Looks like the Republicans will hold control of the Wisconsin Senate, losing only 2 of the three seats the Democrats needed to take over. This proxy war over public sector collective bargaining rights.

In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin has given the Governor a win in his war on public sector unions. The decision overturns the trial court invalidation of the legislation. Previous post here.

A state circuit court in Wisconsin has voided the controversial law repealing collective bargaining for public employees -  because the legislature allegedly violated the state's open meetings law. This issue will ultimately make it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Journal-Sentinel has a good article giving context to the ruling.

It appears some votes were missing temporarily in that Wisconsin Supreme Court race, and now counted those votes favor the incumbent over the labor backed challenger.

It is fascinating to watch from a distance the politics of Wisconsin. So much now driven by the struggle between a Republican governor determined to reign in public sector unions and allies of labor. It has certainly made the 2010 political trend favoring Republicans short lived. The real question is the resurgence of support for labor evidenced in Wisconsin likely to play out on a national scale. More after the jump
I tend to think the attack on labor in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire, Missouri and others may indeed favor labor, and Democrats in 2012. Conversely, there will be little positive effect in Louisiana, Mississippi and states nearby. Wisconsin's governor was elected three times as Milwaukee County Executive, a Republican success story in a Democratic bastion. In 2008, he won with 59% of the vote. But last night the candidate supported by Democrats (the election is officially non-partisan) thumped his Republican state representative who supported the Governor's anti-labor agenda (61%-39%). Details at TPM (left leaning). There was also a race involving an incumbent, Republican supported supreme court justice. Not sure its the same as here, where you do not see many challenges to sitting judges, but I tend to bet it is. This race however was a proxy fight over the Governor's policies, and its too close to call with 99% of the vote counted.

Another poll, this one from Gallup, indicates the public is less anti-labor than some Republican governors would like.

A state court judge in Wisconsin has issued a temporary restraining order preventing (at least temporarily) the new law eliminating public sector collective bargaining from taking effect. Wisconsin has become ground zero in a battle between labor and Republicans that will have lasting implications on a national scale.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker now has a 57% disapproval rate, according to a new Rasmussen poll. 48% strongly disapprove. Yikes! Among families with children in public school 67% disapprove, 54% strongly so.

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll finds 62% of Americans strongly oppose stripping public employees of the right to collective bargaining while at the same time even larger percentages think public employees should contribute more to their retirement benefits (68%) and pay more for their healthcare (63%). By a whopping 77% those surveyed believed public sector union members should have the same rights as private sector union members. To me, none of this is surprising or even incongruous. Wisconsin's Governor Walker wants to eliminate bargaining with the unions representing state employees. That position has little to do with reducing the budget deficit. The unions have already agreed concessions are in order. The employer has the right to refuse any demands made by the union. Only if the employer agrees do politicians need to man up and say "no" in bargaining, not eliminate bargaining altogether. This is a political issue, not an economic one. The political objective is to weaken unions which support the other political party. The problem is, the public does not agree with the objective, even though they agree with hard bargaining with public sector employees to carry some of the burden of reducing the state budget deficit.

Would the Wisconsin demonstrations have happened without social media? Probably, but with it the event is more dynamic and dramatic. New Labor Media gets it correct.

Not only Wisconsin, but in many other places, support for Wisconsin collective bargaining rights exists. And for a little humor at Gov. Walker's expense, take a look at the 100 best protest signs.

A new USAToday/Gallup poll finds 61% oppose taking away public sector employees collective bargaining rights.

Chris Bowers at Daily Kos has a detailed piece with video about the remarkable demonstrations ongoing in Wisconsin as Governor Walker continues to target public sector unions. Of course its favorable to labor . . .

Massive protests have erupted in Wisconsin in response to Republican efforts to repeal collective bargaining for public employees. Wisconsin was first in the nation to grant collective bargaining rights (1959) to public sector employees. Not something you will see in this part of the world.