Politics

Fix, don't destroy, public worker unions

By David Gergen, CNN Senior Analyst, and Michael Zuckerman, Special to CNN

updated 3:50 PM EDT, Mon June 4, 2012

A worker shows her support for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at one of his campaign stops last week in Sussex, Wisconsin.

Editor's note: David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. He is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Follow him onTwitter. Michael Zuckerman is his research assistant.

(CNN) -- If Republican Gov. Scott Walker wins his recall election Tuesday in Wisconsin, conservatives will rightly claim a major victory against public employee unions. But for the country's sake, it will be far better if this struggle remains a fight rather than all-out war.

The Wisconsin vote is widely seen on the right as the second most important election of 2012. It was ignited when Walker pushed through a budget repair bill to curb the public employee unions. One key provision prohibited the unions from engaging in collective bargaining about anything other than pay (firefighters and police were exempted). Another provision says that a civil servant can no longer be forced to join a union and pay dues; there must be freedom of choice.

That set off a firestorm of protests, turning the state capital upside down. Hundreds of vociferous protesters occupied the Wisconsin Statehouse, Democratic legislators bolted to Illinois to try to deny a quorum, and tens of thousands took to the streets.

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