Obama References State’s Collective Bargaining Battle During Labor Day Visit To Milwaukee

President Barack Obama made a quick reference to the collective bargaining fight in Wisconsin as he spoke at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee on Monday.

Obama told a crowd at Milwaukee’s Laborfest that unions have helped U.S. workers.

“I know it’s frustrating when people have the gall to blame you for the problems facing working Americans. I know you’ve had some experience with that around here,” he said. “If I was looking for a good job to let me build security for my family, I’d join a union.”

Collective bargaining and unions became hot-button issues in Wisconsin in recent years. Republican Gov. Scott Walker led an effort three years ago to curtail collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees, but Walker is now in a close re-election fight with Democratic gubernatorial Mary Burke, who says she supports collective bargaining.

Obama also promised to keep calling for a raise in the federal minimum wage, and urged state and local lawmakers to support the proposed wage of $10 an hour. Obama also said the economy has improved since he took office in 2009.

The president also blamed Republicans in Congress for blocking many of his proposals.

That point went over well with audience member Michael Dorn, a Milwaukee resident and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

“I think that’s very fair because there’s a lot of gridlock, a lot of bills not getting passed. You know, it’s actually a travesty,” he said. “To have such a system like that, that you can’t get things through, bills passed and things of that sort.”

Dorn said he’s preparing locally to back Burke in the governor’s race.

Walker has said his effort to limit collective bargaining was aimed to put taxpayers back in control.

Walker greeted Obama at the Milwaukee airport. Burke was seen at Laborfest , but not in public with the president.