Madison Mayor Paul Soglin held a press conference Saturday at Monona Terrace to criticize state Republicans for fast-tracking the right-to-work law announced Friday that will be up for vote later this week.
Fast-tracking the law prevents any kind of discussion or debate about its implications, according to Soglin.
“By fast-tracking this, there’s little opportunity for the public to get involved,” Soglin said. “[There is little opportunity for experts] who are familiar with the economy of our state—people who are familiar with the role of labor unions in an economy—to have something to say about this.”
Soglin was also critical of the law’s content, refuting the idea that unions prevent economic growth.
“We have strong unions,” Soglin said. “Madison and Dane County have been creating the vast majority of new jobs in the state of Wisconsin … where we’ve got robust unions, we’ve got the best economy.”
The proposed law would ban unions and businesses from agreements requiring workers to pay union fees. If passed, Wisconsin would become the 25th state in the nation to feature such a law.
According to Soglin, the rushed law is a work of ideology rather than the result of facts and careful study.
“All this is a sham being done in the name of creating a better economic climate, when all the evidence says they’re wrong,” Soglin said. “It’s driven by ideology and it’s driven by the desire to crush unions not for economic reasons, but for the role that they play in politics in this state.”
Soglin implored people to look into the law and tell their representatives to vote against the bill.
“The people of this state have got to speak up and say, for once, that we’ve got to evaluate something on its merits, not whether or not … it’s driven by some political ideology,” Soglin said.
Announced by state Republican leaders on Friday, the right-to-work law is expected to pass the state Senate in a special legislative session Wednesday and then move on to debate in the state Assembly during the first week of March.
