Commentary

Outrage in Wisconsin


By Reginald Johnson
March 10, 2011


What can be said. Outrageous. Shameful. The Republicans continued their assault on the working people of this country and on labor unions, with GOP members of the Wisconsin state senate pulling a legislative trick Wednesday, ramming through a bill which strips public employees of their right to collectively bargain.

The state assembly is expected to approve the bill today and Gov. Scott Walker to sign it.

Hopefully the legality of the maneuver in the senate can be challenged. Some Democrats are charging that certain guidelines, such as open meeting laws, were violated along the way before the senate vote, and a court appeal could overturn the new bill. I’m really not clear about the details of what happened so I don’t know about the viability of any appeal.

But something tells me this will be like filing a challenge to an election after the votes are in. They usually don’t work. Sadly, Wisconsin’s Tea Party governor and his conservative cohorts may have won this battle.

And even worse, the right-wing blitzkrieg around the country against unions and the rights of working people appears to be succeeding. In Michigan, the state senate just passed a bill which will give emergency financial managers the power to break union contracts; in Ohio, a bill progresses that will limit public employee collective bargaining; and in Idaho, the legislature passed a bill which will curb the rights of teachers to negotiate contracts.

This thing is getting really big. It’s going to take a mass social movement complete with general strikes to stop it.

Get on board.