SEIU’s Henry: “This legislative gimmick proves Walker’s attack on the middle class was never about balancing the budget; it was always about stripping workers of a voice.”

AFL-CIO’s Neuenfeldt: “Tonight’s trampling of the democratic process in Wisconsin shows that Scott Walker and the Republicans have been lying throughout this entire process.”

SEIU’s Henry: Walker’s Desperate Manuever Proves This Was Never About the Budget, May Have Illegally Denied Wisconsinites a Voice in the Process

Washington, D.C.—SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry released the following statement in response to tonight’s vote in the Wisconsin Senate on the Substitute Amendment to Special Session Assembly Bill 11 to strip public employees of their voice at work:

“Tonight, Scott Walker made it crystal clear to the people of Wisconsin — and the entire nation– the extent he will go to in order to pay back billionaires such as the Koch Brothers and bad actor corporations that want to destroy the middle class. This legislative gimmick proves Walker’s attack on the middle class was never about balancing the budget; it was always about stripping workers of a voice and rewarding the cronies who helped finance his campaign.”

“It was so important for Walker to move this legislation in the dead of the night, that he and Republican legislators may have illegally denied the people of Wisconsin their right to adequate notice to be involved in this process. In the end, Scott Walker turned a deaf ear to the tens of thousands of courageous nurses, environmentalists, students, faith leaders and others who stood up for a brighter vision of Wisconsin that values fairness, rewards hard work, and provides quality services to those who need them.”

“From denying working people the right to have a voice, to failing to create the jobs that Wisconsinites so desperately need, Walker has proven time and again that his first priority is rewarding the Koch Brothers and corporate interests, not the people of Wisconsin.”

“Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republican senators may have rammed this anti-middle class legislation through tonight, but over the past three weeks they ignited a movement in Wisconsin and nationwide that remains even more committed to creating a stronger, more fair and promising vision of America. No amount of legislative maneuvers will ever quell their determination to stand up for that vision.”

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Statement on Scott Walker and Republicans’ Despicable, Extreme, Anti-Democratic Activities by Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

“Senate Republicans have exercised the nuclear option to ram through their bill attacking Wisconsin’s working families in the dark of night. Walker and the Republicans acted in violation of state open meetings laws, and tonight’s events have demonstrated they will do or say anything to pass their extreme agenda that attacks Wisconsin’s working families.

Tonight’s trampling of the democratic process in Wisconsin shows that Scott Walker and the Republicans have been lying throughout this entire process and we have been telling the truth – that NONE of the provisions that attacked workers’ rights had anything to do with the budget.

Losing badly in the court of public opinion and failing to break the Democratic Senators’ principled stand, Scott Walker and the GOP have eviscerated both the letter and the spirit of the law and our democratic process to ram through their payback to their deep-pocketed friends. In the most deplorable manner possible, Republicans rigged a vote that stripped
hundreds of thousands of hardworking teachers, nurses, EMTs and others of their rights.

Scott Walker and the Republicans’ ideological war on the middle class and working families is now indisputable, and their willingness to shred 50 years of labor peace, bipartisanship, and Wisconsin’s democratic process to pass a bill that 74% of Wisconsinites oppose is beyond reprehensible and possibly criminal.”
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