Last week, I accompanied my father as he joined the Austin Federation of Musicians, Chapter 433. He now joins more than 2,000 workers back in my colder home of Wisconsin, which ranks 2.3 percent higher than the national average for percentage of unionized workers. However, Wisconsin has recently experienced a slew of union debates as a result of the partisan leveraging of Gov. Scott Walker’s administration entering recall panic.
Texas is a “right to work” state, meaning employers do not have to hire only unionized workers. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is not. This means it’s up to each company to reach an accord with its employees about union policies. It also means situations escalate quickly. The Manitowoc Company is faced with just such a dilemma. As of Jan. 13, the manufacturer wants to move away from being a “union shop,” or a company that employs only union members. A 200-strong picketing line of unionized machinists says differently.
This is just one strike in a slew of recent union struggles. As of early January, Wisconsin police and firefighters are faced with the choice of either losing bargaining rights or taking contract concessions. Furthermore, an angry chasm has been created between public safety workers, who are just now having to deal with the consequences of Walker’s Legislature, and other government employees who have been without adequate pay for a while.
Additionally, rallies are taking place in Wausau, where a juvenile corrections counselor was sent home without pay for wearing a T-shirt with a union logo. An investigation is being launched, but it’s unclear as to how far up the decision goes. As reported by the Wausau Daily Herald, Ken Pickett, a retired school teacher, said, “People [in the management] are trying to appease Walker and his agenda.”
Union disputes, while certainly the focal point, are set against a background of little snags telling us the administration’s days are numbered. In the last week alone, Walker was booed at a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event at the Capitol and was denounced by the keynote speaker. Meanwhile, jobs are down, redistricting may fall out and a close appointee may be charged with theft.
It’s easy to imagine the current Wisconsin state government as a western, and the recall as the showdown. Our antagonist, Walker, is starting his descent into madness. He’s losing his grip on the already-passed collective bargaining laws. He’s no longer sure he can trust his allies, and the unions are waiting in the wings to reverse his decisions the moment the recall succeeds. The future’s uncertain, paranoia’s setting in and there’s danger around every turn.
The denouement of every western, of course, is the culminating chaos, a no-holds-barred, one-man assault on the nameless and faceless forces of evil. With 200 strikers in Manitowoc, marchers in Wausau and a city full of dissatisfied policemen and firefighters, it’s easy to see how Walker might feel cornered and outnumbered. Unfortunately, Walker still has time left in office, and such extensive union backlash could still lead him to strike a blow to collective bargaining. A man apart with nothing left to lose, Walker can still go down shooting against workers and their rights.
Taylor Nye ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in archaeology, human evolutionary biology and Latin American studies.
