Labor & Employment Law

Walker?s Attack on Middle Class Could Hurt State?s $20 Billion Forestry Industry

By James Parks

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker?s crusade to attack the middle class to pay back the politicians who supported him in the election could  jeopardize the state?s $20.5 billion forest products industry, three key state legislators said this week.

In a press release, three members of the state Assembly Committee on Forestry, said Wisconsin?s forests and forest sector companies support more than 300,000 jobs. Thousands of those jobs are in pulp and paper companies certified as sustainable managers by the Forest Stewardship Council and other similar groups. Without the competitive edge provided by certification, they said, Wisconsin?s high-grade paper industry would have been much more severely impacted during the recession of 2008-2009. 

The certification standards of require that certified organizations comply with internationally recognized labor standards, including the rights of workers to collectively bargain. Eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employees who manage state and county forests jeopardizes the certified status of any company with wood supplied from public lands, they said.

?Northern Wisconsin?s economy depends on a strong forest products market,? stated Rep. Nick Milroy (D), the ranking Democratic member on the Forestry Committee.

Governor Walker?s proposal to strip the rights of workers in the forestry sector will hurt the marketability of our forest products and could cripple the economy of our region.

Wisconsin also would forfeit $46.6 million in federal transportation funds if  Walker’s plan to silence workers is approved. Under federal labor law, states lose that funding if they eliminate collective bargaining rights that were on the books at the time the federal money was authorized.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).