Labor & Employment Law

Praise for Wisconsin Workers? Protests

By Mike Hall

UAW President Bob King says he and the union?s members fully support Wisconsin workers’ “courageous efforts”:

to fight back against this thinly veiled, purely partisan effort to destroy unions in favor of a system [Gov. Scott]Walker and his well-heeled political pals will control.

Also in a story on the UAW website, UAW Local 469 member Mike Bink, who works at Master Lock in Milwaukee, says the governor is merely paying back his political supporters from the business community.

Destroying unions has nothing to do with getting Wisconsin’s fiscal house in order or bringing jobs and revenue to the state. Teachers, nurses, librarians and other public workers should not be sacrificed to satisfy the governor’s corporate cronies.

Click here for the full story.

New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech and New Jersey federation Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan say, ?The attacks on Wisconsin?s public employees are deplorable.?

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is fully supportive of Wisconsin?s labor and community allies who are fighting a critical battle to safeguard collective bargaining rights and ensure that the voice of working men and women is not something we aim to silence, but instead value and embrace as part of our country?s democratic values.

Read their full statement here.

New York City Central Labor Council (NYCCLC) President John T. Ahern says the fight in Wisconsin ?brings us back to a very dark time in our nation?s history.?

The sacrifices made by those labor leaders who came before us were meant to ensure that there would be a strong middle class in this country, made up of people who worked hard and in turn were able to support our economy. The proposed actions of these short-sighted officials will virtually decimate the middle class and further weaken our economy.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 18, 2011 (boomark / email).