Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Attacks on Public-Employee Unions Undermine the Middle Class #wiunion

Attacks on Public-Employee Unions Undermine the Middle Class

Attacks on Public-Employee Unions Undermine the Middle Class

by: Dmitri Iglitzin and Carson Glickman-Flora, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Attacks on Public-Employee Unions Undermine the Middle Class
Tens of thousands of people gather in support of union employees in Madison, Wisconsin, on March 12, 2011. (Photo: Narayan Mahon / The New York Times)

It's not like we didn't see it coming.

At the very start of this year, January 2, The New York Times warned us of the coming battle with a front-page story, "Public Workers Facing Outrage in Budget Crisis." The Economist, in its January 8 issue, gave us, "The battle ahead: confronting the public-sector unions." And the January Time Magazine, "Public Employees Become Public Enemy No. 1."

So, nobody should have been surprised when public employees became enemy No. 1 in Wisconsin, whose governor and Republican-dominated Legislature are pressing a bill that would eviscerate most of