Public Sector Nurses_3 3/17/11 9:26 PM Page 10
WAVE OF PROTEST
A Wisconsin union-busting bill has finally motivated
working people in America to fight back, and
NNU nurses are standing right alongside them
A S TA F F R E P O R T
U
nless you've been vacationing on the moon,
there's positively no way you could have missed the
collective awakening (from a long hibernation) of
the working people of America this winter.
It all started this February in Wisconsin, when
thousands of citizens started turning out en masse
at the Capitol to protest legislation proposed by
Gov. Scott Walker that would strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights in the name
of "balancing the budget." Demonstrators began camping out inside
the Capitol, thousands braved the cold and snow each day for rallies
outside, and 14 Democratic senators refused to attend sessions in
10
N AT I O N A L N U R S E
order to block the Republicans from convening the quorum needed
to pass the draconian bill.
Sadly, Walker's union-busting attack on ordinary, middle-class
public servants wasn't unusual at all. Similar bills have passed or
are being considered in Ohio, Indiana, Maine, Tennessee, Iowa,
Washington, you name it. Currently, they're directed at public-sector workers, who enjoy a much higher rate of unionization than private-sector workers, but the target is all working people. They are
just the latest in a decades-long push of anti-union legislation and
ideology by conservative think tanks and corporate forces like the
Koch brothers. Though the middle class has endured stagnant
wages for 30 years, is suffering the deepest recession and highest
W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G
MARCH 2011
