The ILWU banner was proudly on display in the Madison capitol rotunda.
ILWU members from Locals 13, 63, 26 and 94 joined a delegation of 161 workers from Southern California who traveled to Madison, Wisconsin in late February to stand in solidarity with tens of thousands of students, parents, teachers, nurses and other community members fighting to protect union rights for workers. Those rights are currently under attack by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who is pushing legislation that would strip public employees of the right to bargain for anything other than wages.
Workers have been demonstrating around the clock at the state capitol building in Madison since February 14th, three days after Walker introduced anti-union legislation that he called a “budget repair bill.” The demonstrations started with just over 1,000 university students but quickly grew into tens of thousands within days. The peak, so far, of the demonstrations occurred on February 26th when an estimated 100,000 supporters rallied at the capitol building, the largest demonstration in Wisconsin since the Vietnam War.
“I don’t even have words for the experience,” said ILWU Local 94 member Franchesta Grove, one of ten ILWU members from Southern California who made the trek to Madison.
“To see so many people from all walks of life coming together in solidarity was inspiring. I saw a 91 year-old woman in a wheel chair sitting in the snow. She was holding a sign that said, ‘I’m 91 years-old, old enough to vote, young enough to kick your ass.’ She wasn’t fighting for herself. She was fighting for future generations.”
ILWU Local 13 Vice President, Bobby Olvera, Jr., spoke to thousands of demonstrators inside the Wisconsin capitol building after the Los Angeles delegation marched into the rotunda. He thanked the crowd for their strength and solidarity for standing up for the rights of workers. “What this governor doesn’t realize, is that he has woken the sleeping giant. He has brought labor and students together. This is the beginning of a second labor revolution,” Olvera said.
He shared a similar message with over 1 million viewers and listeners when he was interviewed by Amy Goodman on the “Democracy Now” program.
Peter Peyton, President of ILWU Local 63, says he has been through many social and labor struggles, but described his experience in Madison as “one of the greatest events of all time.” He added, “Those young students understood the importance of collective bargaining rights and how vital they are to the preservation of the middle class.”
Our ‘Tahrir Square’
Because the Wisconsin protests and occupation of the capitol building came on the heels of the dramatic protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubrark, comparisons between the two movements were unavoidable. More than one protest sign in Madison labeled Walker as the “Mubarak of the Midwest.” The Madison protests received tremendous international support and solidarity, including support from the Egyptian protest movement. Supporters from all over the world, including Cairo, sent thousands of solidarity orders for pizza to Ian’s Pizza in Madison that delivered the pies to protesting families at the capitol building. The restaurant was so swamped with orders that the company devoted its entire business to feeding the protesters.
“The energy that was generated from the ‘Cairo pizzas’ was incredible,” said
Peter Peyton. “Egyptians recognized that they were standing up for democracy in their country and that’s what the people were doing in Wisconsin too. This is the starting point for a much needed discussion about democracy in the United States.”
Egyptian labor unions also sent formal expressions of support to the workers in Wisconsin. In a video statement, Kamal Abbas, General Coordinator of the Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services, told the Wisconsin protesters, “We stand with you as you stood with us.” He says “no one believed that the revolution against the Mubarak regime would succeed, yet they were able to bring the dictator down within 18 days.” He encourages demonstrators to stay strong, saying, “Don’t give up on your rights. Victory always belongs to the people who stand firm and demand their just rights.”
Walker’s phony budget crisis
The assault of worker’s rights is being framed by Walker as a necessary austerity measure to deal with the budget crisis. The facts don’t support this view. According to the website, Talking Point’s Memo, the “state’s fiscal bureau – the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office – concluded that Wisconsin isn’t even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus.
In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax-cutting policies that Walker enacted during his first days in office.”
The Capitol Times in Wisconsin ran a recent editorial that criticized the Governor’s effort to undermine long-established collective bargaining rights for public servants in order to “pay for schemes that redirect state tax dollars to wealthy individuals and corporate interests that have been sources of campaign funding for Walker’s fellow Republicans and special-interest campaigns on their behalf.”
Gov. Walker’s anti-union bill was passed by the Wisconsin State Assembly, but still must pass the State Senate, where Republicans hold a 19-14 advantage over Democrats. While Republicans hold a majority and enough votes to pass the bill, Democratic state senators have refused to attend the legislative session since Thursday, February 17th, which denies the Senate a quorum and prevents the chamber from voting on the bill. This legislative procedure is similar to a filibuster in the US Senate that Republicans used frequently to block important votes and appointments.
The attack on worker rights could spread quickly
Anti-union legislation like Wisconsin’s is ready to go in Tennessee and Ohio where anti-worker Governor’s hold power together with anti-union majorities in the state legislatures. Politicians in many states will be watching the outcome of the Wisconsin struggle to decide if they will join the attack or back-off – at least for now. If public workers lose their union rights in Wisconsin, the rights of millions more union members will be at risk.
Koch brothers at it again
Walker’s gubernatorial campaign received the maximum $15,000 contribution from Koch Industries, one of America’s largest privately-owned energy and manufacturing conglomerates. The company is owned by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, longtime funders of extreme right-wing causes who recently bankrolled the Tea Party “movement.”
The Koch brothers support politicians who oppose efforts to make corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of taxes, and they fund public relations campaigns that deny the existence of global warming. They also own Georgia Pacific, a paper and timber company with warehouses in Portland, OR that employ members of the Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU) who have been trying to negotiate a fair contract for more than a year.
In late February, Gov. Walker was humiliated by a prank caller who impersonated one of the Koch brothers, enticing the Governor to reveal a scheme to plant “troublemakers” into the state capitol protests. When the tape went public, police and fire officials slammed the Governor for considering a scheme that could instigate violence and dangerously disrupt the peaceful protest.
Corruption scheme included in Wisconsin’s anti-union legislation
Besides stripping public employees of their union rights, Gov. Walker’s bill would also allow the State of Wisconsin to sell or lease publicly owned utilities to private companies without competitive bidding or public approval. The dangerous language in the law states:
Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).
This provision has been used by corrupt governments around the world, including Mexico and Russia, to sell-off valuable public assets at firesale prices that benefit wealthy investors like the Koch brothers.
Public opinion is shifting to workers
As the Dispatcher goes to press, the latest polls show that public opinion is beginning to favor workers, while Walker and the Republicans appear to be losing public support in their bid to attack unions and workers.
Polls in late February by the Pew Research Center show more people viewing unions favorably (45% Favorable/ 42% Unfavorable) and a majority think unions have a positive effect on “working conditions for all Americans” by a 3:1 margin (51% Positive / 17% Negative). The Pew poll also found that public sector union workers are viewed as favorably as private sector union members.
Other polls show surprising public support for collective bargaining rights of public workers in Wisconsin. Two recent polls (USA Today and New York Times/CBS) both found 60% oppose plans to weaken collective bargaining rights for unions. The NYT/CBS poll also found a majority oppose cutting the pay and benefits of state workers in order to reduce budget deficits (37% Favor / 56% Oppose). And perhaps most importantly, more Americans say they are siding with public employee unions (42%) than Governor Walker (31%).
“They’re standing in the snow fighting for our rights.”
“ILWU members need to be in this for the long haul,” said Local 94’s Franchesta Grove. “Each member needs to understand that it is very important that we support our brothers and sisters in Madison. If we don’t, we are going to feel the effects of whatever this governor does. It’s easier for us to go to the battle then wait for the battle to come to us. When our unions ask us to step up to help these workers we need to do so graciously. Those men and women are standing out in the snow fighting for our rights.”