“In fact, what (Act 10’s) architects might find surprising is our resilience,” he wrote in an email. “(T)housands of front-line workers are remaining engaged in fighting for their rights despite heavy-handed political attempts to silence them.”

Furthermore, he argued, while public unions no longer enjoy the official bargaining power that they exercised in recent decades, many public workers continue to value their presence as advocates for their rights and welfare.

AFSCME, which was founded in Wisconsin during the Great Depression, existed long before Gov. Gaylord Nelson signed a law in 1958 which established the legal process under which state and local government were required for more than 50 years to to negotiate with employee unions over wages, benefits and working conditions.

“(W)e are back to engaging in collective action in and around the workplace and political action aimed at improving the lives of working families,” Badger said. “This is how we operated for many decades, slowly and relentlessly building strength, carefully choosing our battles and winning incremental changes.”