Wrestlin' in Wisconsin

In my opinion, yes. As a matter of fact, I sent a donation to the WI democratic party.

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It works both ways, but at least the dems will never try to destroy the unions.

Have unions shown themselves to be worthy of our support?

Unions protect workers;

Unions got us a living wage 40 hr work week, and freed our children from haveing to work 80 hr so they and thier parents and siblings can afford to eat. If we go back to industry "giveing " us a liveing wage we are screwed.

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Unions got us a living wage 40 hr work week, and freed our children from haveing to work 80 hr so they and thier parents and siblings can afford to eat. If we go back to industry "giveing " us a liveing wage we are screwed.

what have unions done for us lately...like in the last 50 years, the time frame where Government workers have been allowed to be unionized?

Our economy is a disaster, our middle class is shrinking, families budgets are a disaster, many of our best paying jobs are gone and the flow of the good jobs out to sea is not even letting up..... and you want to put on a song and dance about how great the current worker representation works????!!!

Do you honestly believe all employers are fair, and will remain fair without unions?

Yet you still want to attack and blame the unions!

You are missing the whole point of unions; union membership has been dropping for many decades now, and that resulted in employees not having any say about pay and benefits.

Labor Policy

EPI's research on Labor Policy explores a range of issues that affect workers, from union membership and employees' rights to organize to the rights of various groups of employees, such as interns. As union membership rates declined in recent decades, wages for most workers stagnated and income inequality grew to levels not seen since 1929. EPI has long maintained that strong unions foster a strong middle class and are particularly important in times of high unemployment and overall job insecurity.

EPI research shows that unions raise living standards for union and non-union workers, make companies more efficient and productive, and balance the interests of owners and investors with those of workers so that profits are shared.

Forty prominent economists, including three Nobel laureates, have signed onto a statement in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore the rights of American workers to join unions without fear of intimidation. “A rising tide lifts all boats only when labor and management bargain on relatively equal terms,” the statement said. “In recent decades, most bargaining power has resided with management.”

The Employee Free Choice Act would impost penalties on employers who harass or fire union sympathizers, or otherwise try to scare workers away from a union. If a majority of employees at a workplace sign cards favoring a union, the act would require an employer to recognize it, rather than undertaking a long, costly and destructive battle. The act also would bring in a third-party arbitrator to produce a fair contract if the two sides can't agree on one within a year. EPI has prepared a question-and-answer document to explain how the law would work and why it is needed.

Another recent topic of focus has been the inadequate regulation of student internships. The EPI Policy Memo, Not-So-Equal Protection, proposed a new procedure for ensuring that interns do not take the place of regular paid employees. That memo also proposed extending basic workplace protections to interns, including protections against discrimination and harassment.

In February of 2010, EPI staff met with officials of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division to discuss the growing prevalence of unpaid internships and the need for the federal government to provide clearer guidance for employers, colleges, and students, along with much stronger enforcement of the wage and hour laws regarding internships.

The Labor Department later posted a fact sheet for employers clarifying that “interns in the for-profit private sector most often will be considered employees who must be paid minimum wage and overtime.”

Nope; it's contingent upon management to make the right decisions to prevent the company from going bankrupt. They are not required to pay more in wages and benefits than any company can afford

The headlines in MSN are as follows..

Return or workers will be axed, Wis. Dems warned

Fired workers burn senior executive to death

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to strip public employee unions of most of their collective bargaining rights appears to be so unpopular, that a Rasmussen poll now finds that almost 60% of likely Wisconsin voters disapprove of his job performance.

That finding shows just how quickly Walker -- who was elected to his first term last November with 52% of the vote -- has sunk just in his first two months in office. And it comes one day after Rasmussen released results from the same poll, all of which showed public opinion firmly on the side of the unions in the labor rights battle that has deadlocked the state capitol for the past few weeks.

In the poll, 57% of respondents said they disapprove of Walker's job performance -- including 48% who say they strongly disapprove. Meanwhile, only 43% said they approve of the job Walker is doing.