An Indiana prosecutor said one of his deputies resigned Thursday after admitting he sent an email to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggesting Walker fake an attack on himself to discredit the unions protesting his plans.

You guys built the middle class. I would just emphasize what Hilda [Solis] said and say it slightly different: We don’t see the value of collective bargaining, we see the absolute positive necessity of collective bargaining. Let’s get something straight: The only people who have the capacity — organizational capacity and muscle — to keep, as they say, the barbarians from the gate, is organized labor. And make no mistake about it, the guys on the other team get it. They know if they cripple labor, the gate is open, man. The gate is wide open. And we know that too.

Without unions, without collective bargaining and workers sticking together, employers would dictate working conditions, hours, wages, and benefits without any input from the workers. And without unions, there would be no American middle-class. There would be the rich and the poor — no in-between.