The executive director noted that ultimately, Gov. Walker's proposed budget asks legislators to use critical and “prudential” judgment.
“Does the bill serve to marginalize unions? Does this serve to drastically reduce the ability of worker to articulate and protect their interests? Those are fair questions to engage.”
Amid speculation that similar budget cuts for union workers are foreseeable in other states legislatures, Huebscher said “it's no secret that proposals like this are showing up in other states,” citing Ohio as an immediate example.
“I think it's a very legitimate point to make that if it's done here it would be done or at least debated in other places.”
Opposition to the proposed budget has continued to swell in Wisconsin with local schools even canceling classes on Feb. 18 to participate in the demonstrations.
Huebscher observed that the bill has struck such a chord with Wisconsin citizens because of its potentially far reaching implications for public and private employees.
“If the state – as a matter of public policy – can say that workers are going to be very limited in what they can bargain for, that will seep into other segments of the economy,” he said.
“I think workers perceive that this is going to effect them – even workers that aren't unionized.”
Huebscher added that there are benefits employees in the state have today that they didn't have decades ago such as just wages, paid overtime, 40-hour work weeks and the inability to be fired without due process.
“There was a time when these things weren't available to people,” he said, adding that Wisconsin “is one of the first places in the country to have unemployment compensation and workers compensation.
“There's a sense among working people – that while they don't belong to a union today – things they have exist today because unions fought for them. And they're concerned about losing that.”
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He said that Wisconsin has a long tradition of integrating and affirming workers and it “parallels with the development of Catholic social teaching and the rights of labor.”
Huebscher expressed gratitude that the protests have remained peaceful thus far, saying that bishops in the state have “urged people to remain civil, talk to each other, and keep the common good in mind.”
Marianne is a journalist with a background in writing and Catholic theology. When not elaborating on the cinematic arts, she enjoys spending time with people, reading thick books and traveling anywhere and everywhere.