Radio Smart Talk for Wednesday, March 2:

For two weeks, protesters have staged a sit-in at Wisconsin’s state Capitol. They’re fighting legislation proposed by Wisconsin’s new governor, Republican Scott Walker, which would strip most state employees of the right to collectively bargain.

Governor Walker says the move is necessary to help close his state’s budget deficit. Labor leaders and Democratic lawmakers says the bill is designed to undermine unions. The measure has stalled in Wisconsin’s Senate, where 14 Democrats have fled the state, leaving the Senate short of a quorum.

Might this battle over the rights of public employee unions to bargain collectively in Wisconsin be a harbinger of things to come in Pennsylvania? Would Governor Corbett and lawmakers in Harrisburg ever consider similar action?

We’ll talk it over with Rick Bloomingdale, President of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, and Matt Brouillette, President & CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation.

Listen to the program: