Why the Unions Are Really Protesting
Tina Korbe /
In the name of balancing his state’s budget, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has taken a strong stand against union bargaining privileges, braving weeks of protest and relying on the Republican majority in the state legislature to eventually override the 14 Democratic state senators who retreated to Illinois to dodge a vote on his budget-repair bill.
In a new video by Reason.tv, Heritage labor analyst James Sherk said the protests in Wisconsin — strictly speaking — have never been about Walker’s bill.
“The real purpose of the protests in Wisconsin is not to try to win there,” Sherk explains in the video. “They know they’re not going to win there. The purpose is to discourage other governors from going down that same path and from taking those same steps.”
So, from that perspective, have the protests succeeded?