Acts of civic disobedience are sweeping through Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio. At stake is not only the future of the American workers' unions but also fundamental labor rights of millions of people.

In Wisconsin, a new Budget Repair Bill forced in State Congress by Republican Governor Scott Walker would mean reducing the public sector workers' rights to negotiating collective bargaining by workers' unions. If it goes into force it will increase financial burden on workers who will have to pocket out more money for medical insurance and pensions. 

As a reaction to the bill thousands of people came out to the streets to protest. Members of the Democratic Party went into hiding because, according to the state Constitution in Wisconsin, the legislature cannot vote on bills in the absence of the opposition.

Walker wants to bring back order with the help of the National Guard because the local police are not eager to suppress protests. No wonder – the police forces are also unionized and would have to negotiate their contracts with the state and local authorities if the bill went into force. 

A similar dispute is taking place in Indiana, where the Democrats have also fled from the state Congress so that the Republicans are missing the quorum to vote.

Negotiations on collective contracts coupled with demonstration and protest are also taking place in Texas, Iowa, Nevada, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Tennessee. 

For union workers, it is the last chance to defend themselves against a total marginalization. For a couple dozen years, the number of union members has been systematically declining as whole branches of industries, where they were a strong player, have disappeared. Today, 51.5 percent of all union workers in the U.S. are employees of local governments. What is more, the level of unionizing in the public sector is growing (today it is at 38 percent); while in the private sector it is declining. 

It is hard to remain indifferent to union workers' arguments. Restricting their privileges violates constitutional rights of people to association. It brings us here to a fundamental question – whether democracies have a right to restrict activities so far associated with open societies (after all Hitler also came to power via peaceful means, but one of his first moves was to doing away with workers' unions). 

Wisconsin may create a precedent when other states follow in its footsteps and make attempts at restricting union workers' rights. Those who condemn the methods exercised by Democrats are forgetting that not so long ago it was the Republicans who used a strategy of parliamentary obstruction in the U.S. Congress. 

When I was asked to write this article, I started wondering how the two main Polish parties could perceive the existing dispute over the unions' privileges in America. The answer is only seemingly simple. Although the unions enjoy the support of the Democrats – a party that is associated with the left-wing, while the employers and small business seem to have the backing of right-wing Republicans, we are dealing here with a classical conflict between the united and liberal America (the word "liberal" is used here in the European meaning, as the American connotation of the word is different). When in 2005 the government of Jarosław Kaczyński, under the pressure of workers unions, gave up plans of depriving miners of retirement benefits and right before the end of its term it made an array of agreements with teachers' unions, it was closer to Democrat- backed unions than the Tea Party. 

Nevertheless, leaving digressions aside, it is worth taking a look at what is happening in Wisconsin, as at stake here, there is the future of not only of unions in America. Let's remember that we owe workers' unions a gamut of fundamental rights like the 8-hour work day and overtime pay. However, as the polarization of the American society is deepening the core of this should not be fundamental workers' rights.