“This is part of the concerted attack on the middle class and working families of this country by the very wealthiest people in America,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said of the effort by Republican governors in Wisconsin and elsewhere to crush public employee unions. “These guys want to return us to the 1920s when working people had virtually no rights to organize or to earn a decent living,” Sanders added.  He also spoke about how labor organizations have improved working conditions and pay for those who do not belong to unions. “There are a lot of folks out there who say, ‘It doesn`t impact me, I`m not a union guy, I`m not a teacher, I`m not a civil servant.’ Let me tell you how it does matter to you. Wages are going down in this country for everybody. When you destroy unions there will be no standard at all, nobody left to negotiate decent jobs for the middle class,” Sanders said.

To read John  Nichols’ latest take in The Nation on what’s happening in Madison, click here.