Wisconsin Protests Finds Support from New York Unions

By Emily Katz

February 24, 2011

Showing solidarity with the union protesters in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana, union members in New York City gathered outside City Hall on Wednesday to demonstrate how union workers across the country are a united front in protesting state legislations that circumscribe unions’ collective bargaining rights.

A line formed outside City Hall, where security guards were letting demonstrators in five at a time. Amongst the demonstrators waiting was Michael Arrabito, 50, a member of the American Postal Workers Union. “I am here to show support for all my union brothers and veterans,” he said. Mr. Arrabito has worked as a maintenance worker at the United States Postal Service for twenty-seven years, he said, “I gave my life to the U.S. government,” and now he wants is for the government to start taking care of America. Like many union workers, he is concerned that with the unions’ loss of collective bargaining rights, his forty-hour workweek may be prolonged and that he will lose his health care and pension.

According to the January 2010 Current Population Survey, 36.2% of public sectors are unionized, and union workers across the country are angered by the proposed bills that call for the busting of public-sector unions.

Jack Ahern, President of the NYC Central Labor Council, said, “Attacking the role of unions in America demeans the very principles upon which our nation was founded. We shall not let these attacks go unanswered today, tomorrow, or ever.”

In an interview in the New York Times article, “A Watershed Moment for Public Sector Unions” published on February 19, Mr. Walker denies accusations that he is attacking the middle class and purely out to bust unions. He claims that the legislation is about “balancing the budget.”

However, many union workers still hold the Republican party responsible for assaulting rights. “The Republicans are using the crisis, meaning our budget problem, to attack collective bargaining,” said James N. Perlstein, the co-chair of the Professional Staff Congress, a union for the faculty and staff at the City University of New York (CUNY).

According to John Trumpbour, the Research Director at The Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, the Republicans have long viewed the public sector unions as being too powerful a force in disrupting their political agenda. “Knocking unions out of the box will fatally weaken unions and their support for the Democrats,” he said.

In their ninth day of demonstration, the protesters in Wisconsin are getting both national solidarity and international solidarity from countries like Egypt and Germany. Mr. Trumpbour also said that he thinks such demonstrations and protests “can be very helpful.” Democratic senators have also block a quorum in efforts to stop the legislation from going into vote, according to the New York Times article, “Discord, State by State,” published on February 24.