With yet another poll showing an overwhelming majority of Americans favoring the right to collective bargaining, we’ve been asking Working America members around the country for their take on the uprising in Wisconsin and on legislation that’s been introduced in other states attacking workers. A majority of Working America’s members identify as moderate or conservative. But they don’t want to see an economy that favors the rich, they don’t want to see politicians doing the bidding of corporate CEOs and Wall Street billionaires, and they want to see good jobs created and safe workplaces. Here’s what they’re telling us this week:
"Are those politicians taking a cut like those workers? Do you think the Governor's going to take a cut? He's trying to break the union. There's not going to be a middle class, there's gonna be rich and poor." - Jack, Millvale, PA
"I don't know how stripping people of their rights to bargain is going to help the budget. I'm a fan of unions because I'm a fan of weekends and the holidays." - Regina, Columbus, OH
"I'm watching Wisconsin because Ohio seems to be headed in exactly the same direction. I think they're balancing their budget on the backs of workers, and workers can't afford to take any more hits. They need to look in other places to balance their budget." - Charles, Columbus, OH
"I think it's wrong. They need to have their bargaining rights and they have already made concessions, and they're even willing to make more but I don't blame them for not wanting to give away their right to collective bargaining." - Linda, Coon Rapids, MN
In a line that will sound familiar to readers of the New York Times, Daily Kos, or many of us who know teachers ourselves, Lisa in Portland, Oregon, said "As a teacher, I feel constantly put down, like people are out to defame me."
Meanwhile, the Ohio state senate barely passed SB 5—a bill precisely to eliminate the ability of teachers, nurses, and other public workers to collectively bargain—over bipartisan opposition after Republicans blatantly stacked the deck, removing two of their own senators from the committees responsible for SB 5 because they would have voted against it, and replacing them with supporters.
And in Wisconsin, voters are working to recall some of the state senators responsible for the assault on the state’s public workers.
It goes on—around the country, governors and state legislatures are going after working people’s wages, working conditions, and basic right to advocate for themselves on the job. But even where they’re not (yet) out in the streets, people are starting to see what’s going on, and they don’t like it.