Well.... in the history of unionized labor, quite a lot, actually.
With respect to the pissing match currently underway, Wisconsin was the first state to allow collective bargaining for public sector employees.
But for the big picture of unions in America, Wisconsin is very large.
I don’t have the time to type up a complete history of the labor movement in Wisconsin, but let’s suffice to say here that Wisconsin has been at the forefront of labor organizing for over 100 years. They were (in the heyday of unions) the most unionized state in the nation, and not by a little bit. Wisconsin also led the way in the introduction of what are now considered “bedrock” labor union issues: minimum wage, workman’s comp, 40 hour workweeks and weekends off, etc.
A good deal of the policy half of the labor movement can be traced back to one governor of Wisconsin, Robert “Fightin’ Bob” La Follette, a Progressive Republican. The La Follette family remained active in politics and labor issues for quite some time in Wisconsin.
Unions have had a turbulent and sometimes violent history in Wisconsin, with savage strikes that went on for decades as unions infected all manner of industries in Wisconsin.
So with all of that in mind... put yourself in labor’s shoes today: If they lose this fight in Wisconsin, the labor movement will have lost a hugely symbolic fight - losing a “right” of collective bargaining in the most union-friendly state in the US for the last 50 years.
This isn’t like losing union “rights” in a state like, oh, Montana, or casino employees’ unions getting their clocks cleaned in Las Vegas. No, for the labor movement in the US, this would be akin to what it would be like for the Catholic Church to have someone come in and foreclose on the Vatican.
It is a HUGE freakin’ deal to the labor-movement-as-religion types.
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