Teresa Casertano in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department sends us this report.
As tens of thousands of Wisconsin residents rally and march across the state tomorrow for the fourth weekend in a row, they will receive support from union members in Berlin who are holding a solidarity rally. Members of the German telecommunications union, ver.di, will turn out to to support bargaining rights for workers in the United States. They know that collective bargaining is not possible unless workers are able to join unions and participate in their own organizations free from the fear of reprisals by their employers.
In a letter to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is trying to take away the right of public employees to bargain for a good, middle-class life, Frank Bsirske, chairman of the United Services Union ver.di of Germany, said Walker’s “proposed unilateral action” is:
an attack on one of the fundamental pillars in a well-developed democracy, where social dialogue and collective bargaining through trade unions secure constructive relationships between employers and employees. This kind of relationship has proved its high value in many countries, both in times of economic growth and during crisis.