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U.S Republicans Attack American unions - An omen for us?

By Brian Boyd VTHC Secretary

1 March 2011

The news is not good from the U.S. With post GFC public debt rising many American State Governors are lashing out at the wages and conditions of their employees.

Last year we saw many European governments go after hard won social and industrial rights of working people. This caused mass strikes and protests.

Similar activities are starting to happen in the U.S.

Republicans, fresh from their victories in the U.S. 2010 mid-term elections see a chance of fragmenting organised labour. Their aim is to cripple the public employee unions in particular.

Unable to get a series of anti-union measures through Congress, the Republican strategists are focusing their attention on state capitols where many newly-elected conservative governors and state legislative majorities are primed to carry out attacks on public employee unions.

A showdown battle began in Wisconsin, where the new Republican governor, Scott Walker, is trying to deny unions the right to collective bargaining and is prepared to call in the National Guard to enforce his dictate. His tactics have outraged not only the unions, but thousands of ordinary citizens of Wisconsin. The rallies opposing Walker at the state’s capitol of Madison have grown steadily.

Wisconsin, like virtually all U.S states, is in a budget crisis. Unions in the state recognise there are problems and are willing to negotiate, but Walker is determined to downsize the representation status of unions, no matter what it takes

In Indiana State AFL – CIO (the U.S. equivalent of the ACTU) leaders have recently mobilized thousands of union members to fight proposed bills that would reduce jobless benefits, eliminate the prevailing wage, approve a phoney “right to work” law and cut off the sources of union revenue – the dues from union members.

Moreover, many states are sponsoring legislation that would make it impossible for unions to engage in political action, because they would need the written consent of each union member – annually.

In Australia our federal government has said we have done a lot better, post GFC, than the rest of the world. This didn’t stop the S.A. State ALP government last year from attacking workers compensation, Long Service Leave rights and other conditions of S.A. workers - Protests occurred. The ‘over the top’ SA Treasurer lost his job soon after.

In Victoria we have the new Liberal Ballieu government. It is talking about ‘belt tightening’ as we enter into a year of public sector enterprise bargaining. Pre-election promises have already been broken.

We need to learn the lessons already coming out of the US and Europe. There will be a need for concerted collective strategies to defend the rights of organised labour so that the mess made by the creators of the global financial crisis is not imposed on ordinary working people and citizens.