, Feb. 21. There have also been protests in Milwaukee, Su­ perior, and other cities around the state. Many of those mobilized have been from building trade unions, some of which had strongly supported previous anti-environmental legislation pushed by right-wing legislators and now feel betrayed.

The protests have been significantly smaller than in 2011, when hundreds of thousands flooded the streets of Madison and the state capitol to fight union-busting legis­ lation targeting public workers. That legislation eventually passed and has decimated the membership of the state’s public worker unions and the wages and benefits of public workers here.

The overall tone of the fightback is pessimistic, reflecting the sense of defeat inflicted on workers here since 2011. Rather than electing to call for a general strike at the time, statewide union leaders instead pushed for a recall election to funnel the energy of the uprising into votes for Demo­ crats. The subsequent recall failed to remove Walker from office.

More recently, Walker has openly boasted of defeating massive labor protests, comparing protesters to Islamist terrorists for the benefit of his prospective presidential campaign funders. Private-sector unions could call for a work stoppage to fight the bill, but have so far failed to do so.

The reactionary legislation comes on the heels of the governor’s release of his proposed budget, which deals out serious attacks on public education, the poor, and the elderly. The budget includes a $300 million, or 13%, cut to the University of Wisconsin system, the largest single cut of state funding in the university’s history, and restructures the system as a “public authority” that will have unlimited power to raise tuition.

The budget also cuts funding for public broadcasting by $10 million, cuts prescription drug coverage for seniors by $15 million, removes the cap on enrollment in the state’s school voucher program that gives public money to pri­ vate and religious schools, decimates the science arm of the state’s environmental regulatory agency, and requires drug testing of unemployment benefits recipients. n SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 2015 11

Scan page 12

SOCIALIST ACTION DPA / ABACA