Public employees, from nurses to teachers to firefighters and police officers, have made and will continue to make sacrifices to help close budget gaps. But some state leaders have gone too far, says U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Budget sacrifices are one thing; demanding that workers give up their rights as union members—to take away their voice—is another, she says.

Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s bill, which includes taking away public employees’ bargaining rights, is unconstitutional because it would interfer with local autonomy.

The American public opposes weakening the bargaining rights of public employee unions by a margin of nearly two to one: 60 percent to 33 percent, according to a New York Times/CBS poll.

UPDATE: As of this morning, 284 state lawmakers have signed on in support of Wisconsin Senators, according to Progressive States Network.

Progressive States Network today released a letter signed by a bipartisan group of more than 270 state legislators representing 44 states voicing their solidarity with the Wisconsin state senators who oppose an extreme measure to take away the right of public employees to bargain for good middle-class jobs.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will keynote a strike rally of registered nurses in front of Washington Hospital Center on March 4. 

AFT President Randi Weingarten yesterday proposed a new way to align teacher development and evaluation with due process for tenured teachers. The three-step plan includes clear standards for what teachers should know and be able to do, a time-limited improvement and a support plan for teachers deemed to be unsatisfactory, according to the evaluation standards and a hearing process.

Registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in the nation’s capital, announced plans for a one-day walkout on Friday, March 4.

A new poll shows the public strongly opposes laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employees to address budgets. Some 61 percent of the public say they would oppose a law in their state similar to one being considered in Wisconsin, compared with 33 percent who would favor such a law, according to poll out today by USA Today/Gallup.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s attacks on working families are not about shoring up state finances, economist Paul Krugman correctly points out today.

New Yorkers looked particularily festive in their bright yellow swiss cheese hats today, as hundreds became honorary Cheeseheads while marching in solidarity with embattled workers in Wisconsin.