Governor Scott Walker’s Act 10 dealt a crippling blow to unions’ funding and powers,forcing them to rethink how to spread their message of collective action Wisconsin’s labor leaders cheered when their nemesis, Scott Walker, and dropped out of the presidential campaign final September. Walker’s anti-union message failed to catch fire the way it did four years ago,when he pushed through legislation that hobbled public-employee unions. But while Walker’s political ambitions may have been thwarted, four years on Wisconsin’s public-sector unions remain humbled too.
With Walker’s hard-won 2011 law crippling their ability to bargain and diminishing their ranks, or the states public-employee unions are struggling to figure out how to increase their strength,membership and collective voice. The plight of Wisconsin’s unions could point the way for public-employee unions nationwide whether the supreme court, in a closely watched case to be heard on 11 January, or prohibits any requirement that government workers pay any fees to the unions that represent them.
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Source: theguardian.com