Protests Unite Public, Private Union Workers

Legislation in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere has
ignited a sense of solidarity within organized labor.

February 25, 2011

By Richard Simon and Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times Reporting from Columbus, Ohio, and Madison, Wis. — 

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/25/nation/la-na-0226-wisconsin-brethren-20110226

It's not just government workers who
have descended on Wisconsin by the thousands with
signs, shouts and pumped fists. Bob Cannon, wearing his
Sprinkler Fitters Local 669 jacket, has joined with the
masses. Randy Bryce of Iron Workers Local 8 has made
three trips — and plans to bring his family to another
rally Saturday.


Airline pilot Neil Robinson also traveled to the
Wisconsin capital in his uniform adorned with gold
wings, raising a sign of support from the Air Line
Pilots Assn.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to curtail the
collective bargaining rights of public employees has
ignited a sense of solidarity between private-sector
union workers and public union members, both determined
to fight the Republican-led wave sweeping the country
targeting their wages, benefits and power.

Union-opposed legislation in more than a dozen states,
including Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire and
Tennessee, has pushed public- and private-sector unions
"closer together than has been the case for many years,
and perhaps closer together than ever before," said
John Logan, director of the labor studies program at
San Francisco State University.

"We see their attack on the public sector as an attack
on us," said Tim Waters, the United Steelworkers'
national political director.

Union supporters are hoping to draw thousands to
rallies Saturday across the country, organized by the
liberal group MoveOn.org, including one at Los Angeles
City Hall.

Cannon, of the sprinkler fitters, said he wanted to
show his support for public employee unions because he
feared that efforts to take away their rights in
Wisconsin and other states could also lead to similar
losses for private-sector workers. "Solidarity,
unionism — the whole ball of wax kind of goes out the
window," he said.

Three members of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 77 flew from Seattle to
Madison on Thursday night because "what happens here
affects out where we are," said Don Guillot, the
local's business manager. "If it passes here it's just
going to cascade down to us.... Public sector now,
private sector later."

The statehouse fights have become important for labor
because public-sector union members outnumbered their
counterparts in private industries for the first time
in 2009. Despite the weakening of private-sector unions
in the Rust Belt — some hit with mass layoffs and
standard-of-living declines — many workers are willing
to look beyond their own hard times and give up days
off to join the fight.

"If public-sector unions lose strength, the labor
movement as a whole will lose power," said Marion
Crain, a labor law expert at Washington University in
St. Louis.

In addition to the rallies, public- and private-sector
unions, traditionally Democratic allies, are
establishing a $30-million fund to fight Republican
efforts to weaken workers' rights.

"This is all about power," said Ray Holman, United Auto
Workers Local 6000 legislative liaison in Michigan who
was preparing to drive seven hours from Lansing to
Madison to show his support for Wisconsin state
workers. "If they can break Wisconsin, they could start
a domino effect."

To finish reading this article, click here:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/25/nation/la-na-0226-wisconsin-brethren-20110226


Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi and Dan Hinkel of
the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.

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