In Madison, Wisconsin, none was expecting that reaction. At least until a few weeks ago. Senators escaping in the near States in order to avoid the vote, the occupation of the Capitol hall and 100000 people demonstrating in the streets. All to defend public workers’ right to collective bargaining. A law, conceived by Republican governor Scott Walker, freezes contracts and cuts salaries and, moreover, it seriously limits the presence of trade unions in the public sector. We discussed about that with professor Joseph McCartin, director of Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, a Washington based research centre engaged in the promotion of labor and the poor.