Wisconsin Workers Sticking with the Union

http://blog.aflcio.org/2012/02/23/wisconsin-workers-sticking-with-the-union/

by Mike Hall, Feb 23, 2012

Two groups of Wisconsin public employees showed Gov. Scott Walker (R) and his anti-worker allies that they are not intimidated by Walker’s law eliminates most collective bargaining rights for public workers.

One the law’s provisions require workers to annually vote to recertify their union and last night workers—members of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 95—at Community Care of Central Wisconsin (CCCW) and Portage County–overwhelmingly voted yes. Out of the 133 CCCW employees just 12 voted no as did just 4 of the 65 Portage County workers.

OPEIU President Michael Goodwin says the vote by nurses, social workers, computer programmers and other professionals “defeated Walker and his program [and] sets the stage statewide for workers to fight back and win.”

Local 95 President Jeff Jester says the union will

now take these votes of confidence from our members and use them to fight for restoration of collective bargaining rights for all public sector employees in Wisconsin.