Wisconsin Judge Blocks Union-Busting Law

A state court judge in Wisconsin has blocked Governor Scott Walker's reprehensible union-busting law from taking effect.  According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Judge Maryann Sumi of the Dane County Circuit Court issued a temporary restraining order, finding that the legislature most likely violated the state's open meetings law when it rushed through the bill last week.  According to Judge Sumi (a Republican appointee, by the way), "It seems to me the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law)."

While this is only a procedural ruling, and does not address the constitutionality of the law, this allows the pro-worker forces in Wisconsin an opportunity to continue the fight.

Anti-Union Bill Defeated In Missouri

Here's some good news for the labor movement.  A so-called "right to work" bill (or, more accurately, a "right to work for less" bill) has died in the Missouri State Senate, failing even to come up for a vote.  500 pro-labor supporters packed the Senate gallery during the debate, on the heels of more than 5000 who had protested against the bill last week.

While its Republican sponsors argued that states with "right to work" laws have less unemployment and are more competitive, this argument didn't even sway other Republican senators, much less the Democratic minority.  In fact, states with "right to work" laws have lower per capita and median household incomes than states which do not restrict the ability of workers to organize.

Tea Party Republican Introduces Federal Union-Busting Bill

(h/t to Labor Relations Today for bringing this to my attention)

Senator Jim DeMint, the man who single-handedly is trying to pull the Republican party (and the nation) off the cliff of right-wing lunacy, has introduced a union-busting bill in the Senate.  The so-called "National Right to Work Act" (a bit of Orwellian doublespeak) would strip unions of their rights to collect dues from all employees whom they benefit by outlawing union security agreements.  Such "right to work" provisions are already the law in 22 states -- mostly in the south and midwest.  A look at wage information shows that these so-called "right to work" states have lower average wages than states which protect the rights of workers to organize into unions.  Ya think there might be a relationship there?

Thankfully, with the Senate in Democratic hands and a Democratic president, this bill is going nowhere.

The Disgrace that Is Wisconsin

After weeks of insisting that the bill couldn't be amended, after weeks of insisting that this was a budget repair bill, Rethuglican (and he's earned the epithet) Governor Scott Walker and his minions in the Wisconsin state senate have enacted part of their corporate puppet-masters' agenda.  They have passed a bill effectively killing public unions in the state of Wisconsin.

Did they do this by negotiating with the opposition?  No.  Did they do this by following normal legislative procedures?  No.  Instead, they stripped out all of the budgetary elements from the bill, winged it through committee, and then passed it fourteen minutes later.  Let's say that again.  After insisting that this was a budget repair bill, the Republicans in the Wisconsin state senate stripped out all of the fiscal elements.  They then rushed it through committee, and passed it after fourteen whole minutes of debate.  This whole appalling process stinks to high heaven.  And it shows what Democrats and union officials have been saying all along -- that this is nothing more than a naked union-busting effort.  To quote the progressive Cap Times, "Shame, Shame, Shame!"

Please, please, please, take the time to donate to the Wisconsin Democratic Party's campaign to recall Republican State Senators.

Wisconsin vs. Connecticut

The Washington Post is reporting that several Republican State Senators in Wisconsin are now considering voting against Governor Scott Walker's heinous union-busting bill.  If true, this is great news!  Organized labor could use a high-profile victory like this.  Indeed, it seems to me that Walker's overreaching may wind up being the best thing to happen to America's labor movement in years.

Let's contrast this with my home state of Connecticut, where Governor Dannel Malloy is trying to close an enormous hole in the budget.  Like Walker, Malloy has asked public employees for major givebacks.  Unlike Walker, however, Malloy is sitting down with the unions, in talks described as "respectful."  And it appears that Malloy, unlike Walker, will succeed in obtaining concessions from the unions without turning the state capitol into an armed camp.

The fortunes of America's labor movement directly correlate with the fortunes of America's middle class.  The golden age of union membership, from the mid-1940's through the mid 1970's, corresponds with the rise of the middle class.  But since the beginning of the assault on unions during the Reagan administration, America's middle class has been squeezed.  Let's hope that we're starting to see the re-birth of the union movement, and that Dannel Malloy's approach wins out over Scott Walker's.