Wisconsin: Labour conflict and the recall election

By Jack Copley

Public sector unions are facing decimation in the state of Wisconsin - traditionally a labour stronghold.

Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker introduced a Bill earlier this year that eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public sector workers as well as slashing their pay and benefits. No one gets any points for guessing what the Republican justification for this Bill is, as it has become a nauseastingly familiar rationale for rolling back decades of progress; a large fiscal deficit. However, this justification unsurprisingly holds very little water. Public sector unions in Wisconsin have explicitly expressed their willingness to negotiate monetary concessions in order to help alleviate the state deficit, but Governor Walker insisted on dismantling their right to negotiate, while at the same time passing $140 million worth of business tax breaks. 

Instead of viewing this attack on public sector unions as some kind of apolitical pragmatism, it should be considered in the context of America's recent labour history.

The Financial Times reported in February that private sector unions in the US are "practically extinct". Private sector union membership has fallen from 30% in the 1960s to 7% today. This decimation was largely instigated by the Reagan Administration (I say administration because I doubt Reagan himself actually knew which country he was president of), which made clear it would turn a blind eye to legal and illegal union-busting methods. These methods continued under Clinton and the process was actually accelerated by the creation of NAFTA, which allowed employers to crush unions through threats of plant-relocation to Mexico. Bush's legacy needs no summary. 

On the other hand, US public sector unions have managed to come through this period unscathed. Their membership stands at 39% on average but is much higher in some states. Public sector employees have accordingly managed to avoid the income stagnation/decline suffered by private sector employees, as well as negotiating better benefits to compensate for lower wages.

However, far more important than their economic standing, is the political power commanded by unionised public sector employees. An article published in 2010 in the Cato Journal – a right wing public policy journal – argued that the public sector unions wield a dangerous amount of political “clout on a wide range of policy issues, such as opposing privatization of government services”. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was in fact the largest outside contributor during the 2010 Senate elections. 

The attack launched by Governor Walker in Wisconsin, and in Ohio by Kasich, has nothing to do with economic logic or pragmatism - it is an ideological assault on a political lobby that has long campaigned in the interests of America's working and middle classes. 

Recall elections in Wisconsin this summer threaten to remove 6 Republican state Senators from their seats - a move which would shift the balance of political power in the state and could spell a win for the public sector unions.

Keep an eye on this issue, because the outcome will shape the futures of millions of US workers.