Labor & Employment Law

Packers Support Wis. Public Employees

By Tula Connell

Members of the reigning Super Bowl champs have come out in strong support of the state’s public employees and in opposition to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s attacks on the state’s public servants, which include threats to call out the National Guard if they strike or protest his extreme measures.

In a statement issued moments ago, current and former members of the Green Bay Packers say it’s “teamwork on and off the field that makes the Packers and Wisconsin great.”

It is the same dedication of our public workers every day that makes Wisconsin run.  They are the teachers, nurses and child care workers who take care of us and our families.  But now in an unprecedented political attack, Gov. Walker is trying to take away their right to have a voice and bargain at work.

Further, the letter points out that “the right to negotiate wages and benefits is a fundamental underpinning of our middle class.

When workers join together it serves as a check on corporate power and helps ALL workers by raising community standards.  Wisconsin?s long standing tradition of allowing public-sector workers to have a voice on the job has worked for the state since the 1930s.  It has created greater consistency in the relationship between labor and management and a shared approach to public work.

These public workers are Wisconsin?s champions every single day and we urge the governor and the state legislature to not take away their rights.

Signers of the statement include: Curtis Fuller, Charles Jordan, Bob Long, Steve Okoniewski, Brady Popping, Jason Spitz and Chris Jackie.  

Go, Cheeseheads!

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).