Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back

In early 2011, the nation was stunned to watch Wisconsin’s state capitol in Madison come under sudden and unexpected occupation by union members and their allies. The protests to defend collective bargaining rights were militant and practically unheard of in this era of declining union power. Nearly forty years of neoliberalism and the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression have battered the labor movement, and workers have been largely complacent in the face of stagnant wages, slashed benefits and services, widening unemployment, and growing inequality.

That is, until now. Under pressure from a union-busting governor and his supporters in the legislature, and inspired by the massive uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, workers in Wisconsin shook the nation with their colossal display of solidarity and outrage. Their struggle is still ongoing, but there are lessons to be learned from the Wisconsin revolt. This timely book brings together some of the best labor journalists and scholars in the United States, many of whom were on the ground at the time, to examine the causes and impact of events, and suggest how the labor movement might proceed in this new era of union militancy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword, Robert W. McChesney

Editor’s Introduction: Something is in the Air, Michael D. Yates

PART ONE: ON THE GROUND IN MADISON

1. Disciplining Labor, Dismantling Democracy: Rebellion and Control in Wisconsin, Connor Donegan
2. Capitalist Crisis and the Wisconsin Uprising, Andrew Sernatinger
3. Who Were the Leaders of the Wisconsin Uprising? Lee Sustar
4. A New American Workers’ Movement Has Begun, Dan La Botz
5. The Wisconsin Uprising, Frank Emspak

PART TWO: MOVING FORWARD: THE LESSONS OF WISCONSIN

6. Back to the Future: Union Survival Strategies in Open Shop America, Rand Wilson and Steve Early
7. In the Wake of Wisconsin, What Next? Jane Slaughter and Mark Brenner
8. What Can We Learn from Wisconsin? Stephanie Luce

PART THREE: BROADENING AND DEEPENING THE STRUGGLE

9. Potholes and Roadblocks on “The Roads Not Taken,” Elly Leary
10. The Assault on Public Services: Will Unions Lament the Attacks or Fight Back, Michael Hurley and Sam Gindin
11. Marching Away from the Cold War, David Bacon
12. “No, No, No, the People Have the Power,” Dave Zirin
13. Fighting Wage Cuts in Upstate New York Teaches Chemical Workers the Value of Mobilization, Jon Flanders
14. Beyond Wisconsin: Seeking New Priorities as Labor Challenges War, Michael Zweig
15. Building Communities of Solidarity from Madison to Bend, Fernando Gapasin
16. Class Warfare in Longview, Washington: “No Wisconsin Here,” Michael D. Yates

Afterword

About the Contributors

Notes

Index

Michael D. Yates is a writer, editor, and labor educator. He is Associate Editor of Monthly Review and Editorial Director of Monthly Review Press. He is the author of Why Unions Matter and The ABCs of the Economic Crisis (with Fred Magdoff) among other titles.