The unrest in Wisconsin over limiting government workers’ collective-bargaining rights has spread to Indiana, Ohio and a growing list of other states.

But will the protests and power struggles in the Midwest erupt here?

Conventional wisdom says no because California’s Democratic governor and Legislature were largely elected with labor’s help, which means bills like one proposed Tuesday by an Orange County legislator to end collective bargaining for pension benefits are likely to be dead on arrival.

But Richard Rider, chairman of San Diego Tax Fighters, said if voters reject higher taxes as a way to balance the state budget this summer, protests will be inevitable.

At a news conference in Kearny Mesa on Wednesday to support the conservative movement afoot in Madison, Wis., Rider said Sacramento’s protests could come by fall and be even larger than those in the Midwest.

“This is all about government labor union power, and it’s time we curbed them,” he said. “That’s what this effort is Wisconsin is about. Hopefully, it will be coming to a city near you.”

Susan Duerksen, a spokeswoman for the local Center on Policy Initiatives, which advocates for workers, takes the view that the effort to limit labor rights could work against Republicans while uniting a middle class besieged by years of economic stuggle.

“I think this is such a flagrant attack on working people, I think it is going to backfire,” she said. “I think it is opening up people’s eyes to the importance of unions because unions are a way to give ordinary, working people a strong voice in politics and in the workplace and in economics.”

Currently, most states allow public-employee collective bargaining, which allows government workers to elect representatives to negotiate the group’s wages, benefits and working conditions.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker proposes to limit such bargaining to discussion of wages only for public employees other than law enforcement, firefighters, state troopers and inspectors. He announced the proposal Feb. 11 as part of a plan to close a $137 million budget gap through employee concessions, debt restructuring and other means.

No state has scaled back collective-bargaining rights for decades.

Supporters say it’s a way governments can cut pension and health care costs that have soared, saddling governments with unsustainable debts. Opponents see it as a veiled attempt to crush public-employee unions, which can be among Republican politicians’ most vocal and well-funded critics.

Private union workers are covered under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. Public-employee collective bargaining, on the other hand, is handled on a state-by-state basis. For groups of educators, it is allowed in 11 states, required in 34, including California, and banned in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality.

North Carolina banned public-employee collective bargaining in 1959, the same year Wisconsin became the first state to bestow it.

Michael Zucchet, head of the largest city workers’ union in San Diego, the Municipal Employees Association, said the national fight mirrors a local one against public employees that’s been going on for years.

The politics that are driving this have characterized San Diego politics for some time now,” he said. “Frankly, I’m surprised that the nationwide political operatives on the other side took so long to pick up this playbook.”

Collective bargaining can take many forms and does in San Diego, where the City Council can impose final offers upon impasses with labor groups and the San Diego Unified School District board sends disputes to a mediation panel.

San Diego Unified board President Richard Barrera, a former health care organizer, said ending the practice for public employees would lead to an erosion of the middle class and government services and programs by leading to less workers’ rights all around.

At San Diego City Hall, Councilman Carl DeMaio said collective bargaining hasn’t been an obstacle to his attempts to rein in costs at the city’s deficit-ridden pension system.

“I have no problem with labor unions at collective bargaining as long as the process allows taxpayers to make the final decisions,” DeMaio said, adding, “Don’t blame the collective-bargaining process. Blame the mayor, blame the City Council, for not having the backbone to stand up and impose contracts that are reasonable.”

Observers say the showdown is occurring now because of the rise of the tea party, Republican gains in the November midterm election and growing awareness of government pension and health care liabilities.

Tony Krvaric, chairman of the county Republican Party, called what’s happening in Wisconsin a second American Revolution, and said, “You will see California, too, wake up.”

“This is a 50-year experiment whose time has run out,” he said of collective bargaining. “It’s been a failure for taxpayers. Our schools are worse than they were 50 years ago, our taxes are higher, and the benefits that government workers get are out of control.”

The war of words is increasingly being waged on social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter, where Krvaric often uses the notation #revolution to set his tweets apart and labor advocates are using #wiunion.

From @FlashReport: “Collective bargaining for public employees is an assault on the ability of elected officials to be held accountable for spending decisions.”

From @LorenaSGonzalez: “Asked my 15 yr old what she wanted to do this weekend. She said: go to Wisconsin! Solidarity from San Diego.”

Last Friday, 159 people attended a hastily called rally at the Mission Valley headquarters of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council to show their support for organized labor factions in Wisconsin and Ohio.

Lorena Gonzalez, the head of the local labor council, said attendees signed a large card destined for Wisconsin and discussed traveling there to show support. Instead, as 160 Los Angeles union activists make the trip, San Diego supporters will hold another rally on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Rider and nearly 20 tea party activists came together in Kearny Mesa to support Walker’s proposal to limit collective bargaining for most of that state’s public employees to wages.

An open question is how much longer the issue captivates the nation’s imagination.

“It’s just as possible that it’s a dead issue in three or four weeks as it is some watershed moment,” said Zucchet, with the city workers’ union.

On the other hand, T.J. Zane, the head of the pro-business Lincoln Club of San Diego, is confident the issue has legs.

“I think you’ll see this as a predominant issue and theme all the way through November 2012 and possibly beyond, depending on the outcome of the election in 2012,” he said.

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