Thousands protest Wisconsin anti-union bill Options

[Jordan-N-Torifan]

Just wondering if anyone's heard about what's going on here right now and if they have any opininons.

MADISON, Wis. — Thousands of teachers, prison guards and students descended on the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday to try to preserve the union rights of public employees in the state that was the first to grant collective bargaining to government workers more than a half-century ago.

The new Republican governor, Scott Walker, is seeking passage of the nation's most aggressive anti-union proposal — a plan that would all but eliminate the bargaining process for most public employees.

The sweeping measure was moving swiftly through the GOP-led Legislature and would mark a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, which passed a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959 and was the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees.

The Statehouse filled with as many as 10,000 demonstrators, and many Madison teachers joined the protest by calling in sick in such numbers that the district had to cancel classes.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41624142/ns/po...-more_politics/

[degarmo_fan76]

Part 1 of State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys Interview today on Democracy Now!


Included in the video was this sound bite from Joel Wagner, who is a police officer:

JOEL WAGNER: Joel Wagner, the Dane County—I work for the Dane County Sheriff’s Department.

MIKE BURKE: And why are you here today?

JOEL WAGNER: Because of what Scott Walker’s doing. I’ll tell you one thing: I was a card-carrying Republican until he did this. Republicans are not this mean. I gotta believe that. I’m now an independent thanks to Scott Walker.

MIKE BURKE: And what is your message to the Governor today?

JOEL WAGNER: Stop this bill. Kill this bill. Don’t be so mean-spirited.

Well, that is one less voter that Scott Walker can count on when it comes time for his reelection bid in 2014. And the polls, like the latest CBS/NY Times poll, are showing that the majority of Americans questioned are either "somewhat" or "strongly" opposed to Gov. Scott Walker's plans to gut collective bargaining of public employees.


Even though the voters of Wisconsin can not have a "do-over", a poll done by Public Policy Polling did conduct one themselves. What they found is that if the election was held again today, Scott Walker would have lost to Democrat nominee Tom Barrett by 52-45.

With Gov. Scott Walker in trouble and losing support for his "union busting" plan, there are now plans for two national groups to air TV ad campaigns for the Governor. One is from RGA (Republican Governors Association) and the other is a new group that has just been created. Hmm, he can't win the PR battle, so he needs help from the same donors and groups that gave him millions of dollars to "change the hearts and minds" of those 14 State Senate Democrats and protesters?