Response from John, Milwaukee, WI

I'm a small business owner. Readers here can check out Harold Meyerson's op-ed in the Washington Post Newspaper, Worker's topple Dictator in Egypt, but might be silenced in Wisconsin.

Meyerson highlights a few points relevant to this mess in Madison...Walker’s bill would strip all public employees in Wisconsin, from teachers to nurses, of their right to collectively bargain (for such things as sick leave, vacation, work conditions, shifts they work, etc.).

The rights of private sector employees to pursue collective bargaining are protected by the National Labor Relations Act. Public employees are NOT guaranteed such Constitutional rights by the states. The right of employees to collectively bargain with their employers is a universally accepted “human right” acknowledged by the United Nations. (see Article 23).

In the case of public employees, this human right is being attacked under the guise of balancing the budget. Teachers and other state employees have NO problem kicking in more. THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE. The issue is that these workers will lose their rights, their voice – they will be silenced. You can guess who will be next once bills are passed and the public sector is stripped of all their rights. In the end, not only will we as a society become more and more divided, but we truly will become a two-class system in this country; the rich and the poor – the middle class will be gone and all hard-working Americans WILL be affected. This is a BIG DEAL right now and it’s time we drop our party differences and look-out for the middle class, my neighbors, my family, and my friends.