We looked at Wisconsin at the beginning of the week…

Today’s uproar – Wisconsin – From the protests over unions to an amazing power company deal

…and events continue to unfold. There are three videos on YouTube today that are in YouTube’s top 200 most-viewed list.

This video in in YouTube’s Top 5 today:

The video contains a prank call made to Wisconsin’s governor, and is in the top 5 because it is discussed in this article from USAToday (as well as many other articles):

Wisconsin gov. caught in prank by caller posing as donor

A prank caller pretending to be billionaire conservative businessman David Koch was able to have a lengthy conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his strategy to cripple public employee unions, the governor’s office confirmed Wednesday.

On the call, Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, said it would “be outstanding” to be flown out to California by Koch for a good time after the battle is over, and said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country.

See also:

Ex-AG sees violations by Walker in stunt call

“There clearly are potential ethics violations, and there are potential election law violations and there are a lot of what look to me like labor law violations,” said Peg Lautenschlager, a Democrat who served as Wisconsin’s attorney general after serving for many years as a U.S. attorney. “I think that the ethics violations are something the (state) Government Accountability Board should look into because they are considerable. He is on tape talking with someone who he thinks is the funder of an independent political action committee to purchase advertising to benefit Republican legislators who are nervous about taking votes on legislation he sees as critical to his political success.”

Two other Wisconsin videos in YouTube’s Top 200 today are these:

See also:

The second video above mentions that private union membership is down to 7%. But public employee membership is much higher, as described here:

Union battle is about history and future

Union power now is concentrated in public-sector unions. Some 36 percent of the public-sector workforce is unionized. Until recently at least, both public employment and public-sector union membership had been rising.

About half of all delegates typically attending a Democratic National Convention are public-employee union members. More than half of the members of the Washington State Legislature are present or former public employees. Public-employee unions are the largest financial contributors to Democratic political campaigns.

It is a good deal for Democratic candidates. Taxpayers pay the salaries and benefits of public employees. Public-employee unions then use their members’ dues to finance campaigns of favored elected officials and candidates. The elected officials then increase the size of the public sector and size of the pay and benefits to public employees. The unions’ officers, in turn, reward the officials with additional money and votes to sustain them in office. And so on. Pretty much the story of this state’s politics.

This article points out that union membership has taken a big hit recently.

Why does this matter? Historically, unions made middle class life in America possible. This page points out a number of historical events that are unimaginable today. Like this one: “Children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, NJ went on strike for the 11 hour day/6 day week.” Or this: “Labor organizer Mary Harris (“Mother”) Jones leads child workers in demanding a 55 hour work week.” Leading to this historic event:

The Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act is passed, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week. The Act went into effect in October 1940, and was upheld in the Supreme Court on 3 February 1941.

If it had not been for unions, things like child labor laws and the 40-hour work week would not exist in the United States. Unfortunately, many unions became a caricature, riddled with corruption, bloated salaries for leaders, etc., and they lost the trust of union members and the public alike.

Imagine a universe where unions had maintained the trust. Many people in the mid-20th century predicted that things would continue to get better for workers. We might be living in a country today where the American middle class is vibrant and thriving. The work week would be shorter, benefits would be better, pay would have risen for everyone. Instead, all of that wealth has concentrated, with executive salaries and bonuses skyrocketing. The middle class is shrinking, and things like pay and benefits are shrinking with it.

How do unions regain the trust? Or, what replaces unions so that the American middle class can continue to exist and thrive?

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