Open Letter in Support of University of Wisconsin Students, Faculty and Staff
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As scholars, teachers and citizens, we recognize that the right to form unions and bargain collectively has been essential to the establishment and enrichment of democracy in Wisconsin, in the United States and around the world. The International Labor Organization, which the United States joined in 1934, states that the right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their own choosing is an integral part of a free and open society and includes collective bargaining rights among the fundamental principles and rights at work. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States endorsed in 1948, states that all workers have the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests.
Since 1935, it has been federal policy in the United States to encourage collective bargaining as a tool for avoiding labor conflict and improving wages and working conditions in private industry. The state of Wisconsin led the way in extending those principles to the public sector, adopting a 1959 law stating that public employees, elected officials and the public itself all have an interest in industrial peace, regular and adequate income for the employee, and uninterrupted production of goods and services. Toward that end, the law affirmed that an employee has the right, if the employee desires, to associate with others in organizing and bargaining collectively through representatives of the employees own choosing, without intimidation or coercion from any source.
In 1968, African American sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee went on strike for the right to join a union and engage in collective bargaining as city employees. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was in Memphis to support this effort when he was assassinated on April 4. The demands of the Memphis workers pointed out that basic labor rights are a fundamental civil and human right for all workers whether they be employed by the government or the private sector. Those workers ended up joining the union AFSCME - a union that was founded in Wisconsin in 1932.
We are opposed to the recent legislation passed in Wisconsin that will severely restrict the right to bargain collectively in Wisconsin. Some unions will only be allowed to bargain over wages. The legislation goes even further, completely banning the right to collective bargaining for certain public workers. Under the new law the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistants Association, home health care and child care workers, and workers at the UW Hospitals will not be able to collectively bargain.
As faculty members at universities and colleges across the U.S., we oppose this legislation. We believe the restriction of the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association is a serious attack on the rights not only of public sector workers and university workers, but all workers. Furthermore, we see this legislation as part of a Governor Walkers larger agenda to cut social programs that are also vital for a healthy society. These policies attempt to balance the budget on the backs of workers, seniors, children and the poor instead of making corporations pay their fair share.
We stand in support of the graduate student, faculty and staff unions who are working to overturn this legislation. We believe that freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are fundamental principles for any democracy, and, as such, necessary for the effective functioning of educational institutions. We support students, faculty and staff in whatever efforts they choose to employ in order to overturn this unjust legislation and stop drastic program cuts throughout the state. This includes all means sanctioned by the widely adopted principles established by the International Labor Organization, such as the right to public protest and the right to strike.
Since 1935, it has been federal policy in the United States to encourage collective bargaining as a tool for avoiding labor conflict and improving wages and working conditions in private industry. The state of Wisconsin led the way in extending those principles to the public sector, adopting a 1959 law stating that public employees, elected officials and the public itself all have an interest in industrial peace, regular and adequate income for the employee, and uninterrupted production of goods and services. Toward that end, the law affirmed that an employee has the right, if the employee desires, to associate with others in organizing and bargaining collectively through representatives of the employees own choosing, without intimidation or coercion from any source.
In 1968, African American sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee went on strike for the right to join a union and engage in collective bargaining as city employees. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was in Memphis to support this effort when he was assassinated on April 4. The demands of the Memphis workers pointed out that basic labor rights are a fundamental civil and human right for all workers whether they be employed by the government or the private sector. Those workers ended up joining the union AFSCME - a union that was founded in Wisconsin in 1932.
We are opposed to the recent legislation passed in Wisconsin that will severely restrict the right to bargain collectively in Wisconsin. Some unions will only be allowed to bargain over wages. The legislation goes even further, completely banning the right to collective bargaining for certain public workers. Under the new law the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistants Association, home health care and child care workers, and workers at the UW Hospitals will not be able to collectively bargain.
As faculty members at universities and colleges across the U.S., we oppose this legislation. We believe the restriction of the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association is a serious attack on the rights not only of public sector workers and university workers, but all workers. Furthermore, we see this legislation as part of a Governor Walkers larger agenda to cut social programs that are also vital for a healthy society. These policies attempt to balance the budget on the backs of workers, seniors, children and the poor instead of making corporations pay their fair share.
We stand in support of the graduate student, faculty and staff unions who are working to overturn this legislation. We believe that freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are fundamental principles for any democracy, and, as such, necessary for the effective functioning of educational institutions. We support students, faculty and staff in whatever efforts they choose to employ in order to overturn this unjust legislation and stop drastic program cuts throughout the state. This includes all means sanctioned by the widely adopted principles established by the International Labor Organization, such as the right to public protest and the right to strike.
2368 Signatures
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Stephanie Luce
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Murphy Institute
- University
- CUNY
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Will Jones
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- University of Wisconsin Madison
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Paula Chakravartty
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Communications
- University
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Raka Ray
- Title
- Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies; Associate Chair
- Department
- Sociology
- University
- University of California Berkeley
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Ruth Milkman
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Sociology and Labor Studies
- University
- City University of New York
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Brian Obach
- Title
- Chair
- Department
- Sociology
- University
- State University of New York- New Paltz
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Daniel A. Graff
- Title
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dept. of History; Associate Director,
- Department
- Higgins Labor Studies Program
- University
- University of Notre Dame
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Andrew Schrank
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Sociology
- University
- University of New Mexico
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Eve Weinbaum
- Title
- Director and Associate Professor
- Department
- Labor Studies/Sociology
- University
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Steve Brier
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Grad Center/CUNY
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Steve McKay
- Title
- Associate Professor of Sociology
- Department
- Director, Center for Labor Studies
- University
- University of California, Santa Cruz
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Judith Stein
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- City University of New York
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Dan Letwin
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State
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Barry Cohen
- Title
- Associate Dean
- Department
- College of Computing Sciences
- University
- NJIT
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Stanley Aronowitz
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Sociology
- University
- Grad Center/CUNY
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Susan Lee Johnson
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Crista DeLuzio
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Southern Methodist University
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Brad Cartwright
- Title
- Lecturer
- Department
- History
- University
- UTEP
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Carolina Bank Muсoz
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Sociology
- University
- Brooklyn College/CUNY
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Camille Guerin-Gonzales
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Elizabeth Jameson
- Title
- Imperial Oil - Lincoln McKay Chair in American Studies
- Department
- History
- University
- University of Calgary
- Comments
- U.S. citizen teaching in a unionized Canadian university
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Michael Honey
- Title
- Haley Professor of Humanities
- Department
- Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program
- University
- University of Washington, Tacoma
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Peter Boag
- Title
- Professor and Columbia Chair
- Department
- History
- University
- Washington State University
-
Anne Hyde
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- HIstory
- University
- Colorado College
-
Mary A. Renda
- Title
- Chair of Gender Studies & Associate Professor of History
- Department
- Gender Studies & History
- University
- Mount Holyoke College
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Joseph A. McCartin
- Title
- Assoc. Prof., Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor
- Department
- History
- University
- Georgetown University
- Comments
- В
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Adolph Reed Jr
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Political Science
- University
- University of Pennsylvania
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Amy S. Greenberg
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State University
- Comments
- В
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Ileen A. DeVault
- Title
- Professor of Labor Relations, Law, and History
- Department
- ILR School
- University
- Cornell University
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Catherine Wanner
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State
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Gretchen Kuldau
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Plant Pathology
- University
- Penn State
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Lori Ginzberg
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History & Women's Studies
- University
- Penn State University
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Kenneth W Warren
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- English
- University
- University of Chicago
-
Lila Berman
- Title
- Assoc. Prof
- Department
- History
- University
- Temple University
-
Anne M. Boylan
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History & Women's Studies
- University
- University of Delaware
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Leslie A. Schwalm
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- History; Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies; African American Studies
- University
- University of Iowa
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Steve Striffler
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Anthropology
- University
- University of New Orleans
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Erica Brindley
- Title
- Dr.
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State University
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Gerald Turkel
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Sociology and Criminal Justice
- University
- University of Delaware
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Jennifer Mittelstadt
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Rutgers university
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Arthur Goldschmidt
- Title
- Professor Emeritus of Middle East History
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State
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Jens-Uwe Guettel
- Title
- Dr.
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State
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Steven K. Ashby
- Title
- Full Clinical Professor
- Department
- School of Labor and Employment Relations
- University
- University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
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Prexy Nesbitt
- Title
- adjunct professor
- Department
- History Department
- University
- Columbia College(Chicago)
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Michael Lansing
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- History
- University
- Augsburg College
- Comments
- В
-
D. Soyini Madison
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Performance Studies
- University
- Northwestern University
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Yali Amit
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Statistics
- University
- University of Chicago
-
Lynette A Jackson
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Gender and Women's Studies
- University
- University of Illinois at Chicago
-
Alan Derickson
- Title
- Professor of History
- Department
- History
- University
- Penn State University
-
Basil Clunie
- Title
- Adjunct Instructor
- Department
- History, Humanities and Social Science
- University
- Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois
- Comments
- В
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