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Title: Largest Crowds Since Vietnam War March In Wisconsin
Source:
REUTERS
URL Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011 ... protests-idUSTRE71O4F420110227
Published: Feb 27, 2011
Author: REUTERS
Post Date: 2011-02-27 02:13:37 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 3450
Comments: 14
(Reuters) - A crowd estimated at more than 70,000 people on Saturday waved American flags, sang the national anthem and called for the defeat of a Wisconsin plan to curb public sector unions that has galvanized opposition from the American labor movement. In one of the biggest rallies at the state Capitol since the Vietnam War, union members and their supporters braved frigid temperatures and a light snowfall to show their displeasure. The mood was upbeat despite the setback their cause suffered earlier this week when the state Assembly approved the Republican-backed restrictions on union collective bargaining rights over fierce Democratic objections. "I'm deeply honored to be here with you," said Peter Yarrow, a veteran of many social protests during his 50-year folk music career and a founding member of the group Peter, Paul and Mary. "If you persist, you will prevail." What began two weeks ago as a Republican effort in one small U.S. state to balance the budget has turned into a confrontation with unions that could be the biggest since then President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers nearly 30 years ago. Republicans still must push the measure through the state Senate, which has been unable to muster a quorum for a vote because of a Democratic boycott. If the plan is approved in Wisconsin, a number of other states where Republicans swept to victory in the 2010 elections could follow. Already, other legislatures including Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, Tennessee, and Kansas are working on union curbs. Unlike previous protests, the rally on Saturday brought out thousands of union workers not directly affected by the bill, including the state's firefighters, exempted along with police from the Republican proposal. Dozens of private sector unions were represented as well at the event. No "Tea Party" supporters of the proposal championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker were spotted on Saturday. They staged a smaller rally of their own in Madison a week ago. PARTY ATMOSPHERE The rally felt more like a party than a protest. "This is one of the largest sustained protests we have seen in Madison since the Vietnam War. And to my knowledge there were absolutely no problems," Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said. Scott Sumer, a teacher from Rockford, Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin state line, said he hoped the sustained and broad-based opposition to the Wisconsin bill would discourage lawmakers in other states from considering similar measures. "Other governors are going to see this and think, 'I don't want to go there.'" Sumer said. "The tenacity of this movement and civility here are impressive." Demonstrators chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, Scott Walker has got to go," as they stood directly under the office window of the state's new governor, who introduced the controversial measure as part of a budget deficit cutting bill that is moving in the Wisconsin legislature. The stakes are high for labor because more than a third of U.S. public employees such as teachers, police and civil service workers belong to unions while only 6.9 percent of private sector workers are unionized. Unions are the biggest single source of funding for the Democratic party. Some of the demonstrators carried signs, others pushed baby carriages, and others walked with their dogs by their sides. The overwhelming anti-Walker sentiment of the demonstration was telegraphed in many ways, including a sign that read: "Scott Walker for President ... of Libya." U.S. labor groups also staged rallies across the country to show solidarity with Wisconsin in fighting the proposal they see as trying to break the union movement. BETTER WEATHER Wearing thick outerwear and her 10-month-old son strapped to her belly, Tamarine Cornelius, 36, carried a sign that read "If Wisconsin is gonna become Mississippi than I am gonna want better weather." "I understand that there are tough times ahead, things are going to be difficult no matter what. I think most people understand that," said Cornelius, who works for the non-profit Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. People in the state capital of Madison, which is home to unionized state government agencies and the University of Wisconsin, are overwhelmingly opposed to the governor's plan. But Republicans said they believe there is a silent majority who voted Walker into office, and support the efforts. Republicans appeared defiant in the face of the union protests. In Phoenix, potential Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, a former governor of Minnesota, a neighbor of Wisconsin, drew applause from "Tea Party" activists when he blasted President Barack Obama for supporting the Wisconsin unions. "It says in the Constitution: 'In order to form a more perfect Union.' ... Mr. President, that does not mean coddling out of control public employee unions," he told some 2,000 partisans gathered for a conference. The Wisconsin changes sought by Walker would make state workers contribute more to health insurance and pensions, end government collection of union dues, let workers opt out of unions and require unions to hold recertification votes every year. Collective bargaining would be allowed only on wage increases up to the rate of inflation.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Fook the balanced budget, let the Kochsuckers break the taxpayer and the state!
They really need to add them to the bill. Especially the men in blue.
The problem is the ignorant hypocrisy of their mental construct of history. Like the US gave them Collective Bargaining? And can now take it away. IF you do not learn history, you will repeat it until you do. Secondly, notice that the murder and repression by Iraqi puppet forces are always justified: (in the NYT today it said that people died from "clashes": "Iraq’s “day of rage” on Friday ended with nearly 20 protesters killed in clashes with security forces."). Thirdly, notice that any protests against the occupation and its puppet forces are instantly conflated with Al-Qa`idah terrorism (this is from today's NYT: "But on Friday, he celebrated the fact that there had been no suicide bombings. Their absence was perhaps a fluke, but it suggested that heavy security restrictions..." I mean, why should they link the protests to suicide bombings? Unless they are implying--like the sectarian puppet, Al-Maliki, that Bin Laden was behind the protests--just like Qadhdhafi has claimed in Libya). Fourthly, there is no opportunity missed to heap praise on puppet Iraqi repression forces. " NYT
The US taxpayer gave Federal employees their jobs. Wisconsin taxpayers hired their teachers. Now they've decided to pay them what they're worth, damn little. No one is forcing them to work THAT job. If they don't like it they should quit. It's for the chilrun!
I recall a re-run of MASH I saw where this uber right winger named Colonel Flagg... Civil service ...created to keep the parties from using the government from the top down as their own personal employment service.
"http://first-draft-blog.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c5ced53ef0148c7a28c4b970c-320wi"
That include all the cops the libs salted in on this march?
Well, [war's] got to do something for attention, his multiple personalities aren't speaking to him any more, and his imaginary friends keep finding excuses not to come over.
Just curious. Are you as wacky as Godwinson who thinks the military should unionize?
I don't even believe in collective bargaining for civil service rank and file. I think it's become a tool being used mainly for management's convenience. But that doesn't change the reasoning behind the formation of Civil Service.
"http://first-draft-blog.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c5ced53ef0148c7a28c4b970c-320wi"
Just like janitors got their pay reduced to what they were worth, and assembly line workers, and carpenters, and poof - pretty soon the middle class is gone.
You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you. Ludwig von Mises in a letter to Ayn Rand
Don't worry, they'll bring in eager replacements from some foreign country and then bitch about the neighborhood going to pot or that no one speaks English anymore.
"http://first-draft-blog.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c5ced53ef0148c7a28c4b970c-320wi"
Still have posting privileges at the mental institution I see, mcgoon! Try to remain focused on the subject of the thread, Kochsucker.
Actually, a military union works in some militarys, as it does in Holland. I always supported one when in and now as there is a serious problem with slumlords in communities near bases, and a union would help organize people and work a solution the military overhead do not have the tools to deal with, or the inclination to do anything about. The union would be suspended in times of war or national emergency, and would not affect military preparedness.
We're so far away from taxpayers having any say so in gov't, that we might as well be Egypt. 11% now approve of Congress. King George had better numbers in 1776. $1.5 Quadrillion. You think taxpayers approved that number? 8D
Why are police and firefighters exempt from Walker's bill? What's the justification?
You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you. Ludwig von Mises in a letter to Ayn Rand
a Republican effort in one small U.S. state to balance the budget has
#2. To: Brian S (#0)
including the state's firefighters, exempted along with police
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
#4. To: mcgowanjm (#3)
Like the US gave them Collective Bargaining? And can now take it away.
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
Godwinson posted on 2011-02-23 11:47:32 ET
http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=18011&Disp=46#C46
#5. To: hondo68 (#4)
The US taxpayer gave Federal employees their jobs.
#6. To: Rek (#5)
#7. To: Rek (#5)
#8. To: A K A Stone (#7)
(Edited)
ust curious. Are you as wacky as Godwinson who thinks the military should unionize?
#9. To: hondo68 (#4)
Wisconsin taxpayers hired their teachers. Now they've decided to pay them what they're worth, damn little. No one is forcing them to work THAT job.
#10. To: lucysmom (#9)
Just like janitors got their pay reduced to what they were worth, and assembly line workers, and carpenters, and poof - pretty soon the middle class is gone.
#11. To: mcgowanjm (#3)
notice that the murder and repression by Iraqi puppet forces
#12. To: A K A Stone (#7)
"Just curious. Are you as wacky as Godwinson who thinks the military should unionize?"
#13. To: hondo68 (#4)
The US taxpayer gave Federal employees their jobs.
#14. To: Brian S, all (#0)
Unlike previous protests, the rally on Saturday brought out thousands of union workers not directly affected by the bill, including the state's firefighters, exempted along with police from the Republican proposal.
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