Tennessee: Coalition Fights Extreme Attacks on Workers

In Tennessee, a broad coalition of unions and community supporters is fighting extreme proposals by the governor and some state legislators to eliminate collective bargaining for teachers, block public workers from making voluntary political donations and end the deduction of union and association dues from government paychecks.

“In Tennessee, we have a Republican governor and large Republican majorities in the House and Senate that are using the same anti-worker bag of tricks as in Wisconsin, Ohio and so many other states,” said Tom Anderson, president of CWA Local 3865/United Campus Workers.

Local 3865 represents 1,200 university workers at seven University of Tennessee campuses. Over the past 11 years, UCW has built a dynamic organization of higher education staff and faculty, even without collective bargaining rights

Further attempting to silence the voice of public employees in politics, Republicans want to end automatic payroll deductions for union dues and political contributions.

“People need to understand that this attack isn’t just about unions, it’s about the economic security of all working families,” Anderson said. “We’re standing with the teachers and with all workers who are being attacked, because when they get hurt, it hurts all of us.”