Posted: Friday, 11 March 2011

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) condenms legislation passed by the Republican majority in the Wisconsin Assembly that strips 175,000 public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights. The CLC also stands in solidarity with thousands of our sisters and brothers in the United States who continue to offer resistance to this alarming initiative.

The legislation in Wisconsin was introduced by Republican Governor Scott Walker and supported by big business. The legislation requires public workers to pay more toward their pensions and health insurance, sacrifices which they had already agreed to accept. But the Assembly has gone far beyond that, removing the rights of workers to bargain collectively. There will no longer be negotiations for working conditions, health and safety and worker’s compensation provisions, leave entitlements, seniority rules, equality provisions, grievance procedures, representation rights, pensions and benefits. Real salary increases will have to be put to a referendum.

The goal is to destroy the labour movment and to shred public services. The legislation will also require union members to hold annual votes on whether to remain in the union, and make the payment of union dues voluntary. In addition, the legislation proposes to cut benefits to Medicaid for all retirees and other beneficiaries of public health care, and to sell key public utilities.

On behalf of the 3.2 million unionized workers in Canada, the CLC deplores this attack on workers’ rights in a jurisdiction that was the cradle of public sector bargaining in the U. S. The CLC is appalled at the attempts made by Wisconsin Republicans to discredit public sector workers in the state and to blame them for the fiscal pressures faced by all levels of government. This is not only immoral, but is contrary to U.S. commitments to international law and to the International Labour Organization.

These actions will destroy a social contract that has stood the test of time and could have grave repercussions for all workers and citizens well beyond the state. If other jurisdictions view this as a model for how an employer can act, then all workers in the state, private as well as public, unionized and non-unionized, are in peril.

It was not public sector workers and their collective agreements that caused the fiscal deficit faced by Wisconsin and other govermnents. The fiscal crisis has its roots in the financial crisis and resulting economic devastation that the U.S. has not yet recovered from. In January 2011, a U.S. government Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded that the economic crisis was caused by failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and irresponsible risk-taking in the financial sector. The Commission concluded that the financial crisis was completely avoidable.

Wisconsin’s fiscal troubles will not be solved by stripping public sector workers of their rights. This legislation is designed to destroy unions over the long term. Despite massive opposition to this draconian legislation, Republican legislators have pursued their course, and other U.S. states are considering similar action. Such an assault on long accepted collective agreements would be disastrous for all workers and for citizens who depend on quality public services. The labour movement in the U.S. is determined to oppose this hostile agenda and the CLC stands in solidarity with our American brothers and sisters.

All photos: Mark Riechers