It’s been a chaotic week for Wisconsin labor. The week started with Dane County and City of Madison public employee unions scrambling to reorganize in a post-collective bargaining environment before County employee contracts expire later this month. On Tuesday, Republican Assemblyman Chris Kapenga, from Delafield, announced he would introduce legislation to turn Wisconsin into a so-called “Right to Work” state. The bill would eliminate the practice of non-union members in the private sector paying “fair share” fees to cover the cost of contract negotiation. Meanwhile, fast food and other low-wage workers staged another nationwide strike as part of their 15 dollars an hour and a union campaign. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter campaign — using rhetoric from both civil rights and labor struggles — stopped traffic in cities across the country, including Madison, in the wake of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand jury non-indictments. This kind of labor and social upheaval is not unknown, of course, but where is it all headed? Barry Eidlin a sociologist and post-doctorate fellow at the Rutgers University Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on December 8, 2014.
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