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Wisconsin Indiana Right to Work bill on the move Ayear ago, Ohio union members were shut out of conversations regarding changes to public employee collective bargaining. OCSEA members were banned from offering testimony and locked out of the Statehouse. Now Indiana politicians are using similar strong-arm tactics to bring down private sector unions and the working class members that belong to them. Anti-worker politicians in the Indiana Legislature recently rammed through the most controversial anti-worker bill in Indiana history. Republican leaders denied public testimony and legislator amendments to the state’s highly contentious Right to Work bill, which limits collective bargaining rights for members of private sector unions. What is Right to Work? Don’t let the name Right to Work (RTW) confuse you. It has nothing to do with giving workers more rights. Rather, RTW serves to bring down the entire middle class by diluting the ability for labor organizations to effectively represent its members. Workers in states with RTW laws, where there are harsh limitations on joining a union, have a consistently lower quality of life than those in other states. RTW means lower wages, fewer people with health care, higher poverty and infant mortality rates, lower Workers’ Compensation benefits for injured workers and more workplace deaths and injuries. • The average RTW worker makes $5,333 a year less.* • RTW states have a poverty rate of 12.5 percent, compared with 10.2 percent in other states.* • The rate of workplace deaths is 51 percent higher in RTW states, where unions can’t speak up on behalf of workers.* Oklahoma indiana RTW fails in Oklahoma A booming economy. More businesses. Job creation. This is exactly what the state of Oklahoma touted RTW legislation would offer its state in 2001. And now, over a decade later, none of that has materialized. According to the AFL-CIO,** citing the U.S. Bureau of Statistics and Oklahoma Dept. of Commerce, the number of new companies coming into Oklahoma since the law passed in 2001 has “decreased by onethird and the number of manufacturing jobs in the state has fallen by one-third.” And now Indiana legislators want to go forward despite what has happened in Oklahoma. Recently, an Oklahoma private sector employee, who lost her job with General Motors in the years after the bill passed, made a plea to Indiana: “I have to warn the people of Indiana of the slow, vicious cycle that RTW has on families," said Kitty Asberry. Could Ohio be next? “Yes, especially if we continue to elect anti-worker politicians who believe we should invest in corporations and not the average, everyday American,” said OCSEA Vice President Kelvin Jones. * The Truth about Right to Work – AFL-CIO ** Oklahoma Workers Expose RTW lies, AFL-CIO, Jan. 11, 2012. Activists in Indiana take to the streets to protest anti-worker legislation. 8 Public Employee Quarterly Winter 2012
OCSEA activists assist with the Wisconsin effort in late 2011. OHIO Life after collective bargaining The case of Wisconsin OCSEA activists recently joined the fight in Wisconsin, urging employees to recommit to their union by signing union cards and by signing petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker. “We won in Ohio at the ballot box. And you can too!” OCSEA activist James Beverly, Jr., told AFSCME members in Wisconsin. Beverly and other OCSEA activists traveled to Wisconsin at the end of 2011. Wisconsin activists are using the recent attack against collective bargaining in their state as an opportunity to mount a major counterattack against anti-worker politicians in 2012. Attacks on collective bargaining rights sparked massive protests and set off unprecedented recall campaigns against Wisconsin state senators last year. And, just last month, “Recall Walker” organizers turned in over 1 million signatures to put a recall of the anti-labor governor on the ballot in November. Life for public employee union members in Wisconsin has been turned on its head since the law passed that obliterated collective bargaining rights for state workers. Imagine the worse case scenario, and that’s exactly what these workers and their families are facing right now. Bargaining for Wisconsin state employee union members has been limited to wages, and even those wages are given a non-negotiable cap. Contracts are limited to one year and wages are frozen Did you know? Wisconsin is the home of the public employee labor movement. That’s right. Wisconsin led the nation in giving public employees the right to bargain in 1952 — nearly 30 years before Ohio. And Madison, WI was the birthplace of AFSCME, founded in 1936. until those contracts are settled. Workers can no longer bargain over health care and other benefits, work place safety, seniority, work assignments, overtime and much more. And the grievance process has been thrown out the window, with only employers choosing (and paying) mediators to solve workplace disputes…that is, in the event they are even addressed. Health care for family coverage doubled almost overnight with the passage of the bill, and a free-rider clause means unions must still represent those who do not pay union dues. But, while public workers’ voice in the workplace has been virtually silenced, they aren’t taking it lying down. Wisconsin AFSCME reps say that despite massive restrictions on joining unions and even greater restrictions on dues collection after signing a union card, members continue to remain loyal to their union and are “recommitting” in record numbers. AFSCME, which originated in Wisconsin 76 years ago, vows to bring back collective bargaining to the state once again and build the union movement stronger than ever. “We’ve been able to gain back our rights in other states where they’ve been taken away. But the only way we do it is by sticking together and continuing to fight,” said Debbie Garcia, AFSCME International’s area field services director for Wisconsin. Photos courtesy of Conor Fox, AFSCME. Winter 2012 Public Employee Quarterly 9
Page 1 and 2: AFSCME LOCAL 11/AFL-CIO PUBLIC EMPL
Page 3 and 4: One big battle, or death by 1,000 c
Page 5 and 6: WILLIAMS LOCAL AFL-CIO Ohio Civil S
Page 7: Prison Privatization Plan Curtailed
Page 11 and 12: Despite privatization, Adam Ruth, c
Page 13 and 14: We rallied. We signed. We marched.
Page 15 and 16: AFSCME honors Ohio, Wisconsin activ
Page 17 and 18: Brandi POtts Pott's seven-year-old
Page 19 and 20: It's time to apply! 2012 Les Best S
Page 21 and 22: ut not giving up On Nov. 28, 2011,
Page 23 and 24: Going above the call of duty Kudos

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