When Scott Walker became the 45th governor of the great state of Wisconsin in January 2011, he acted as if winning 52 percent of the vote was a popular mandate for him to implement his radical ultra-right wing agenda. Within no time, Walker was making headlines with his infamously unpopular Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, which he and his GOP cronies in the legislator railroaded into law using a series of parliamentary procedures.

If you recall, the bill requires state workers to pay more toward their pension and limiting the majority of the workers’ right to collective bargaining. Only police officers and firefighters were excluded from this measure. These changes effectively crippled the power of unions in Wisconsin and severely limited state workers’ ability to fight for better wages in the future. It also struck a major blow to one of the Democrats major support groups — the unions. In fact, Mother Jones magazine called Walker’s bill nothing more than an anti-union bill.

As you can imagine, Wisconsin state workers did not take the introduction quietly. For more than a month, thousands of workers around the state poured into the state capital to protest the bill. Unfortunately, their protests fell on deaf ears as Walker stood by his union-busting actions. While Walker’s actions drew praise from his fellow Republicans it made him public enemy No. 1 among Democrats and Progressives, who quickly spearheaded a massive recall campaign. Their hard work paid off handsomely. The Recall Governor Scott Walker movement garnered over one million signatures forcing the incumbent governor to face another election that could possibly unseat him.

Regardless of the outcome on June 5, the voters of Wisconsin will have a chance to send a loud and clear message to their union-busting governor and all the other Republican politicians who would dare to trample on the rights of the American worker: leave working-class people alone or get run out of office.  

The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of BET Networks.

BET Politics - Your source for the latest news, photos and videos illuminating key issues and personalities in African-American political life, plus commentary from some of our liveliest voices.  Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

  (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Getty Images)