While union leaders say private sector efforts to organize are on the rise, formerly unionized employees switch tactics, using a collective voice to force change.
Wisconsin Watch
Kevin Gundlach, president of the South Central Federation of Labor in Madison, said his office phone has been ringing constantly from workers seeking advice on unionization. He estimates employees from some 20 private sector workplaces in his 11-county region around Madison have sought to organize this year.
"This is the first time we've seen this level of interest," he said. "There is no doubt. We've never seen this before."
A wave of Republican laws over the past decade cratered union membership in Wisconsin, but recent private and public sector worker mobilization has demonstrated the staying power of organized labor.
Labor membership in Wisconsin fell dramatically after the passage of Act 10, the anti-public sector collective bargaining bill in 2011, with the sharpest decrease in the nation over the next decade. As of 2021, Wisconsin reached a new low just shy of 8% of the total workforce unionized. Over the past decade, Wisconsin unions lost 124,000 members, or about a third of their ranks, driven largely by the death of public sector unions.
"I don't think any other state lost almost half their membership in one fell swoop the way that Wisconsin did," said University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emeritus David Nack, who specializes in labor issues.
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