On, Wisconsin: A Labor Notes Special Report

  • Viewpoint: Let’s Learn the Right Lessons from Wisconsin

    The struggle in Wisconsin last winter was the awakening that labor movement activists had long hoped for. But the recall elections of six Republican senators turned out to be a squandered opportunity for education.

  • Recalls Gained Two Seats, Needed Three

    From the first day of the Wisconsin uprising, chants of “Recall! Recall!” sprang from the crowds. After petitioners collected tens of thousands of signatures, on August 9 the voters had their say, but defeated only two of the six Republican senators up for recall.

  • Wisconsin Reacts as Anti-Union Bill Is Rubber-Stamped

    Unfazed by the rebellion that has shaken their state since February, Republican legislators in Wisconsin called an “extraordinary session” to push through every aspect of the right-wing agenda they can lay a pen to.

  • Wisconsin Protesters Look to Escalate

    More than a thousand rallied in Madison yesterday to relight and escalate protests against Governor Scott Walker and the state’s continued attacks on Wisconsin workers.

  • Judge Throws Out Wisconsin Anti-Union Law

    A Wisconsin judge ruled today that the infamous “budget repair” bill that would undermine public employee unions in the state was passed illegally. State senate Republicans pushed the bill through March 9 without advance public notice, she said.

  • The Mood in Wisconsin: Shaken, Angry, but Proud

    Wisconsin public sector unionists face a sobering situation after weeks of unprecedented activism—for many, no contracts. Yet their mood is proud and angry. They're acutely aware how their struggle has inspired others.

  • Wisconsin Voters Rebuke Governor

    Wisconsin labor put its candidate, Joanne Kloppenburg, on the state Supreme Court in statewide voting Tuesday, beating David Prosser, a Republican supporter of the governor, by just 204 votes. The upset was a remarkable repudiation of Governor Scott Walker’s attack on workers’ standard of living, though it will be challenged with a recount.

  • What’s Next for Wisconsin?

    Wisconsin Republicans copped to the fact this week that their real goal was smashing unions, not closing the state’s budget gap. For the rest of the labor movement, it’s a sign of things to come. What's the road map to win round two?

  • Judge Blocks Wisconsin Law as Unions Scramble to Beat Bargaining Deadline

    A judge issued a temporary restraining order today to block publication of Governor Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining law. What does the bill contain, and what would it mean for public workers' current contracts?

  • Wisconsin: What We're Learning

    The revolt in Wisconsin is the most impressive response of American workers to the employer offensive since it began 31 years ago—remarkable for its numbers, for its sustained nature, for the labor-community-student coalition that spontaneously arose.

  • Capitol Square Remains Packed as Protests Continue

    The Capitol Square in Madison is again packed with union members of every stripe, enraged by the surprise passage of a bill to gut public employee unions. A hundred were dragged from a sit-in inside the Capitol.

  • Republicans Pass Anti-Union Bill

    Stunned and outraged, thousands of Wisconsinites forced their way into the Capitol tonight after Republicans suddenly passed their bill attacking unions, without Democrats.

  • How Can States Raise Revenue? Hint: Not from Us.

    The traditional union approach to budget politics is to accept the limits of what’s possible and push for the best deal within those fiscal constraints. Some unions are looking beyond “stop the cuts,” and showing how to fund services.

  • No Money Left? You’re Looking in the Wrong Places.

    Governors cry, “There’s just no money.” But some people have plenty, while taxes on corporations and the rich have fallen for decades. Fair taxes could stop the financial hemorrhaging and make up all the deficits.

  • A General Strike in the Heartland?

    As the fight for basic union rights escalated in Wisconsin, the Madison-based South Central Federation of Labor endorsed the idea of a general strike if Governor Walker’s union-busting bill passed.

  • Take My Concessions — Please

    Were the leaders of the Wisconsin state employees and teachers unions wise to announce, as soon as Governor Scott Walker introduced his “budget repair,” that they were happy to take concessions on benefits, as long as they could keep the right to bargain?

  • No Concessions Protest Jazzes Up Madison

    Wisconsin showed its lively protest colors with 7,000 protesters joining a jazz funeral march. They challenged the governor's anti-union measures and service cuts, and also concessions offered by public sector union leaders.

  • Collective Bargaining Rights: A Money Issue

    State legislators aren’t going after collective bargaining rights because they hate working people. ... No, they want to end bargaining rights for public employees in order to save money. They want to cut state budgets and lower taxes for corporations and the rich—in other words, to take money from working people’s pockets and give it to the wealthy.

  • Recall of Wisconsin Senators Bringing Out Big Numbers

    Wisconsin Republicans will start feeling nervous soon because of people like Karl Gartung, a Teamster at UPS cartage services in Milwaukee who's been out collecting signatures to recall his state senator.

  • Madison, Columbus, Indianapolis: Pressure Mounts on Legislators

    Unionists in Ohio and Indiana are keeping up remarkable pressure on their legislatures with repeat crowds of thousands, while in Wisconsin, unionists fight for their right to be inside the Capitol.