Wisconsin, March 27: Union workers in the US state of Wisconsin have once again taken to the streets to protest against a law that limits their bargaining powers.
The protesters rallied at the state Capitol on Saturday.
The new Republican Wisconsin Assembly early Friday passed a bill that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, the first significant action on the governor’s plan.
Republicans say the measure is necessary to restrict state spending and reduce massive deficits. Democrats and union activists say the law is actually intended to bust unions to benefit Republicans politically.
There is still some debate whether the bill is now a law in effect or not.
Minority Leader Peter Barca told reporters the Republican contention that the union law is now active “perpetuates misgivings and further muddies the Republican record of how they handled the deliberative process.”
“It’s published, it’s law,” State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said.
University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Howard Schweber believes that Friday’s actions — and the questions over whether the law is, in fact, now the law — can put the state in “entirely uncharted waters.”
Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal contains a number of provisions he says are designed to fill the state’s $137 million deficit and lay the groundwork for fixing a projected $3.6 billion shortfall in the upcoming 2011-13 budget.
However, the law would strip almost all public sector workers of their right to collectively bargain benefits and work conditions.
Democrats and unions see the measure as an attack on workers’ rights and an attempt to cripple union support for Democrats.
Wisconsin has been at the head of a phalanx of 37 states looking to curb union influence over state budgets.
It is now being challenged in a court although the Wisconsin Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will take up the case.
——–Agencies