...Wisconsin guv’s strategy is ‘divide and conquer’
(From Page 1
also targeted Walker donors for cam-
paign finance law violations; one rail-
road executive pled guilty and paid a
$167,000 fine. And two top aides were
charged with embezzling $60,000 in-
tended for a veterans’ support group.
Since winning the May 8 primary,
Barrett hasn’t focused his campaign on
collective bargaining rights but rather
on Wisconsin’s economy and on the
criminal investigation around Walker.
TV ads for Barrett say Wisconsin lost
23,900 jobs last year.
Walker ads say the reverse, that the
state gained 23,321 jobs. And Walker
has more money to spend on ads, hav-
ing raised over $25 million, much from
out-of-state millionaires. As a result,
Wisconsinites are being subjected to
non-stop television and radio ads, mail-
ers, robocalls from the Walker cam-
paign.
Polls of “likely voters” show the two
as neck and neck.
But for unionists, it’s a defining
fight, made all the clearer with the May
10 release by a documentary film-
maker of video footage from January
2011. In the video, Walker comes up to
give a kiss to billionaire Diane Hen-
dricks, a major donor and owner of
ABC Supply Company.
RECLAIMING WISCONSIN: At the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO office in
Milwaukee, a phone bank is part of the effort to recall union-busting governor
Scott Walker.
“Any chance we’ll ever get to be a
completely red state, and work on these
unions?” Hendricks asks Walker. “Oh
yeah,” Walker nods.
“And become right to work?” Hen-
dricks asks.
Walker’s reply: “We’re going to start
in a couple weeks with our budget ad-
justment bill. The first step is we’re go-
ing to deal with collective bargaining
for all public employees, ‘cuz you use
divide and conquer.”
Walker doesn’t spell out who is to be
divided and conquered, but his bill is a
masterpiece of the strategy, attempting
to pit public against public employee,
nonunion against union, private sector
union against public sector union, and
even — by exempting police and fire
unions from the attack — public sector
union against public sector union. But
Walker may not have anticipated the
counter-reaction — a high degree of
solidarity by unions and an outpouring
of support by nonunion working people
nationwide.
Now, backed by money, Walker is
fighting to stay in power with an over-
whelming “air war” of broadcast adver-
tising.
Organized labor is hoping to over-
come that with a “ground war” of vol-
unteer. In Wisconsin, the AFL-CIO and
other labor organizations are focusing
on door-to-door and face-to-face con-
tacts with a field operation that’s bigger
than the Obama campaign was in 2008.
“We Are Wisconsin,” the labor-backed
coalition, has set up 29 field offices
statewide. Nationally, the AFL-CIO’s
new Super PAC, Workers Voice, is co-
ordinating fundraising and volunteer
signup at its web site, workersvoice.org.
At http://bit.ly/Km2cKF, supporters can
sign up online to make phone calls, con-
tribute, and get campaign updates.
Labor organizations nationwide are
also helping out.
Four staff members of Tigard-based
United Food and Commercial Work-
ers Local 555, an affiliate of the
Change to Win labor coalition, were
dispatched to Wisconsin to assist in the
get out the vote campaign.
And the Oregon AFL-CIO has or-
ganized eight shifts of phone banking,
including, in the final week, 3 to 6:30
p.m. June 3, 4, and 5. To sign up, call
232-1195, extension 114.
UFCW’s Anderson
re-elected to Salem
Electric Coop
Jeff Anderson, secretary-treasurer of
United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555, won re-election
to a seat on the board of directors of
Salem Electric, a private, non-profit,
member-owned electric cooperative
serving 20,000 members in Salem
and Keizer. The seven-member
board is elected by the members it
serves. Following its annual meeting
in May, the board reorganized and
elected Anderson to serve as
president. Anderson, of Keizer, was
first elected to the board in 1985 and
has served as secretary-treasurer
and vice-president. Anderson’s term
expires in 2015.
Northwest Oregon Labor Council
recognition dinner is June 2
The Northwest Oregon Labor Council will host the 15th annual Labor Ap-
preciation and Recognition Night Saturday, June 2, at Milwaukie Elks Lodge,
13121 SE McLoughlin Blvd. A no-host cocktail hour starts at 5 p.m. with
dinner at 6 p.m.
Dinner tickets are $15 per person. Raffle tickets also will be sold for $1
each or seven for $5.
The labor council is still accepting cash and prize donations for the raffle.
The dinner and awards ceremony, serves as a fundraiser for Labor’s Com-
munity Service Agency, while also recognizing individuals for their service
and support to the labor community.
For more information or to order tickets, call 503-235-9444.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JUNE 1, 2012
