Kathianne
02-23-2015, 02:57 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-wisconsin-walkers-anti-union-law-has-crippled-labor-movement/2015/02/22/1eb3ef82-b6f1-11e4-aa05-1ce812b3fdd2_story.html
Walker’s anti-union law has
labor reeling in Wisconsin
By Robert Samuels February 22 at 10:50 PM
KING, Wis. — At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the
head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to
start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof
shingles, was lonely and desolate.
“There used to be a lot more people coming,” said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing
assistant, sighing.
The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national
Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more
transformative than many had predicted.
Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their
merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would
lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers.
Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving public-sector unions were not
just shrunken — they were crippled
...
Walker’s anti-union law has
labor reeling in Wisconsin
By Robert Samuels February 22 at 10:50 PM
KING, Wis. — At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the
head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to
start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof
shingles, was lonely and desolate.
“There used to be a lot more people coming,” said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing
assistant, sighing.
The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national
Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more
transformative than many had predicted.
Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their
merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would
lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers.
Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving public-sector unions were not
just shrunken — they were crippled
...