(NYT) WI Recall Election Tests Strategies for November

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/us/wisconsin-vote-is-first-shot-in-wider-union-war.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss



Narayan Mahon for The New York Times

At a phone bank in Madison, Wis., ahead of a recall vote. Unions seek to remove the governor.
By JIM RUTENBERG and STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: April 28, 2012

GREEN BAY, Wis. — “Recall Walker” bumper stickers dotted the workers’ parking lot at the Georgia Pacific paper mill on Day Street here one recent afternoon, proof of their union’s role in the effort to oust Gov. Scott Walker from office early for his legislation limiting public employees’ bargaining rights.

But among the largest donors to Mr. Walker and his cause are the plant’s owners, the billionaire industrialists Charles G. and David H. Koch, the latter of whom has said of the recall election to be held in June, “If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power.”

The recall vote here has been billed as a critical test of labor muscle versus corporate money. But it is only a warm-up for a confrontation that will play out during the presidential election, which both sides view as the biggest political showdown in at least 30 years between pro- and anti-union forces — a labor-management fight writ large.

The same national groups flooding the streets and the airwaves in Wisconsin — the Koch-supported group Americans for Prosperity on the right, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., teachers unions and the United Steelworkers on the left — are emerging as important outside supporters of President Obama and Mitt Romney, each side empowered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

FULL story at link.

[tech3149]

1. I love how these geniuses try and instill the fear of "union force"

What is union representation today, about 7%. Like that's a real threat. If all the unions around the country combined their resources the couldn't match 1/10th of the financial resources of those two Koch Bros. The only thing that unions and people in general have is strength in numbers. With only 7% having union representation that's still a pretty tough battle to fight.
Everything I've read about the battle in Wisconsin has told be a couple of important points.
First, unions are joining in with everyone else because of their common interest.
Second, everyone should be advising and educating people to vote against the ideas presented on commercial media.
That is where the money is and it's not promoting our (regular wage earners) interests.