Why We Should Debate Public-Sector Bargaining: Brendan Greeley

When five different statehouses take up similar pieces of contentious legislation at the same time, it suggests either a conspiracy or a crisis. Bills pending in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Idaho would limit the right of public-sector unions -- teachers, nurses, sanitation workers, firefighters -- to bargain collectively.

Wisconsin’s has come to a vote first. In protest, the state’s Democratic senators moved to Illinois and the state’s union members moved into the capitol. Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s governor and the bill’s chief proponent, went on television to warn against outside agitators.