Anna Paretskaya is a PhD candidate in sociology at the New School for Social Research and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her primary academic focus is on the study of political and economic liberalizations and the relationship between democracy and capitalism. She has a front row seat observing the developing events in Madison. This is the first of a series of reports. Jeff
What started as a stunt by a group of University of Wisconsin-Madison students to deliver a few hundred “Valentine’s Day” cards from students, staff, and faculty to Governor Scott Walker asking him not to slash the university budget has now become national news: close to 100,000 Wisconsinites have come to the State Capitol in Madison over the past four days to protest the so-called “budget repair” bill, effectively occupying the building since Tuesday, diverting traffic from the streets around the Capitol, and hindering Madison’s recent, but beloved tradition, the Winter Festival, that was to take place in downtown’s isthmus area this weekend despite unusually warm temperatures.
On Tuesday, when state legislature’s finance committee was to take up the discussion of the governor’s bill, thousands of people from all over the state descended on the Capitol to lobby against it. At the 17-hour-long committee hearing—a “citizen filibuster,” as one speaker dubbed it—hundreds of Wisconsin residents spoke, nearly all against the bill, and scores expressed dismay at the governor’s attempt to take away the right of 175,000 Wisconsin’s public sector employees to collectively bargain. It wasn’t only union activists, Madison’s aging hippies, and liberal university professors, who waited for up to seven hours to make their two-minute statement before the committee. Amid nurses and teamsters and teacher aides were several self-describe
d Reaganites, fiscal conservatives, and Republicans (or newly ex-Republicans) who were just as distraught by the governor’s heavy-handedness. The UW-Madison’s teaching assistants’ union (TAA), which has been representing graduate employees for the past 40 years, expressed the prevailing sentiment best: “This bill is an affront to democracy on two important levels. First, it proposes to completely eliminate the fundamental human right of fair representation and voice in determining workplace conditions. Second, the process for the passage of this bill has been shamefully undemocratic.” The governor of the state that prides itself on transparency and integrity of the political process, referred to here as “The Wisconsin Idea,” wanted the legislature to pass the bill within a week of its introduction, not giving the pubic much time to weigh in, nor for the elected representatives a chance to debate amendments.
Most of the rally chants and handmade posters that now adorn the hallways of the Capitol are about democracy, solidarity, government accountability, and unions, not so much about pay cuts or benefit reductions (although no doubt all working families in Wisconsin are concerned about those too). In the 1930s, Wisconsin was a birthplace of one of the largest public-employee unions in the country, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the first state to pass a comprehensive collective bargaining law some twenty-five years later. Today, protesters of the bill undoubtedly sense that they are again on the front lines of the battle for the fate of the labor movement. But it seems that for many of them it is just as much about democracy and exercising their rights more generally: there are constant references to the recent democratic uprising in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. A recent army veteran said at one of the rallies that he had not fought for the democratic rights overseas to have them taken away from him at home. Daily rallies outside of the Capitol begin with the singing of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The crowd inside the building recited the “Pledge of Allegiance” along with the lawmakers at the opening of Wednesday’s legislative session that was broadcast on closed-circuit TV.
The bill is still up for a vote: the governor hasn’t backed away from any of its draconian stipulations, and Republican legislators have vowed not to amend it in any significant way. Supporters of the bill are expected in Madison on Saturday. It is unclear how many will arrive and how many of them will actually be from Wisconsin. According to a recent poll, two thirds of Wisconsinites believe the bill goes too far and strongly oppose it (including the provision to remove collective bargaining rights). Even though the legislative committee stopped taking testimony early Wednesday morning, people keep signing up to speak before an on-going listening session by the state assembly’s Democrats.
At the very least, the governor’s stance has clearly galvanized the labor and progressive movements. A running joke among local labor activists has been: “Who hired Scott Walker as a lead organizer?” Although they also wish this wasn’t gallows humor.
I was very pleased to see a posting on the situation in Wisconsin. It raises some very interesting issues. One of the first deals with the difficulty of being both participant and observer. These types of observations are very difficult to make (I know from experience). These types of observations may be facilitated by a phenomenological suspension of belief (sometimes called bracketing or epoché). It isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile.
Anna points out that the UW-Madison teaching assistants union considers the bill under consideration an affront to democracy because it eliminates a human right and the process is undemocratic. Is the situation an affront to democracy or is the situation more about the perceived fairness of what is taking place? From a political process viewpoint, a governor, senate and legislature were elected democratically and appear to be following legal practices in attempting to make these changes. The governor asserts that the changes he is pursuing are consistent with his campaign.
Opponents of the bill believe that it is fundamentally unfair to the workers involved, and the process has not been adequate considering the serious of the changes. They point to a long history of being able to negotiate for its members. The Governor contends that the state is broke and he doesn’t have anything to offer in a negotiation. The Governor contends that the only alternative he has to meet a balanced budget state requirement is to proceed with these changes; fire state employees; or raise taxes which he feels will chase more businesses away and worsen the problem.
State employees believe that it is unfair to take away their rights to negotiate on pension and health benefits; and what they have is the result of concessions made in prior negotiations. The Governor contends that the world has changed, and small contributions on pension and healthcare benefits are needed to help keep the state solvent. The contention made by the Governor is that even with these contributions, state employees will have to contribute substantially less to their pensions and healthcare benefits than workers in the private sector. The Governor asks, is this fair?
These are complex issues that may have less to do with democratic process than with perceptions of fairness. The bigger issue may be as to whether or not public sector unions across the United States will be weakened if the bill is passed.
It is clear that people on all sides of this issue have the right to demonstrate against and for this bill on their own time. Questions have been raised if state employees have the right to call in sick in order to demonstrate. It is clear that demonstration signs are helpful to bring attention to issues, but it also appears that many signs used are not consistent with the current call for civility.
The democratic process situation is made more complex by Democratic Senators (and one Independent) fleeing the Capitol to prevent a vote on the bill. Is withdrawing from deliberations on a bill consistent with democratic processes?
A fundamental question by many supporters of private sector unions is whether or not public sector unions are a good idea. Opponents of public sector unions point to a letter written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Luther C. Steward (President of the National Federation of federal Employees) dated August 16, 1937 in which he expressed significant concerns about public sector unions and militant tactics.
Thanks for this compelling eye-witness account. I have been deeply troubled by what’s been going on in Wisconsin as well as in Congress. The crying “BROKE” mantra is clearly an excuse for the ultra-right to gain their true objectives, which are to break unions and shrink government to the detriment of the middle class and less fortunate. If debt were really the issue, why favor big oil and the super rich (not to mention Nascar — read Gail Collins yesterday)? Governor Walker made a crisis of his own by cutting business and other taxes — read today’s NY Times. Cutting taxes won’t cure the economic crisis when the problem is a lack of demand. Walker also refused many millions of dollars to build a railway, which would have produced jobs in the near term and spurred economic growth in the long term. Let the money refused by him and Governor Christie be given to other states that will prosper from it.
As for democracy, taking away rights people have fought for doesn’t sound democratic to me. What would a Republican say to someone if they wanted to take away their Glock? What also doesn’t sound democratic is refusing to negotiate (that’s why the Wisconsin Democratic legislators are in hiding). The teachers are willing to give, but not Governor Walker. Even the teacher who teaches Walker’s son is protesting! I have family members who are and were teachers. It saddens me that teachers are so disrespected. They work tremendously hard, are required to get an advanced degree, but are not paid very much. The one thing they had were good benefits. There is a tremendous need to attract the best and brightest to the teaching profession, because it is crucial for the economic well-being of the country. We also want firemen to save us. They are our heroes, but obviously not to Governor Walker.
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