The Wisconsin Union Fight isn't a
About Benefits. It's
About Labor's Influence.
By Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson
The Washington Post
March 6, 2011
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2011/03/04/AR2011030406264_pf.html Political scientists
and explain how weakening unions will gut the middle
class

The battle between Republicans and labor unions in
Ohio, Wisconsin and other states is ostensibly about
public workers' pay, benefits and bargaining rights.
What is really at stake, however, isn't labor's income.
It's labor's influence - not just in the American
workplace but in American politics.

Critics of unions cast them as exclusive clubs for
which the rest of Americans pay the dues. Wisconsin's
GOP governor, Scott Walker, likes to say that unions
are the "haves" and everyone else the "have-nots." And
it's certainly true that unions aggressively pursue
their own interests - sometimes to others' detriment.
When asked in the early 20th century what the American
Federation of Labor wanted, the union's gruff head,
Samuel Gompers, famously replied, "More."

But unions play another role, too - one more like that
of civic groups than private associations. Although
they want "more" for their members, they also want to
make good middle-class jobs the norm. And the most
important way they pursue this larger goal isn't by
demanding concessions at the bargaining table, but by
operating as a counterweight to the demands of
corporations and Wall Street in the corridors of power.
That is precisely why opponents of organized labor are
seizing upon state fiscal troubles to try to destroy
its remaining clout.

(For the full text, go to www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2011/03/04/AR2011030406264_pf.html Political scientists
and explain how weakening unions will gut the middle
class)

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