Legislatively Speaking
By Senator, Lena C. Taylor
Lena C. Taylor
We knew part two of the controversial Wisconsin Act 10 Bill was coming. However, the speed at which Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) shoved “Right to Work” into the legislative line-up caught many off guard.
The Right to Work bill prohibits unions at private companies from requiring workers to join the union and from having to pay dues, in order to have representation.
It is a contentious issue, dividing the country for years and what many may not realize is, this is not a new topic.
Early discussions can be traced back to 1936, when religious organizations, such as The Christian American Association, were against any talk of equalizing pay, providing benefits, and ensuring worker safety for minorities. The group, who supported the Jim Crow laws of the time, had partnered with Southern oil companies to make Right to Work a fullblown political movement. The groups disagreed that African-Americans should be paid fair wages and did not believe they should have the most basic civil rights.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights activists, often linked the fight against Right to Work with civil rights issues of the time. Dr. King was known to include the themes of labor and union support in many of his speeches.
In a 1961 speech, Dr. King remarked:
In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’
It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone… Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights.
Southern states, typically associated with oppressive working conditions for people of color, were the first to pass the negative Right to Work bills.
Using a message equating union growth with race-mixing and communism, the nation’s first Right to Work laws were put in place by using a state statue in Florida in 1943.
Fourteen states put Right to Work legislation in place in 1947.
Over the years, there have been waves when states have dusted off this legislation and made attempts to act.
Today, there are twentyfour states that have passed Right to Work legislation, most recently Michigan and Indiana in 2012.
Wisconsin, like the many other states that have seen Republicans gain control of the legislature, has swiftly moved to introduce these bills.
In fact, in a recent interview, Sen. Fitzgerald said he wanted to move quickly because he worried if unions started running television ads targeting senators, he might lose some votes.
Therefore, this week my Republican colleagues called for what’s known as an “extraordinary session.” Simply put, this is a type of session with a specific focus, taking up one or a narrowly defined set of bills or issues, in this case, Right to Work.
Republicans in at least five states — Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio and Missouri — have introduced or plan to introduce versions of the law in legislative sessions that will begin in January.
Legislators in Colorado, Kentucky, Montana and Pennsylvania are all likely to push similar laws, though union-friendly Democratic governors in each state will act as firewalls.
Sen. Fitzgerald even reported losing sleep over the possibility of lessening his grip on the 17 votes that will assure Right to Work is approved in the Senate this week.
Many of the workers and legislators, who oppose this bill, will likely have many late nights trying to figure out how to stop this harmful legislation.
But with great struggle, comes great reward, in the words of Dr. King: “The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.
Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life.
The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome.
When in the thirties the wave of union organization crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society.”
The bottom line is that Right to Work is not the way we do things in Wisconsin.
It cripples our fundamental right to join together, stick together and have a meaningful voice in the workplace.