The past two months have seen a remarkable shift in the American social fabric; a new movement of American labor, the likes of which America has not seen for decades. The elections of November 2010 saw a reversal of political sentiments from 2008 when the country decisively pronounced its aggravation with George W. Bush, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 2008 financial crisis that upended countless lives and left millions jobless. The optimistic outlook of “Hope” and “Yes We Can!” that swept Barack Obama to victory has since faded into similar frustration, largely over chronic unemployment that persists despite significant stock market recovery and record corporate profits. Poor job growth coupled with – among other things – a healthcare bill that didn’t garner the expected public support, resulted in a drastic reversal of public opinion in the most recent election with Republican politicians winning a significant number of positions at all levels of government, including the largest freshman class to enter congress in over 60 years, with 84 new Republicans.
The majority of these new members of congress promote themselves as deficit hawks, advocating massive cuts to spending in an effort to reduce America’s federal deficit, which currently sits at approximately $14.2 trillion. The ubiquitous message warns of a monstrous, unmanageable deficit that is irresponsible and downright dangerous. It’s been framed as a problem that must be addressed immediately for the future security and prosperity of the country. Those in favor of spending cuts claim that everything is up for discussion, but have thus far only passed legislation curtailing spending on things like education and public broadcasting, which constitute relatively small portions of the budget. Others like Paul Krugman oppose drastic cuts, instead advocating for a spending increase to help the economy bounce back from the recession.
All of this set the stage for February 11th, when newly elected Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, announced a bill that sought to reduce the state’s deficit. Included in the bill were provisions to curtail collective bargaining rights of public employees, limiting them to matters of wage increase at or below the rate of inflation. Also included in the bill is a measure that would allow for the no-bid sale of state-owned heating, cooling or power plants. In regards to restricting collective bargaining as a tool to reduce the deficit, the position of the GOP was that unions had created difficulties in the past with unreasonable demands that didn’t allow for progress towards balanced budgets. However, it has since been revealed that the view among many in the GOP is that by undermining public unions President Obama will have a difficult time winning reelection in 2012.
The bill’s announcement incited a month-long protest in Wisconsin that started on February 14th and ended with Walker signing the bill into law on March 9th. Public workers flooded the city of Madison, occupying the capital building in a massive peaceful demonstration that aimed to halt the legislative process. At the same time, fourteen democratic senators fled the state, remaining in neighboring Illinois for more than a month to deny the Republicans quorum on the bill. In response, Governor Walker stripped the bill of all financial measures, reducing it to simply a restriction of collective bargaining rights, allowing the state senate to put the bill to a vote without the requisite 20 members of the senate that must be present for a vote on a bill involving financial measures. The vote took place rapidly and at night with the Senate passing the bill 18-1 in a matter of minutes.
In the wake of Wisconsin, bills have been introduced in numerous other states that would inflict similar budget cutting measures. The Governor of Pennsylvania has introduced a plan to cut education spending by over $1 billion. A new measure in Michigan allow the governor to declare ‘financial emergency’ and fire local officials including city councils and boards of education without input from the public and replace them with corporate managers. Measures to restrict collective bargaining have also been proposed in Maine, Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, California and Washington.
The pervasiveness of this attack on public sector employees could very well lead to a new and powerful labor movement in the US. For a country that has long been criticized for having an apathetic public (evidenced by the poor history of voter turnout) this forceful attack on civil rights may galvanize the public and create a sense of solidarity over what many view as an attack by the rich on the working class.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Author: Erik B Wilson
Erik is currently completing an MSc in Development Studies at the London School of Economics. His research considers issues of peace building and civil society with specific reference to Nepal. Before coming to the LSE Erik worked for several non-profit organizations after completing his BA in Anthropology at Skidmore College. In addition, Erik is a photographer and is working to combine this with his interest in development, his work can be seen here .
Al Jazeera
