Wisc. May be Crushing Blow for Labor

While organized labor is playing up its solidarity amid the support is has received in Wisconsin’s capital, union officials elsewhere are extremely worried. Their concern focuses on what will happen if Wisconsin’s public unions lose in their battle against Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s effort curb their collective bargaining rights, Politico reports.

Some labor leaders say a big-time loss in Wisconsin could translate into similar setbacks all around the country. “Some of the labor people are saying ‘It’s the beginning of the fight back,’ ” a top labor official tells Politico, speaking of Wisconsin. “But if the labor movement rallies and gets run over in Wisconsin, it opens the gates in every state” for governors to start pushing harder to cut benefits for labor, the official says.