Gov. Scott Walker’s unpopular bill stripping over 175,000 nurses, teachers, emergency responders, state, municipal and local workers of their rights to collectively bargain for a better life will go into effect today but working families are not giving up the fight to stop Gov. Walker’s assault on unions and the middle class.
“As a nurse for 25 years at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex I can tell you that without meaningful collective bargaining patient care will suffer,” said Bobby Staples of Brown Deer, a retired nurse with the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, American Federation of Teachers. “Negotiating and talking with our employers provides safe working conditions for both nurses and our patients. This is a disastrous step for Wisconsin. My only voice left is the voice of recall. I am ready to get active in my Senate district and restore democracy to Wisconsin”
When the bill was introduced, the response from the people of Wisconsin was unprecedented. For months, hundreds of thousands of citizens stood up at the Capitol and around the state against the attack on workers. This historic opposition proved that Gov. Walker would rather ignore his constituents in order to pass his extreme attack on Wisconsin unions and the middle class.
“I have never been in a union. As a community member, I support the right to collectively bargain and realize the importance unions play in providing a safe and just work environment for all workers,” said Quentin Salzwedel a small business owner from Oshkosh. “What Scott Walker and Senate Republicans have done is wrong. To disregard the people of Wisconsin, the voters, in order to payback political allies -- this is not the kind of representation I want or expect.”
Although the act hurting taxpaying, middle class, working families is enacted, the Wisconsin union movement will continue to advocate for worker rights and social justice for both union and non-union members. The people of Wisconsin will stand up to take their state back this summer.
“The union movement will continue to be an advocate for social and economic justice in the workplace and in the community, said Phil Neuenfeldt, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President. “Scott Walker is attacking unions in order to tip the balance towards CEOs and wealthy corporations. The people of Wisconsin will not let their middle class be destroyed without a fight. The fight will continue in the courts, in the streets and in the recall districts until justice is restored to Wisconsin.”
