Healthwire
March/May 2013
Feature Story
Wisconsin chapter reinvents itself in the face of major collective bargaining changes.
JAMES EFFENHEIM HAD never been very involved in the work of the union, but when the events in Wisconsin surrounding Act 10—a measure that limited collective bargaining for most public employees in the state—began to boil over, he had a change of heart. “Gov. Walker tried to take away the voice of the middle class,” says Effenheim. “Someone has to speak for the middle class, and the union is that voice.”
The union, he adds, is “the counterbalance to the Scott Walkers of the world who create policies that favor the wealthy. It is the counterbalance to groups like ALEC [American Legislative Exchange Council].”
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