AFL-CIO’s Trumka to Gov. Walker: “No American should face choice between rights and job”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka

On the PBS NewsHour the other night, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka responded to Judy Woodruff’s question about Gov. Scott Walker’s threat to lay off Wisconsin public employees:

Well, first of all, it's the most outrageous thing that he's done.

You heard him say that laying off was something we shouldn't do in today's economy, and yet, he's putting this choice to those workers in Wisconsin: Either give up your rights, or get laid off. Give up your job.

Now, no American should be put in that position. This isn't about the economics, Judy. They've already agreed -- the unions have already agree to the exact concessions that he's asked for. This is about him trying to take away the rights of workers to come together to bargain for a middle-class life.

On the Plum Line (Washington Post) on Friday, Greg Sargent suggested that Gov. Walker’s threats may backfire on Wisconsin Republicans:

The basic idea here is that polls suggest that Wisconsinites have already made up their minds about the ongoing standoff. On the core issue of bargaining rights, they side with labor and Dems, and against Walker. Dems think layoffs won't change that dynamic; if anything, if Dems can persuade the public that the layoffs are the fault of Walker's unreasonable insistence on an unpopular and extreme proposal, that dynamic could be exacerbated in their favor.

Also: One labor official tells me that if and when layoffs start, they will aggressively highlight the moment on the fake Koch call in which Walker explicitly said he'd use the threat of layoffs to ratchet up political pressure on Dems. I'd say it's very possible the politics of layoffs will backfire on Wisconsin Republicans in a big way.