Opponents of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin are calling a right-to-work bill passed by both houses of the state legislature a giant conspiracy by huge corporations and wealthy conservatives that will destroy the state’s economy.
“The passage of this bill is another step in the conspiracy of multinational corporations and right wing billionaires to rig the economy against average working people,” declared Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, in an email to supporters obtained by The Daily Caller.
“When added to the other elements of the conspiracy, encouraging the outsourcing of jobs, driving down the value of the minimum wage, devastating public employee unions, and gutting our generational investments in our schools and colleges, it will accelerate a race to the bottom by shrinking the middle class,” Kraig also wrote. “It will make it harder and harder for millions of working families shutout [sic] of opportunity to work their way up the economic ladder and claim their piece of the American dream.”
The legislation process in Wisconsin is “rigged,” Kraig claimed. Conservative supporters of right-to-work legislation are “ideological” and “willing to act on fraudulent facts made up out of whole cloth by the special interests they serve,” he said.
“In due time their deliberate rigging of the economy to shrink and shut off the middle class will become an undeniable fact, and will inspire a wave of outrage,” he promised.
Kraig also argued that the bill “undermines the fundamental freedom of workers to band together,” though the legislation does nothing to inhibit collective bargaining between unions and employers.
On its website, Citizen Action of Wisconsin describes itself as a “coalition of individuals and organizations committed to achieving social, economic, and environmental justice” which “unites over 100 dues-paying affiliates.”
Wisconsin is poised to become the 25th state with a right-to-work law. A statewide bill addressing the issue has passed through the state’s Senate and Assembly.
Gov. Scott Walker is expected to sign the bill into law on Monday. (RELATED: Is Scott Walker The Antichrist? The Evidence Mounts)
The Wisconsin bill would outlaw forced unionization as a condition of any employment and allow individual employees to opt out of paying union dues or becoming a union member in order to keep a job.
The potential passage of a right-to-work law in Wisconsin comes a few years another bill, Act 10, significantly changed the collective bargaining process for most public employees within the state.
Americans tend to approve of right-to-work laws. A Gallup poll from August 2014 showed right-to-work approval at 71 percent. Union approval stood at 53 percent.Democrats oppose right-to-work legislation because they believe it weakens the power of unions.
“It is evident that strong unions build a strong healthy economy,” Madison, Wis. Democratic Mayor Paul Soglin said last month. “The impediments to economic development and job creation are not high taxes or organized labor.” (RELATED: Madison Mayor Opens Up On Right-To-Work Opposition)
Right-to-work advocates argue that the legislation allows employees more freedom and can also benefit unions. Between 2010 and 2013, union membership in right-to-work states collectively grew by 57,000 while mandatory union membership states saw a drop of 248,000 members, according to Scott Manley, vice president for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
As of Monday morning, nearly 300 email recipients have responded to Kraft’s plea to “take a minute to tell us and others that you’re committed to moving forward.”
“SLEEPING, APATHETIC WISCONSINITES NEED TO WAKE UP” and “SMELL THE AWFUL RIGHT WING EXTREMIST TAKEOVER STENCH, AND PUT THEIR FISTS AND VOTES UP FOR A REAL COMMUNITY,” wrote one particularly angry respondent. “The VAST MAJORITY OF ALL PUBLIC WORKERS ARE UNDERPAID AND OVERWORKED.”
Kraig, a 1999 University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate. His Facebook likes include Occupy Milwaukee, SEIU 775, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, and, perhaps surprisingly, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
A second employee of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Anna Dvorak, describes herself as a “community organizer” in an additional appeal to supporters.
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