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Wisconsin “Right to Work” and the Budget Cuts: More for the Rich and Less for the Poor!

A Full-Scale Assault on Working Families

“Right to Work” legislation and the budget cuts proposed in Wisconsin are direct attacks on workers’ rights, public education, the University system, workers’ compensation, elder care, and the environment, to name a few. This coordinated attack on the livelihoods of Wisconsin workers is no coincidence, but rather, the result of the greedy interests of capitalists who aim to increase their profits at our expense. If passed, this budget and RTW legislation will result in a further downward economic spiral with massive layoffs and depressed wages.

“Right-to-Work”

The mass media and the capitalists call this recent legislative proposal “right to work.” They present this as a way to “liberate” Wisconsin workers from the “obligation” to join a union in order to get a job. What these hypocrites fail to explain is that the bill is designed so that unions are obligated to spend thousands of dollars representing all workers in the workplace even if they opt out of paying dues, cutting the unions to the bone so that they become ineffective vehicles for workers to actually negotiate and fight for better conditions.

This bill doesn’t come from the workers themselves, but from the lobbyists for big business (Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and ALEC) who do NOT have the interests of workers in mind. They seek to lower wages and benefits and attack our families! At the same time the corporations are making record profits, there is an increase in the productivity of labor, and there is a relative and absolute decrease in workers’ wages.

As attacks on the working class intensify in every corner of the globe, so too does the heroic response of our class: youth and workers from Spain to Greece, from India to China are fighting back against the austerity measures with massive struggles and, in some cases, the creation of new, massive left parties like SYRIZA in Greece and Podemos in Spain! Wisconsin in 2011 was an example for workers all around the world, and we can again lead the efforts to defeat these attacks. We need to be resolved and present a working class strategy based on three main points:

FOR A GENERAL STRIKE

We have the responsibility and the POWER to stop these attacks! All working families, with or without a union must stand strong against these attacks and their plans to destroy our standard of living.

“Not a light shines, not a wheel turns, without the permission of the working class.”

The leadership of the unions must call for, mobilize, and organize a statewide and national general strike! Workers and the youth have the power to paralyze the state and economy until the bosses understand that they cannot trifle with our futures! We should follow the inspiring example of the 26,000 dock workers in California, and the 36,000 striking oil refinery workers, and strengthen our movement by linking up with their struggles.

FOR A LABOR PARTY

We need clear demands to defend and improve our living conditions, based on a class program: for a real living wage; protections at work including freedom to organize, free health care and education, and affordable housing.To achieve this we need a LABOR PARTY that is not tied to big money and corporate interests. The Democratic Party has never been and never will be that party, despite the countless effort, hours, and money that workers and the union leadership has wasted on them. As a big business party, they will not defend our class! We confirmed this in 2011 when the energy and sacrifices of our union brothers and sisters was redirected into a recall election that swept our demands under the rug.

To stop the austerity measures the labor movement must break with the Democrats and form a real working-class party based on the unions!

FOR SOCIALISM

As the crisis of capitalism deepens, families around the world descend rapidly into poverty and misery. It is not enough to fight back and build our class organizations, we must also fight for the socialist transformation of society to put an end to capitalism’s endless horror.

Join the Workers International League to defend a class program to stop Scott Walker and to build the forces of socialism in the USA!

For a Statewide and National General Strike!

For a Labor Party based on the Unions!

Fight for the Socialist Revolution!

Contact us at [email protected]


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