It’s
getting harder and harder to find left-wing activists, even in public
school unions in progressive Wisconsin. “In 2011, in the wake of the
largest workers uprising in recent U. S. history, I was elected
president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association,” Bob
Peterson writes in the journal Rethinking Schools. “Unfortunately, that
spring uprising, although massive and inspirational, was not strong
enough to stop Gov. Walker from enacting the most draconian anti-public
sector labor law in the nation.”
Reality
check: “Only 305 Wisconsin school districts’ unions sought
recertification this November, dropping from 408 that did the year
before,” Diana-Ashley Krach writes in School Reform News.
“Additionally, state employees voted to decertify 25 school district
unions.”
“Under Act 10, also known as the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, which
went into effect in 2011, recertification requires a 51 percent “yes”
vote from eligible union members.”
“Using those criteria, Walker would never have been elected,” Peterson
asserts. Actually, Governor Walker was reelected with 53 percent of the
vote. What’s really astonishing is that the unions cannot even
inspire
the loyalty of one of the most left-leaning voting blocs in a
left-leaning state.
Ironically, by Peterson’s own summary, the reforms were hardly
draconian. He writes of Act 10 that “It left intact only the right to
bargain base-wage increases up to the cost of living.” Most people
think this is the prime purpose of a union.
[The
fun continues]
