| Defend Wisconsin public workers! |
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We are all Wisconsin!Protest fatigue? Not in Wisconsin. Three months after Gov. Scott Walker proposed to strip state, county and municipal employees and public-school teachers of their collective bargaining rights, the governor's agenda remains stymied. Legal challenges,moves to recall Republican legislators who have sided with the governor and the fear on the part of legislative leaders of mass protests have prevented implementation.For more information on defending Wisconsin public workers and how you can join the effort to defeat Gov. Walker's assault on workers: Click here for more information from the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO. Background: After Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker introduced a bill on Feb. 11, 2011 that was an all-out radical right-wing assault on the bargaining rights of public employees, tens of thousands of citizens began pouring into Madison to rally against the bill, many of them camping out at the Capitol building. Those rallies continued with even bigger crowds over the following weeks. Walker's proposal, which he argued was needed to deal with the state's budget shortfall, also would drastically affect state, school district and municipal workers' benefits by requiring substantial increases in what employees contribute to their pensions and health insurance. In a state where public sector workers have had a voice on the job since the 1930s, the governor would strip workers of the right to bargain over anything other than wages. But this isn't just about Wisconsin. In state capitals across the country, and in Washington, D.C., Republicans have been using the wrecked economy as an excuse to slash vital programs and hurt workers. Similar legislation attacking bargaining rights has been introduced in other states, including Florida, Ohio and New Hampshire. Their immediate aim is nothing less than the destruction of collective bargaining for all public sector workers. But the ultimate objective is removing all of organized labor as a force for progressive social change and an obstacle to unfettered corporate exploitation, deregulation and privatization for all American working people. Unions are a check on their power and greed. |
