The stakes in Wisconsin

[babylonsister]

The stakes in Wisconsin
By Greg Sargent


It's worth stepping back and trying to appreciate how big the stakes have become in Wisconsin for public employees and for organized labor in general.

Union officials say they're investing a surprising amount of energy in trying to defeat the push to strip public employees of their bargaining rights because they view this as a precedent setter for a whole range of other coming battles against anti-labor proposals in other states. If labor can defeat this proposal, it will put other GOP-controlled state governments on notice that if they move forward with similarly aggressive proposals targeting public employees, they can expect to have a massive fight on their hands.

At the same time, there may be bit of a potential downside in turning this into an opening skirmish in a much larger war, one that's now unfolding in the national media spotlight as national unions send operatives into the state. If labor loses after staking so much on this battle, other state governments may feel emboldened about forging forward with their own efforts to weaken municipal unions.

Why is this particular fight such an important precedent-setter? Wisconsin governor Scott Walker insists his proposal is all about fiscal austerity. But as Brian Beutler notes, it actually goes far beyond this: Scaling back the bargaining rights of public workers doesn't save money by itself. It knocks down a barrier in a way that makes cutting into workers' benefits generally easier, and strikes at a core set of rights that labor stands for.

more...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/02/the_stakes_in_wisconsin_1.html

[Sherman A1]

1. If not now, when?

The stakes are huge and it may as well be now.

[ewagner]

2. ahem...President Obama take note:

an open note to the President:

Sir,

With all due respect, your statement on Wednesday was "damning with faint praise" the Unions who worked so tirelessly to put you in office. Let me relate to you some truths about what the crisis in Wisconsin is all about.

For Unions, especially Public Employee unions, this is an existential battle. Their very existence depends upon the defeat of this bill. They are "going to the wall" for this bill because if it passes they have lost everything anyway, so here it is all in and other states should recognize this also because it is not a Wisconsin problem with the GOP, it is a Nation-wide problem with the GOP agenda.

For you sir, it is also an existential threat. The goal here is to destroy your base and install a permanent Republican Majority in both houses of Congress and to put a Republican in the very chair you sit in.

Under the mundane title of tort reform, the Republican Party has tried to damage another stalwart of Democratic support, Trial Lawyers. They think if they limit personal injury awards they will financially damage trial attorneys who support the party. The Unions, sir, are the last centurions guarding the middle class against the corporate barbarians.

Bi-partisanship is not valued by Republicans and will only be used to destroy you.

What are you made of? Whether you fight or accommodate will tell us.

[HereSince1628]

3. More importantly, it strikes a death blow to core democratic support

If people don't understand this, they are missing the strategic importance of what is going on.

The Red state governors and their red majority legislatures are taking advantage of a public that pays very little attention to state politics. And they red state governors are trying to destroy the democratic base.

[EC]

4. Yep,

first Acorn, now the Unions...our greatest GOTV teams.

Oh, and on edit: NPR and PBS and today Boner added DNC.

[Clio the Leo]

5. It worked in Egypt...

.... as you all will remember, it was when the unions went on wide scale strike that Mubarak stepped down.

"Solidarity Forever"

[swilton]

6. I smell Karl Rove in this