Wisconsin Assembly OKs right-to-work bill, governor supports

By Brendan O'Brien MADISON, Wis. (Reuters) - Weary Wisconsin lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that stops private sector workers from being required to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment and sent it to Republican Governor Scott Walker, who is expected to sign it on Monday. The Republican-led state Assembly voted 62-35 on party lines to make Wisconsin the 25th "right-to-work" state, a measure supported by Walker, an early favorite in the battle for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. The final vote came after 24 hours of debate in the Assembly and two weeks after state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald announced plans to take up a "right-to-work" bill. Supporters cast the measure as an incentive for attracting businesses and jobs, saying it is wrong to force workers to pay dues if they don't want to. "We stand today for a simple, but very powerful concept, the concept for worker freedom," Republican Representative Dean Knudson said. Opponents called it a thinly disguised assault on organized labor that will drive down wages and leave workers vulnerable. "This has nothing to do with freedom, it has nothing to do with choice. It has everything to do with busting," said Representative Andy Jorgensen, a Democrat. Tired representatives rubbed their eyes while coffee cups and soda bottles collected on their desks as the debate carried through the night, elongated by winding speeches about the history of organized labor in Wisconsin and the state's economy. Thousands of workers demonstrated last week when senators debated the bill, but capitol crowds were far thinner than four years ago, when tens of thousands of people protested a push for a law limiting the powers of public sector unions. Walker's push for the 2011 bill covering public-sector workers raised his profile among Republicans, and his support grew when he survived a union-backed recall election in 2012. About 300 bill opponents demonstrated outside the capitol on Thursday. Inside, security staff cleared the Assembly gallery after protesters halted the debate with chants and capitol officers blocked dozens of demonstrators from the Assembly floor. Two people were arrested, police said. About 8 percent of private-sector workers in Wisconsin are union members, down from about 22 percent three decades ago, according to the Unionstats.com website that tracks membership. "The law is a symbol of the weakness of unions," University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist John Ahlquist said. (Editing by Crispian Balmer and Lisa Lambert)