by James Parks, Mar 1, 2011
The attacks on public employees has energized working people across the country, motivating them and helping them to believe they are going to win their struggle to keep bargaining rights in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana, says Katie Kistner, vice president of AFSCME Council 40 in Wisconsin.
Kistner was one of three workers to address the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Washington, D.C. today.
All the workers said the attacks also have helped unify working people. Pete Rimsans, executive director of the Indiana State Building and Construction Trades Council, said a proposed a new law in the Hoosier State, which supporters misleadingly call “right to work,” brought working people together. Even though those who work in the building trades would be exempt from the proposed law, Rimsans says, everybody strongly opposed the plan.