Listening to the media it is easy to get the perception that the people in Wisconsin are whiners. Or if you listen to Fox News or other conservative “news” sources you may get the impression that we are violent thugs - Limbaugh and Beck have said as much. This rhetoric is used to mis-characterize the movement and to vilify us. To make us not a grassroots movement that cares about their state, but individuals more concerned with greed then helping carry the load of a fiscal crisis.
So why are we here and we are fighting?
The reasons are as diverse as the people who possess them. However, I will break them into a few simple categories. First, I will start with the graduate students. They are angry and here because of the cut in their benefits. The change in benefits will cause many to no longer be able to afford health care. The life of a graduate student is one of manageable poverty. He or she struggles to make ends meet and enjoy the fact that he or she has health care. If the bill passes, many will be force to live without health care.
The public workers impacted by the bill fear what losing their right to bargain will bring. That right allowed nurses to set a limit on mandatory overtime, has allowed teachers a say in how they teach, and has allowed workers to have desired standards of safety in the workplace. The right to bargain has an impact beyond benefits and wages.
The firefighters and police are fighting even though they are exempt. The budget proposal impacts public workers with the exemption of firefighters, police officers, and state troopers. It is certainly not a coincidence that the only three unions exempted are the only three which endorsed Governor Walker. I am sure that he did not exempt them out of a desire of political payback. However, the state troopers have withdrawn their endorsement and the firefighters and police both actively oppose the bill. They oppose out of a strong belief that they will be next. Why would he stop at those unions when their benefits cost the state a great deal. They know that the attack on union rights will be at their door soon enough.
The private labor unions are actively opposed out of a sense of solidarity. They have struggled for their rights and have seen their membership dwindle over the decades. Now that the attack on labor has begun they will not back down. They fear that after they have busted or crippled the public unions Governor Walker will attempt to make Wisconsin a Right to Work state, which often will greatly weaken unions and have a lower standard of pay.
Then there are non-union members who fill out the ranks of the protesters. This rank includes the businesses in Madison and other communities that sees a great deal of business come from union workers and an attack on their benefits and rights will decrease their revenue. Others have friends, family in the labor or simply possess a belief in the importance of union. My support for union arises from my knowledge of American history and what unions did for all workers. They set safety standards, the 40-hour work week, the weekend, overtime pay, unemployment benefits, and many other benefits that most workers benefit from today. In addition to that historical knowledge, I believe that continued unionization allows a democratization of the workplace. Allow them to speak for themselves to improve their role as an employee and to make them more effective.
Additionally, everyone seems to feel some sense of embattled. That a group of people are under attack and their rights are being assaulted. We believe that an entire group of people are under assault for no justifiable reason. That if we lose it will mean the low erosion of rights and power.
However, if you listen to the news, the Republicans still spout the line that it's all about benefits and sharing the burden. They continue this after they rejected out of hand a compromise that would pass the bill with only the bargaining rights removed. They do so because if they frame this fight as one over benefits and money then the governor will win; if it is correctly framed as rights, then the republicans lose.
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