Will Wisconsin recall vote affect Illinois labor movement?
As Wisconsin voters today decide the fate of Gov. Scott Walker, union experts and political analysts say whether or not Walker survives this historic recall vote, it could trigger a larger fight over collective bargaining rights in this state.
Walker gutted collective bargaining rights for most of Wisconsin's public workers, prompting an uprising of labor unions, and drawing more than 100,000 protesters, including droves of supporters from Illinois and neighboring states, to march on the state Capitol of Madison. Attempts to recall him have in turn prompted a national influx of money from his supporters.
Jack Roeser, a Carpentersville businessman and chairman of the conservative Family Taxpayers Foundation, said what has played out in Wisconsin over the past year has energized conservatives to take the fight to Springfield. He believes Illinois is headed for a showdown with unions that have contributed to the state's pension crisis.
“We've got a very tough fight on our hands because we're much bigger and the abuse, the amount of money that's going through (unions' and politicians') hands, it's going to cause them to fight like nobody's business,” said Roeser, a longtime advocate of education reform.
The fight in Wisconsin already has had an impact in Illinois, said Emily Rosenberg, director of the DePaul University Labor Education Center at the School for New Learning.
“No governor in their right mind wants 100,000 people marching in Springfield,” Rosenberg said. “There was a move to do here in Illinois, in a modified version, what Walker did in Wisconsin. But when people rose up like that and went to Madison, it backed this state government off. Obviously, it's going to be a shot in the arm for the labor movement, if they win it.”
If Walker hangs on, though, it would be a wake-up call for unions about the power of big money, Rosenberg said.
“It's also scary for workers in general because the handwriting's on the wall, 'Don't try and assert your rights because we will smash you,'” she added.
Paul Green, director of the Institute for Politics at Roosevelt University, isn't convinced Wisconsin's recall vote will have significant ramifications on the Illinois labor movement.
“(It's) tangential at best,” Green said. “If they unseat Walker, the chances are Illinois labor will start flexing (its) muscles. It will be spun either way. It's not Armageddon. Are suburban school teachers going to start striking in Arlington Heights and Palatine ... and start demanding more money based on what happens in Wisconsin? It's an enormous stretch.”
Illinois politicians should pay heed to the cost of Walker's anti-union policies, said Charlie McBarron, spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, the state's largest teacher's union with more than 130,000 members.
“Gov. Walker is spending tens of millions of dollars to keep his job,” McBarron said. “Governors in Ohio and Florida have found out, as Walker has learned, that when politicians overreach, they will pay a high price. While certainly there are some Illinois politicians who like some of Walker's ideas, we're not aware of any Illinois lawmakers who want the sort of civil war breaking out here that we've seen in Wisconsin.”
Even with lawmakers still hashing out pension reform legislation and debating public pension cutbacks, labor advocates say Illinois will never become a battleground for workers' rights like Wisconsin has.
“Our governor and legislators have a different view of how to work with unions and employees ... (they have) always been willing to negotiate,” said Des Plaines Mayor Marty Moylan, a retired member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 134 who was among the thousands of protesters in Madison last year.
Moylan said Walker's message just didn't resonate with voters.
“No matter who wins or loses, the workers, the people who were affected by it, are going to make their stands known,” he added.