Over 25,000 protesters descended on Wisconsin’s State Capitol in Madison on Thursday to protest proposed changes in the state’s law that would effectively ban collective bargaining for most public employees, crippling public sector unions in the state.

The protests have spread to Columbus, Ohio, where Republicans are attempting to pass a similar measure.

The protests are not isolated incidents, but perhaps the first skirmishes in a much larger war, the outcome of which could have major implications on America’s trade policies for years to come.

Both measures would strip public sector employees of the right to collectively bargain with management for higher wages or better benefits. Without the right to sit at the table with management as a group, the unions become essentially impotent.

With unions out of the way, corporate interests have little competition in the marketplace of ideas. And, in the age of Citizens United, can spend endlessly to promote their causes and candidates.

In 2010, seven of the top 10 outside spending groups were right-leaning. The only three Democratic-leaning groups to crack the top 10 were the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the National Education Association – all three unions, the latter two of which would be weakened by the Ohio and Wisconsin law.

With no one to counteract the right’s spending frenzy, they could fill statehouses and the U.S. Congress with their preferred candidates who would then do their bidding.

As we’ve seen in the past, when corporate interests are at the wheels of government, it almost always results in disaster – weakened financial regulations and recessions; lower tariffs and the loss of manufacturing jobs; policies that encourage outsourcing and destroy white collar jobs.

Unions are one of the few groups with enough clout to fight such middle-class killing policies.

Union members and their Democratic allies are not conceding anything, though. Both states have Republican governors and GOP-led legislatures that have the majorities to pass the bills.

But in Wisconsin, Democrats have gotten creative. With 19 Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate, they are one member short of having the number required to have a quorum, and take action on the measure. All 14 Democrats in the Senate have denied that opportunity, fleeing the state so to avoid being tracked down by Wisconsin law enforcement officials and dragged back to the Capitol, giving Republicans the number of members present needed to pass the bill.

“We’re going to be staying away until we hear that they are taking the right to organize seriously,” State Senator Chris Larson told The Washington Post, referring to Republicans. “They’re going after 50 years of history in one week. Until they take that off the table, it’s a non-starter.”

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