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UNI Global Union is supporting its sisters and brothers in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and across the US whose union rights are under attack by Republican politicians who want to destroy unions in the public sector.



Bills proposed by Republicans in state legislatures in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana would strip workers employed by state or local government of most of their collective bargaining rights if passed into law.



UNI’s US affiliates are fighting back against this attack on workers and the American middle class with massive protests in Wisconsin, Ohio and around the US in support of the public employees and their unions.



UNI and its members around the world are standing in global solidarity with the US workers and their families.



“We will not sit by as Republican governors in Wisconsin, Ohio or any other states attack the workers who teach their children, keep the community safe and care for the sick,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “These are politically motivated attacks that seek to break the back of US unions, one of the last powerful institutions that promote the interests of working families.”



The workers and their unions have had tens of thousands of supporters turn out every day in Wisconsin’s capital of Madison. Thousands have also turned out in Ohio to protest the bill being considered there. Thousands more have staged support vigils across the country.



Democratic members of the state legislatures in Wisconsin have left the state, depriving the Republican controlled State House from having the quorum needed to vote on budget bills. Democrats used a similar tactic with great success in Indiana, where the bill to deprive workers of union rights expired without a vote on Tuesday night.



“The US unions are fighting not just for their members but for the American middle class,” Jennings said. “The outcome in Wisconsin and in Ohio will set the tone for many other states and for the nation as a whole.”



The fight in the US for human, economic and union rights come just as millions of people across North Africa and the Middle East are fighting for the same reasons. UNI is supporting all of those who want rights on the job and decent wages and benefits.



“We offer the same support to Wisconsin workers and unions that we are offering in Bahrain,” Jennings said. “We will do all we can to ensure that the US union movement and workers win this fight.”