SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Organized labor has long rallied against Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union tactics in Wisconsin. This sign is from a protest outside the State Capitol in 2014. (Photo: Light Brigading/flickr/cc)
Wisconsin Becomes 25th State with Anti-Worker Law on Books
'By enacting Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues to tip the scales against working class families in favor of his millionaire and billionaire buddies who fund his campaign,' says state AFL-CIO
Mar 09, 2015
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed the state's latest anti-worker salvo into law Monday, affixing his signature to legislation that makes it a misdemeanor to require workers to pay union dues.
Opponents argue that such laws keep wages low, make workplaces less safe, and undermine organized labor's muscle by decreasing bargaining power. As the legislation zoomed through the state legislature, local unions and their supporters held rallies to demonstrate their opposition.
"By signing Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues his crusade on the hard-working, middle-class families of Wisconsin," Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, said in a statement on Monday. "By enacting Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues to tip the scales against working class families in favor of his millionaire and billionaire buddies who fund his campaign."
At an invitation-only event at the Badger Meter facility north of Milwaukee, Walker said the new law "sends a powerful message across the country and around the world."
To that end, the president of the National Right to Work Committee said the action now puts pressure on other Midwest states to follow suit. "Every worker deserves freedom of choice when it comes to union membership and dues payment, and if states like Michigan and Wisconsin can pass Right to Work then Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio can too," Mark Mix said in a statement.
Wisconsin is now the 25th state with a so-called "right-to-work" bill on the books. The Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy revealed last month that the measure was taken verbatim from model legislation crafted by the right-wing, corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed the state's latest anti-worker salvo into law Monday, affixing his signature to legislation that makes it a misdemeanor to require workers to pay union dues.
Opponents argue that such laws keep wages low, make workplaces less safe, and undermine organized labor's muscle by decreasing bargaining power. As the legislation zoomed through the state legislature, local unions and their supporters held rallies to demonstrate their opposition.
"By signing Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues his crusade on the hard-working, middle-class families of Wisconsin," Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, said in a statement on Monday. "By enacting Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues to tip the scales against working class families in favor of his millionaire and billionaire buddies who fund his campaign."
At an invitation-only event at the Badger Meter facility north of Milwaukee, Walker said the new law "sends a powerful message across the country and around the world."
To that end, the president of the National Right to Work Committee said the action now puts pressure on other Midwest states to follow suit. "Every worker deserves freedom of choice when it comes to union membership and dues payment, and if states like Michigan and Wisconsin can pass Right to Work then Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio can too," Mark Mix said in a statement.
Wisconsin is now the 25th state with a so-called "right-to-work" bill on the books. The Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy revealed last month that the measure was taken verbatim from model legislation crafted by the right-wing, corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed the state's latest anti-worker salvo into law Monday, affixing his signature to legislation that makes it a misdemeanor to require workers to pay union dues.
Opponents argue that such laws keep wages low, make workplaces less safe, and undermine organized labor's muscle by decreasing bargaining power. As the legislation zoomed through the state legislature, local unions and their supporters held rallies to demonstrate their opposition.
"By signing Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues his crusade on the hard-working, middle-class families of Wisconsin," Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, said in a statement on Monday. "By enacting Right to Work, Gov. Walker continues to tip the scales against working class families in favor of his millionaire and billionaire buddies who fund his campaign."
At an invitation-only event at the Badger Meter facility north of Milwaukee, Walker said the new law "sends a powerful message across the country and around the world."
To that end, the president of the National Right to Work Committee said the action now puts pressure on other Midwest states to follow suit. "Every worker deserves freedom of choice when it comes to union membership and dues payment, and if states like Michigan and Wisconsin can pass Right to Work then Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio can too," Mark Mix said in a statement.
Wisconsin is now the 25th state with a so-called "right-to-work" bill on the books. The Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy revealed last month that the measure was taken verbatim from model legislation crafted by the right-wing, corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.