Wisconsin | Portside

labor

April 12, 2016

Expert: Right-To-Work Lawsuit Could Have National Implications Even As It Fails In Wisconsin

Shawn Johnson Wisconsin Public Radio

Marquette University law professor Paul Secunda said he thinks the legal battle over right to work in the state will eventually be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 5-2 majority. However, Secunda said Wisconsin's right-to-work lawsuit has highlighted "a real free-rider problem" with right to work, and that future lawsuits could raise similar arguments in federal court.

January 10, 2016

Gutting Public Unions

William P. Jones Dissent

Daniel DiSalvo's self proclaimed 'non-partisan' attack on public unions as greedy, inefficient and undemocratic, 'Government Against Itself,' has been welcomed by the right and granted recognition for its 'scholarship' even by some on the left. Not so fast, argues William P. Jone, in a deeper look into the economic realities and history of public unions, and the place of public unions in our democracy, DiSalvo has confused the symptom with the disease.

January 5, 2016

Wisconsin Public Sector Unions Plot Fightback as Supreme Court Case Looms

Steven Greenhouse The Guardian

“When we talk to potential union members, we explain, ‘Your working conditions aren’t going to get better unless we act as a unit, as a union,’” Spink said. “We have to relearn the lessons of labor from the 1930s and 1940s – of collective action and collective message."

August 27, 2015

Let It Shine: Stop U.S. Militarised Violence; Peace and Civil Disobedience in Wisconsin

Kathy Kelly Znet

Culminating a 90-mile walk for justice and peace across Wisconsin, on August 26th, some of the walkers will commit nonviolent civil resistance at Volk Field, carrying the messages about drone warfare and racial profiling into courts of law and public opinion.

July 9, 2015

Scott Walker's Budget Undermines Public Education, with Bull's-eye on Milwaukee

Bob Peterson Educate for Democracy

For Wisconsin's schools, Scott Walker's new budget is a blueprint for abandoning public education. In Milwaukee, in addition to insufficient funding, the budget includes a "takeover" plan that increases privatization and decreases democratic control of the city's public schools.

labor

April 27, 2015

`Test Tube Babies' for Wisconsin's New Right-to-Work Law Confront Union Busting, Outsourcing and Corporate/political Schemes

Kathy Wilkes Portside

Manitowoc Company in northeast Wisconsin is a preview of the future for what workers will face as states pass "right-to-work" legislation. Over 200 workers went on strike there four years ago. Workers say they think the company set up the workers and union to set the stage for right-to-work and other antiunion laws.

April 2, 2015

How Is "Right to Work" Being Enforced?

Kathy Wilkes The Progressive

Wisconsin has joined a host of other states whose right-to-work laws emulate "model legislation" produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) describes ALEC as a "bill mill" supported by several conservative foundations and dozens of high-profile corporations, like Koch Industries and ExxonMobil. So-called 'Right-to-Work" favors corporations at workers' expense.

March 12, 2015

Tidbits - March 12, 2015 - Ferguson, Selma, Voting Suppression, Racism, Venezuela, Netanyahu, Israel, Iran, Palestine and more...

Portside

Reader Comments - Ferguson and Racism; Venezuela - New Coup, Made in USA; Selma, Voting Rights and Today; International Women's Day, Wonder Woman; Netanyahu, Israel, GOP and Iran; Wisconsin Attack on Unions; Ukraine; Death Penalty, 'Justice', Incarceration; Leonard Nimoy; Books on Upton Sinclair, Michael Harrington; Announcement - Triangle Shirtwaist Fire commemoration; Today in History

labor

March 11, 2015

Labor Had Better Get Its Act Together

Dennis Boyer The Cap Times

Dennis Boyer, a retired AFSCME staff member, believes that the unions in Wisconsin need to be much more aggressive in their fightback. This should include consideration of the use of a general strike.

labor

March 11, 2015

Labor Had Better Get Its Act Together

Dennis Boyer The Cap Times

Dennis Boyer, a retired AFSCME staff member, believes the Wisconsin unions should have been more aggressive in their fightback against Walker. Included in his recommendations for the struggle going forward is the consideration of a general strike.

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