This week, the Battleground Bulletin comes to you from Antigo, WI, site of the successful SD 12 recall defense on Tuesday. AFSCME  reports on the results from the latest special state legislative elections, the upcoming march to commemorate the opening of the MLK Memorial in DC, and highlights the ways in which corporate greed threatens to ruin the American economy and destroy good jobs

We Are Wisconsin Antigo staging location (SD 12)

Final WI Recall Election Results — Democratic State Senators Jim Holperin (SD 12) and Robert Wirch (SD 22) successfully defended their seats from recall attempts by a Tea Party leader and Chicago-based corporate lawyer. Wirch was expected to easily defeat Republican attorney Jonathan Steitz, who works out of his firm’s Chicago office. Holperin, however, had a tougher fight in the rural 12th senate district — the most conservative district in Wisconsin represented by a Democratic state senator. Holperin pulled through with a combination of on-the-ground canvassing from We Are Wisconsin, AFSCME, and other progressive groups, as well as major missteps made by his opponent, Northwoods Tea Party leader Kim Simac. Among Simac’s many mistakes were past blog posts comparing American public schools to Nazi training camps and printing the two childrens’ books she authored in China. Northwoods residents faced a deluge of advertizing from Holperin, Simac, and allies on both sides. Although right-wing astroturf groups, including Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity, helped the Simac camp outspend the Democrat on advertising, We Are Wisconsin identified and had person-to-person conversations with over 25,000 voters in the Northwoods. With the help of We Are Wisconsin and his own campaign volunteers, Holperin pulled out a 10-point (55-45%) win — surpassing his performance in 2008, when then-popular Democrat Barack Obama was on the top of the ballot. Holperin, a dedicated public official for over 30 years, is the only state legislator to twice face recall elections and win.

The state senate is now made up of 16 Democrats and 17 Republicans, one of whom voted against Scott Walker’s anti-worker budget. The current state senate would reject Walker’s anti-worker budget bill.

Dems win Special Elections in NH, ME — The nation’s eyes have been on the Wisconsin recall elections the past two Tuesdays. At the same time, pro-worker Democrats have also won in special elections for seats in the state legislature in New Hampshire and Maine the past two weeks. On August 9, New Hampshire Democrat Bob Perry defeated Honey Puterbaugh by winning five of the six towns in Republican-leaning Strafford County House District No. 3.As polls in Wisconsin closed, news came in from Maine that progressive candidate Kim Monaghan-Derrig defeated Nancy Thompson in House District 121, by standing up against Governor Paul LePage and the Maine GOP’s extreme anti-worker agenda.

MLK Memorial — AFSCME will co-chair a massive rally and march in Washington, DC, on August 27, the day before the unveiling of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s National Memorial, the first on the National Mall honoring a non-president and a man of color.The rally, led by civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network, will shine a spotlight on Dr. King’s legacy as a civil rights leader, and assess America’s progress since his death. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 while supporting a strike by 1,300 sanitation workers represented by AFSCME Local 1733. The workers recently were enshrined in the U.S. Labor Department’s Labor Hall of Fame.

The rally will begin Aug. 27 at noon, starting at Constitution Ave. NW and 17th St. NW. The march follows at 1:30 p.m. along Independence Ave. SW. It will end at the King Memorial site on Ohio Drive SW and West Basin Drive SW.

For information on the dedication event being held on August 28, visit www.dedicatethedream.org.

Verizon has been honest with its greedy corporate money grab. But that does not excuse slashing each hard-working employees’ pay by $20,000 during an era of record profits. (Source: Verizon)

Unions, USAS Picket Verizon — On August 7, more than 45,000 Verizon workers, members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), went on strike, to stand up for working families in the face of corporate greed. The Verizon employees have been joined by activists from United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), a youth labor movement that fights for workers’ rights across the globe.Over the past four years, Verizon has made more than $19 billion in profit and has compensated its top officers with over a quarter billion dollars. Now, Verizon is asking for $1 billion in concessions from its workforce, amounting to an average pay cut of $20,000 for each worker. These workers are fighting for their own right to collectively bargain, as well as for hardworking people nationwide that see their wages falling while their corporate employers make record profits. The CWA, IBEW, and USAS demonstrators are not just fighting for Verizon employees, but are pushing back against the corporate race to the bottom of employee wages and benefits.

After attacks in Wisconsin and Ohio, collective bargaining is back in the news, so Verizon has launched a public relations campaign to protect their brand. Says one of the Verizon newspaper ads: “They claim we want to strip away 50 years of contract negotiations. THEY’RE RIGHT.” Verizon has at least been honest with its greedy corporate money grab, but that does not excuse its slashing hard-working employees’ pay during an era of record profits.

Tune in next week for another update on AFSCME’s fight for the middle class as part of the Main Street Movement.

Breaking News
News from the front lines of our fight for workers rights:

TX: Do Texas’s government jobs count as jobs?
Adam Serwer, Washington Post: The Plum Line, 08/17/11

OH: Kasich: Let’s Make A Deal On My Anti-Union Bill — And Call Off The Repeal Referendum
Eric Kleefeld, TPM, 08/17/11

MI: Right to Work legislation to be considered by state legislature
Sam Inglot, Michigan Messenger, 08/17/11

CT: Sources say state workers unions to approve concessions deal
Mary E. O’Leary, New Haven Register, 08/17/11

IL: Protestors get Gov. Quinn’s attention at state fair
Alex Degman, WJBC, 08/17/11

CA: Privatizing Unemployment: Bank of America’s Sacramento Coup
Gar Smith, The Berkeley Daily Planet, 08/17/11

CO: Dems’ hold ‘funeral’ for middle class
Peter Roper, Pueblo Chieftan, 08/18/11

MI: Organizers Sue Michigan for Anti-Union Law
Jonny Bonner, Courthouse News Service, 08/16/11

WI: Outcome in Wisconsin shows there’s no mandate for Walkerism
Greg Sargent, Washington Post: The Plum Line, 08/17/11

Downgrades Felt at Local Level
Jeannette Neumann And Michael Aneiro, Wall Street Journal, 08/18/11

U.S. Inquiry Is Said to Focus on S.&P. Ratings
Louise Story, New York Times, 08/17/11

Municipalities Abandon S&P After Ratings Downgrade
Michael Aneiro and Prabha Natarajan, Wall Street Journal, 08/17/11

Quote of the Week
“What everyday AFSCME members accomplished in Wisconsin, by pulling together, is nothing short of extraordinary — fighting back and winning against the deep pockets and dirty tricks of corporate-backed politicians and their front groups.” — AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee and AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee A. Saunders, “Fighting Back and Making History,” AFSCME Greenline

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