People Before Profit blog

Video: Chicago rally for Wisconsin workers

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:22:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Well over 2000 union and community activists turned out last Saturday to support battling public workers in Wisconsin and around the country. (video below) As a steelworker in the crowd put it, "We'll be here every time. We'll drive a thousand miles wherever. We'll do whatever it takes to stop this national attack on our union rights."

He went on to say how proud he was of the Steelworker strikers in Metropolis, Illinois who drove over a thousand miles to be in Madison in support of the Wisconsin workers. The Metropolis steelworkers have been on strike for over eight months.

Around the country tens of thousands more jammed state capitals and big cities in solidarity, while on Saturday over 100,000 turned out in Madison. What a victory for those occupying the Wisconsin Rotunda. The police have refused to arrest or use force to evict those inside.

New Yorkers hit budget cuts

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:28:00 +0000

NEW YORK, NY - New Yorkers, on Feb. 24, joined the growing solidarity with public workers under attack in several states. Originally slated as a rally against Mayor Bloomberg's threatened layoffs and cutbacks, the rally became one in a series of actions in solidarity with Wisconsin public workers.

A thousand workers and their supporters, questioned both Mayor Bloomberg's motivation and the impact of the layoffs and cuts which have a particularly severe impact on public education.

With Governor Walker of Wisconsin continuing his efforts to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers in that state, and solidarity actions growing in several states, the rally took on a new character. Speaker after speaker condemned both Bloomberg's threatened layoffs and cuts and the attacks on public workers as well.

The Bloomberg attack on public workers includes attempts to remove union protection from large numbers of city workers by reclassifying them as being in "noncompetitive," "exempt," or "managerial and confidential" assignments.

He also wants to reduce worker protections by extending probationary periods, combining civil service titles ("broadbanding"), the use of "merit" increases and replacing seniority and testing with managerial fiat. Many observers have noted the similarities between Bloomberg's intentions and a return to the patronage, cronyism, and corruption.

The rally was initiated by AFSCME Local 375 of District Council 37. Later District Council 37 itself and several other of its locals joined, including 154, 768, 1113 and 1549 (including the bulk of city clerical workers, and the largest DC 37 local).

The protest had been joined by contingents and speakers from several other unions of public and private sector workers. Speakers included Transit Workers Union president John Samuelson, and Arthur Cheliotes of the Communications Workers of America, Local 1180. Signs and banners identified many different unions and other organizations.

Photo: Bud Korotzer

Protesters remain in Wisconsin Capitol despite Gov's order to clear out

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:23:00 +0000

MADISON, Wis. - In a victory for the labor movement and its allies, demonstrators slept overnight in the Capitol building here and continued to rally inside the building today, almost 24 hours after Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP legislators ordered police to clear them out.

Police, who politely requested demonstrators to leave for the night, made no arrests. As they had promised at several rallies, off-duty police were among those defying the governor's order and sitting in for the night.

By 8 a.m. Monday, newly-arrived demonstrators were joining those inside the Capitol as others marched outside.

"We are here and we will remain here until the governor stops his attacks on the middle class," said Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO. She was one of hundreds of ralliers who remained inside the Capitol Sunday night after the 4 p.m. Republican deadline.

Luke Bassuener, an art teacher at Chavez and Crestwood elementary schools, said he has slept in at the Capitol for nine nights. "It's not a big sacrifice," he said. "I live nearby and wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, knowing I had a chance to stop this attack on democracy and then didn't take that chance."

The largest demonstration of the 13-day protest occurred on Saturday, Feb. 26, as some 125,000 union members and their supporters converged on Madison to insist that the governor stop his attack on union organizing rights.

Traffic could not move for hours along State Street as thousands of Wisconsinites from all over the state made their way along the street toward the Capitol. The huge rally filled the entire Capitol Square and streets leading into it for several blocks.

At the Capitol, thousands in the rotunda opened a path for hundreds of autoworkers who came to show their support. "What's disgusting?" the parading autoworkers yelled. "Union busting!" thousands in the rotunda, among them many who were not in unions, answered.

"I'm here supporting the public workers because we're all union and we're sticking together," said Melvin Wesheimer, 58, a member of Local 94, UAW.

"An Injury to One is an Injury to All," read a 25-foot-deep AFL-CIO banner draped over a rotunda balcony.

Neil Robinson, an airline pilot for 27 years, stood in a Capitol hallway with a banner proclaiming his union's support for Wisconsin workers.

Wendy Duelling, 30, a Milwaukee school teacher, was in the crowd outside the Capitol. "If we are not advocating for safe and small classrooms, the kids lose. Our collective bargaining contract is the tool we need to be able to do this."

One of the most popular chants among the 125,000 gathered here was: "What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like."

The same chant was heard this weekend at rallies from New Hampshire to Hawaii in places like Nashville, San Diego and Charlottesville, W.V.

As the solidarity actions took place 10,000 rallied at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis against that state's list of anti-union bills that are also designed to weaken collective bargaining rights..

Taking a lead from their colleagues in Wisconsin, Indiana's House Democratic Caucus walked out of the Statehouse and says it will not return until the anti-union agenda is withdrawn. Workers camped out at the main entrance to the Statehouse all weekend.

More than 3,000 demonstrated in Trenton, N.J., and 3,500 in Olympia, Wash.

Chanting "This is what Democracy looks like," 1,000 - many wearing Wisconsin's red and black colors - demonstrated at DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C.

"Maryland to Wisconsin, we are one!" hundreds chanted outside Maryland's state Capitol in Annapolis.

They marched too at the New York state Capitol in Albany and at City Hall in New York City.

Photo: Ironworkers joined Wisconsin students, teachers, police, firefighters and others in a massive march of 125,000 in support of workers' rights. (Blake Deppe/PW)

Wisconsin and the tea party: an Ohio worker speaks his mind

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:41:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - The right of a worker to assemble with his or her colleagues to form a bargaining unit is engrained in the United States Bill of Rights. The economy is in the tank. And, the Radical Republicans who call themselves "the tea party" are duping the American people.

It's no secret that Koch Industries and a slew of other multi-billion-dollar conglomerates have shelled out billions of dollars into the coffers of these freshman politicians, who have a lot to learn about ethical legislative procedures. Over the course of a few weeks they attempted to railroad a Wisconsin Senate bill that would limit collective bargaining rights for public Wisconsin workers. Here in Ohio, more draconian measures have been introduced into our state Senate where collective bargaining rights would be stripped for all public workers. New Jersey is attempting to strip away collective bargaining rights for their public workers. Florida is following, and so is Michigan. Last week, a bill was introduced in Tennessee that aims at teachers' collective bargaining rights.

While Radical Republicans are chanting "reform," working people from all over the USA have been challenging them, saying that these tea party bills are nothing more than attempts at busting unions, nothing more, nothing less.

An attempt at changing law in statehouses usually follows a federal mandate, like with speed limits, drinking ages, drug limitations, etc.

This attempt at busting unions at the state level is an act of collusion by freshman Radical Republicans and their corporate backers. It can't only be me who sees what is going on and says, "There's something fishy about this."

It all seems like a set-up that has been happening for a few years now. It's not a secret that, because of the recent Supreme Court decision ending a decade-long ban on how much corporations and unions are allowed to donate to political campaigns, corporations are behind the tea party. Their avid play at manipulating voters' prejudices and fear swayed a desperate public last year to launch Radical Republicans into office in many state governments.

A recent MSNBC report told a tale about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his backers at a Super Bowl party. After the Packers won the Super Bowl, Walker held up a photograph of Ronald Reagan and described to his backers how Reagan's firing of striking PATCO workers was the first step at ending Communism in the world. He described how this action that took place in 1981 had a direct effect on the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1986. This is delusional history if you ask this writer.

His speech about Reagan's influence on the labor movement was not as much history as admitting to a plan that has been in place since before statehouses fell to Radical Republicans.

Tea party candidates told police and fire unions that they supported them, and would not attack them with their "job creating" plan. This writer even called the office of John Boehner and asked his aide if he supports collective bargaining, and he told me, "Yes." Despite the lies, my vote went with labor. But what about those who love collective bargaining and voted for tea party candidates under the illusion that they would lower taxes and keep basic rights for workers?

They were duped. Now they have been showing up at rallies to support labor and tell these tea partiers that they are liars. That's what happens when somebody is duped. They challenge the one who duped them. "Fool me once, shame on you," the old adage says. Public workers are the ones doing the shaming these days.

Mike McNeely is a member of Plumbers Local 55, Cleveland.

Photo: Parma Heights firefighters and a couple of union plumbers from Cleveland stand outside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on February 17, with thousands of other Ohioans, to protest a state Senate bill, SB 5, that would strip collective bargaining rights from government workers. (Mike McNeely)

Braving bitter cold, Montana capital rally backs Wisconsin workers

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:46:00 +0000

HELENA, Mont. - Despite a forecast of single-digit temperatures and high winds, 200 Montanans braved the Rocky Mountain winter to gather on the Capitol steps in Helena and express their solidarity with the demonstrators in Wisconsin.

The rally moved along at a brisk pace, but there was no shortage of enthusiasm amongst those who turned out to show their support. The crowd was a cross-section of the state's population: women and men, youth and elders, and workers of all trades - union and non-union - from electricians to grocery workers came out to show solidarity with Wisconsin's public employees as they reject the right-wing's attacks. People made the trip from all over Montana, despite having only two day's notice.

Quinton Nyman, a laborer and leader of the Public Employees' union who walked the picket lines with his father at the age of five, brought some much-overlooked perspective to the issue: "Public employees are not the enemy; they're the victim. You don't see Bernie Madoff out driving a snow plow truck in Wisconsin, or the Lehman Brothers working as prison guards," he argued, "although they should associate with prison guards."

Solidarity was expressed not just with the demonstrators in Madison, but with the popular uprisings world-wide, which many felt shared a common theme. John Thompson, a historian and professor at Montana State University, explained the connection: "The examples of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya show that the power of the people can remove tyrants," Thompson said, cautioning that "unless we stop the Republican Party, and now the tea party, from undermining workers' rights, our personal freedoms, and the environment, we may end up in a dictatorship similar to those from which they are now freeing themselves."

Montana State Senator Mary Caferro, a Democrat from Helena, brought the rally to a close with the message that Wisconsin Republicans' assault in that state's legislature is not the only front in the struggle, but that even in Montana the right-wing Assembly is bent on passing legislation that would harm working families . "I want to show support for our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin, but you know, we've got problems here in Montana," she argued, citing privatization and anti-union legislation such as a bill that made it to the legislature without public hearing, which would strip the state veterans' home workers of their health insurance. "Wall Street is doing OK. Let's make sure our workers are doing OK."

photo: PW/Jesse Jack

Pro-union rallies spread, message deepens

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:32:00 +0000

MADISON, Wisc. -- Wisconsin's Capitol had more than 100,000 people Saturday, Feb. 26, all coming to support the state's public service workers in their fight against Republican Governor Scott Walker's plan to dismantle their freedom to join unions and exercise democracy in the places where they work.

Across the U.S. other rallies gathered over 30,000 more in solidarity with the workers' message.

In Indianapolis, nearly 25,000 people demonstrated against a plan to turn their state into another so-called "right to work" state after a weeks of demonstrations there successfully killed three bills which targeted the jobs of working families, their benefits, and the right to bargain collectively.

Ohio saw similar protests in its capital, Columbus.

From Alaska to Miami, and Maine to Hawaii, the chant was "We are all Wisconsin." And in Wisconsin, what was the message?

The labor movement has made itself clear: they are willing to work with state government in managing benefits to cope with the budget crisis and want to negotiate. It is Gov. Walker who will not negotiate, as his admitted goal is to dismantle the unions themselves. The protests are against the parts of the budget bill that seek to put an end to the collective bargaining process and, consequently, destroy workers' freedom to determine the conditions of their work.

Numerous signs carried by school teachers called on Gov. Walker to sit at the bargaining table, and included the definition of the word negotiate to help him in case he misunderstood. (Story continues after slideshow.)

Public employee union, AFSCME's green placards reiterated the idea that the protesters stood for democracy with "It's about Freedom" printed across them in white.

This message has become widespread. While the benefits union membership results in are tangible and important, demonstrators are discussing how those benefits and protections are a result of the union as a democratic organization that represents them. The union provides workers with a voice. Unlike a private business, or a corporation with its restriction on decision making based on how much stock one can buy, unions represent all workers in an occupation through their participation and votes.

For many who feel the country has been hijacked by corporate power this model is appealing. It paves the way for discourse on power and how the economy itself might be made more democratic.

Being a long-time proponent of this vision of a democratic economy, I went to Madison on Saturday to witness the historic demonstrations there. I talked with many people who shared sentiments similar to mine. The lively corridors of the Capitol, walls covered with print-outs of statistics, messages of solidarity, and humorous signs, hummed with the sound of debate, discussion, and music. The experience was surreal, which is somewhat sad because it also seemed to be exactly what self-government ought to be.

When it was time for me to leave I sought a volunteer on trash collection duty and recycled an extra flier I was handed.

Waiting for the buses that would take us back to the demonstrator parking, a public employee leaned over to a woman nearby and said "Hi, I'm one of the union thugs you've probably heard about."

She shook his hand and introduced herself as "the greedy teacher."

I couldn't help myself. "Hi," I said "I'm one of the Communists here today."

The teacher responded, "Uh-oh, Glenn Beck warned me about you!"

We all had a good laugh and left firm in our belief that, no matter what the corporate hegemony might say about it, we had stood as one.

Jean Paul Holmes is a writer and social media activists. You can follow him on Twitter: @JeanPaulHolmes.

Photos: (Jean Paul Holmes/PW)

Kentucky unions rally at the Capitol

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:13:00 +0000

FRANKFORT, KY - For an hour and a half Saturday February 26, a multi-generational, multi-racial crowd of over 200 stood in the cold outside the Kentucky capitol building singing songs, chanting, and listening to speeches. They made their voices heard in solidarity with the workers of Wisconsin. Some participants wore red and white, some waved American flags, and many carried signs expressing their support for unions and protesting the latest attacks on middle class Americans: Cut bonuses not teachers; Save the American Dream; Unions make us strong.

The crowd chanted: "Union workers, fight back!"

State Senator Kathy Stein (D) of Fayette County was the only member of the legislature present. She spoke to state workers, saying: "You are not forgotten about!" Dick Levine, University of Kentucky architecture professor, using the state flag as a backdrop asked "Who do we stand with?" He led the crowd in a chant using the state's motto: "United we stand, divided we fall!"

A representative from the Professional Firefighters spoke about how important collective bargaining is: "It's important to bargain for other things besides wages. The Firefighters won't back down!"

The crowd chanted: "We won't back down!" Janette Westbrook, a social worker, spoke about the important, difficult, and sometimes dangerous work that social workers do across the state: helping to care for everyone from children to the elderly.

Candy McDaniels, a special education teacher in Davis County and member of the Kentucky Education Association, spoke about her concerns for retirement. A bill currently under consideration would deny new state employees a defined benefit pension plan, and only provide them with a defined contribution plan. Meanwhile the state continues to underfund the current pension plan, a plan that state employees already pay into.
Candy concluded on a somber note: "Together we will fight, hopefully we will win."

The most rousing speech was by Larry, a construction worker and union carpenter. He summarized the feelings of everyone there. He expressed what the protests in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and across America are all about: "I'm damn proud to be union, and I will fight like hell for the right of everyone to have a union."

As the rally finished, people smiled, shook hands, and said "Hello" to old friends. There was a community atmosphere, and a sense of pride to be making a stand, to be participating in something important. People registered to vote, others inquired about joining a union for the first time.

For some it was their first time at a union rally, for others it was one more in a long history of participation. Democracy is not just about voting, nor is it just about donating money. Democracy is about participating in democratic institutions - political parties, unions, councils, committees. United we stand, divided we fall.

Cheesehead solidarity: 3,000 jam Wash. state capital

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:20:00 +0000

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Nearly 3,000 union workers and their allies converged on the state capital, Feb. 26, in a loud demonstration of solidarity with Wisconsin public employees fighting to defend their union rights.

A capacity crowd of over 1,000 jammed the Capitol rotunda and galleries, their chants echoing under the dome: "The people, united, will never be defeated." They held up signs that proclaimed "Recall Scott Walker" and "Union rights are human rights."

They were referring to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker whose attempt to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights has ignited a nationwide fightback. The AFL-CIO and a broad coalition that included MoveOn, USAction and other grassroots organizations called for solidarity demonstrations Feb. 26 in 66 cities including all 50 state capitals to protest the Republican union-busting orgy. At least 100,000 demonstrators braved frigid wind and snow in Madison, the Wisconsin capital.

The Olympia crowd rallied in the snow in front of the Capitol with a handful of counter-demonstrators across the street holding signs that read, "Union Greed" and "We stand with Scott Walker."

"Shame on you!" the union members roared, jabbing their fists at the right-wingers and chanting, "What's disgusting? Union-busting!" and "Recall Walker!" Soon the sad little tea party handful disappeared.

The solidarity demonstration here was swelled by hundreds of union firefighters, and by members of the State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Washington Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, Machinists (IAM), Electrical Workers (IBEW) and United Food and Commercial Workers.

They marched to Tivoli Fountain for a rally. A fire engine, its lights flashing, was parked nearby. "See that fire engine?" said Olympia firefighter, Kelly Fox, president of the Olympia firefighter's union. "That is the face of public servants helping someone who has fallen on the ice. The firefighters stand with all public workers, in Wisconsin and everywhere. We didn't cause this recession. It was the unchecked greed of Wall Street that caused this recession."

The drive to strip workers of their union rights, he added, "is an attack on us; it is an attack on public safety."

Kate Severson, a nurse at Western State Hospital and a leader of SEIU Local 1199NW, said, "What the Wisconsin governor and others like him are doing is a frontal assault on patients, our communities and on the values that made this country. It is not right when billionaires like the Koch brothers pour millions of dollars into elections to put in office politicians who hand out billions in tax breaks for the rich."

A delegation of Democratic legislators came out of the Capitol where they are in session grappling with a multi-billion-dollar deficit and ultra-right initiatives that hogtie the legislature from raising taxes on corporations and the rich. "I stand in solidarity with my colleagues in Wisconsin," said one. Rep. Mike Seils, a Democrat from Everett, told the crowd, "They are not going to gut collective bargaining in this state, not on my watch."

Many in the crowd wore Green Bay Packer "cheesehead" foam hats, symbolizing how the "Cheddar Revolution" has spread nationwide from America's Dairyland. Livia Salvi, a freshmen at Evergreen College, held a hand-lettered sign reading, "Union Workers Won the Superbowl." She told the People's World, "I grew up in Madison. My mom was on the University of Wisconsin faculty. So I come from a union family. It is a huge shock that the governor and legislature are trying to take away collective bargaining rights. This is going to hurt so many Wisconsin families."

Indira McDonald, a public school teacher in Renton, Wash., was here with her husband and children. She assailed Republican smear attacks on public workers as "greedy" with "Cadillac" health care and pensions. "Public employees give their lives for other people," she told the World. "Teachers in my district earn between $30,000 and $40,000 in annual salaries. It's absurd to call us greedy. All we want is to be able to buy food, pay for our homes."

Will Parry, 91, perhaps the oldest person in the crowd, held one end of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans banner, an organization he helped found. Parry, revered as a moving force in the labor movement, and a lifelong member of the Communist Party, said, "This is only the start of a great movement that is going to sweep the country and make tremendous gains for the people."

Photo: PW/Tim Wheeler

New Video: Impressions - Day 11 Fightback Madison, Wis.

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Every day in Madison the solidarity gets more intense. Day 11 saw 160 trade unionists fly in from Los Angeles. They were led by Maria Elena Durazo, leader of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor. They marched into the state capitol rotunda to thunderous applause, cheering and chanting. (see Video below)

Sheet metal workers and pipefitters embraced college students. Militant nurses from Chicago danced to drums beating out, "What's Disgusting - Union Busting!" Friendly cops helped retirees across the slippery marble floors. Firefighter union bag pipers marched in full Irish parade dress, followed by dozens dressed in full firefighter equipment. A young African American student led the crowd in shaking the building with, "Everywhere we go. People want to know. Who we are? So we tell them. We are the union. Mighty, Mighty Union!"

Meantime local merchants brought in food and drink for a free cafeteria established in the Rotunda. While others brought in stacks of pizzas paid for by supporters from all around the country. Last night at the People's World African-American History celebration in Chicago, folks collected money to help buy more pizzas for the protesters in Madison. This kind of support all happens every day.

Med students and volunteer doctors set up a clinic that is mostly dispensing lip balm and throat lozenges. It's cold outside and folks do a lot of yelling, chanting and singing.

If you haven't made it yet to one of these demonstrations in your area, you gotta go. It's history. It's a sleeping giant awakening. And it's fun!

Shocker: Providence, R.I., officials fire all teachers

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:58:00 +0000

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - "Shocking." That was the response of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten to the mass firing of every one of this city's 1,926 public school teachers. The school board voted 4 to 3 Thursday night to approve the firings, despite an outpouring of 700 teachers who packed the school gymnasium where the board was meeting, to testify against the draconian action.

"I'm feeling disrespected, devalued and marginalized," teacher Ed Gorden told school board members before they voted, as reported in the Providence Journal. "Termination is a career-ender. You are putting a scarlet letter on every one of us."

Mayor Angel Taveras, a newly elected liberal Democrat, had announced the planned move last week, saying the terminations were necessary to give the city more "flexibility" in dealing with a $40 million school budget deficit. He says some schools will have to be closed next fall. He and school officials said they were driven by a March 1 deadline, set by state law, requiring school districts to notify teachers by that date if their jobs are in jeopardy for the next school year.

Addressing the board members, teachers begged them to issue layoff notices instead of firing them, because under the union contract, teachers are recalled from layoff based on seniority. With terminations, there is no guarantee that seniority would be followed in rehiring teachers.

"This is a quasi-legal power grab," said Richard Larkin, a teacher at Classical High School who was quoted in the Journal. "You want to pick and choose teachers. Well, we will not be bullied."

As the Journal described it, "Speaker after speaker demanded to know why they were being fired. Didn't the teachers union sign on to the federal Race to the Top initiative? Hasn't the union collaborated with Supt. Tom Brady on new curricula? Isn't the union working with the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers on a new teacher evaluation?"

Weingarten noted, in a statement issued Wednesday, that, "the district and the Providence Teachers Union have been working collaboratively on a groundbreaking, nationally recognized school transformation model."

A local activist says the Providence Teachers Union "has been at the forefront of labor-management cooperation as far as school reform." She adds, "These aren't a few hundred ‘layoff' notices that traditionally happen each year before the March 1 deadline. These are termination notices - which I believe means the city can then pick and choose who it wants to bring back. There's no guarantee that this selection will happen based on any objective criteria (whether it is a mutually-agreed upon teacher evaluation, or something more traditional like seniority)."

PTU President Steve Smith called the terminations "an attack on labor and an attack on collective bargaining."

"This is a back-door Wisconsin," Smith said, referring to the massive protests spurred by Republican Gov. Scott Walker's attempt to break Wisconsin's public worker unions.

Mass teacher terminations, whether in one school or an entire district, are "not fiscally or educationally sound," Weingarten said.

"A mass firing, announced in the middle of a school year, does not help solve a budget problem - the purported reason - but, rather, disrupts the education of all students and the entire community," she said.

"The mayor claims he needs flexibility. We looked up ‘flexibility' in the dictionary, and it does not mean destabilizing education for all students in Providence or taking away workers' voice or rights."

Taveras, the city's first Latino mayor, was elected last fall with strong labor and progressive backing and has had good relations with unions since taking office. But city administrators' argument about needing "maximum flexibility" rings hollow for union members, the community activist here said. "It sounds like code for making an end-run around the union contract."

"No one likes having something forced down their throat," the activist said. Instead, she suggested, the city should work with the union, with the message: "We are facing a $40 million deficit, we're going to have to close some schools or consolidate, let's come to the table and figure out if we can come up with something together."

For the past two years, Weingarten said, Providence teachers have been working together with school officials on improving low-performing schools, developing an innovative hiring process and revamping the teacher evaluation system.

"The mayor and school superintendent owe it to the community and to the students and teachers in Providence to resolve whatever problem they're dealing with, not by fiat, but by working in a collaborative way," she said.

Philadelphia rally for Wisconsin workers: Everybody needs a union

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:50:00 +0000

PHILADELPHIA - A dense crowd of union members and community supporters packed the Thomas Paine Plaza across from City Hall here for a lunchtime rally Feb. 24 in support of embattled workers in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio. The demonstrators included members of a wide range of unions, including public sector workers, building trades and other private sector workers, and supporters from Jobs with Justice, United Action and others.

John Meyerson, political action director of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, struck a chord with the crowd when he said, "We get questions, not just from conservative talk show hosts, but from workers who don't have a union. They ask: ‘Why do you get a pension? I don't have one' or ‘Why do you have benefits? I don't have benefits." Or ‘Why do you have a job?'"

He said the answer is: "To get those things, get a union! That's why everybody needs one!"

Patrick Gillespie, president of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council, said after the rally that it was crucial for private sector workers to be in support when public workers are under attacked. He said, "Anytime anyone threatens the collective bargaining process it threatens all workers, anyone who works for wages, whether they are part of organized labor or not!"

Photo: Crowd packs Philadelphia's Thomas Paine Plaza, Feb. 24, to support Wisconsin workers. (PW/Ben Sears)

Record protests rock Wisconsin, workers stand firm in Indiana

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:43:00 +0000

MADISON- Only a day after Wisconsin's Republican governor told a journalist posing over the phone as billionaire David Koch that protests were beginning to fizzle Feb. 23, 2011 goes down on record as the day of the largest demonstrations outside of Madison in Wisconsin history.

In Madison itself, union organizers are hunkered down with thousands inside the Capitol as thousands more mass outside the building. The ornate 19th century structure has been occupied by workers and students for 10 days.

"The demonstrations today all over the state are the biggest in the history outside of Madison," said an ebulient Eddie Vale, the AFL-CIO's Political Communications Director. Vale has moved out of his Washington office to work here and in other Wisconsin town where workers are waging an epic battle to protest the governor's union-busting plans.

In addition to Madison, demonstrations today are taking place in Appleton, Chippewa Falls, Ripon, River Falls, Sheboygan, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Osgosh, Racine, La Crosse, Kenosha, Plattesville and Eau Claire.

Thor Backus, an organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municpal Employees, said Wisconsin unions expect protests in Madison to grow all week with crowds on Saturday possibly surpassing the record 70,000 who have gathered in any one day since the action began.
Backus, standing next to a pile of AFSCME posters in the Capitol's north hallway, said, "I am incredibly proud of the role my union has played in this. We have been on this since the beginning and the support from everyone is great."

Madison is the birthplace of AFSCME, which was founded there in 1936.
.
People in the crowds are angry, but not surprised that Gov. Walker, in a phone conversation with a blogger he thought was billionaire David Koch, exposed himself as a lackey for the billionaire brothers.

"He's a fool anyway," said Kietra Olson, 24, of Madison. "Now everyone can hear him, in his own words, confirming everything everyone here has been saying about him."

Olson said she was here because she wanted to support her mother and "all the rest of the teachers. Who of us would know a damned thing if it wasn't for teachers? Without good teachers you end up with a fool like Walker."

The Madison police chief said today that he found parts of the recorded call between Walker and "Koch" very unsettling and troubling.

Chief Noble Wray said he was particularly concerned about Walker saying he had considered sending infiltrators into the crowds. "I would like to hear more of an explanation from him. I find it unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers."
In Indiana yesterday, Republican lawmakers withdrew a right to work for less bill that has brought thousands into the state capitol there.

Workers and their supporters continued the occupation anyway because they note that there are numerous other anti-worker bills in the hopper.

Indiana's Democratic lawmakers have boycotted state Senate proceedings and like their Wisconsin counterparts, are staying in Illinois. They warn that it is too early to declare victory in Indiana because they expect Republicans to try to weaken unions with a variety of other legislative moves.

Photo: Terrie Albano

Youngstown protests Kasich Chamber of Commerce visit

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Over 1,000 demonstrators converged on the regional airport in Youngstown, Ohio, today to protest the arrival of Gov. John Kasich. The Republican governor, who is leading a drive to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights, spoke at fund-raising event sponsored by the Trumbull County Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Youngstown Vindicator, the event was to be held at another location, but "Kasich, a Republican, requested it be relocated to an airport hangar to help those attending the event avoid protesters."

The United Steelworkers, SEIU, AFSCME, Firefighters, and United Auto Workers organized the protest. Local Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, interviewed prior to the event on WFMJ-TV, said there were efforts to disrupt the demonstration. "They are trying to block roads. They're doing everything they can to make sure we do not have a successful coalition," Betras said.

Workers held up signs and shouted "Kill the bill," refering to the union-busing Senate Bill 5. One sign read, "Screw us and we multiply." State Rep. Robert Hagan and U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan were among the protesters along with other local officials.

Youngstown resident Roz Sims, 89, said the demonstration was one of the biggest she'd seen in the area. "Kasich is through," she said. "He's finished."

Kasich's trip was preceded by a visit by Bush loyalist Karl Rove on Tuesday. Rove was also a guest of the Chamber of Commerce. Rove was in the area to raise support for the Republican 2012 presidential bid. Protesters met Rove as well, calling him a warmonger.

In a related protest, Canton, Ohio, snow plow drivers face disciplinary charges after joining an anti-Kasich protest. "Canton city service director Warren Price says five or six plow drivers left their routes Tuesday afternoon to take their trucks past demonstrators outside an appearance by Gov. John Kasich," the Repository of Canton reports. The news report says the drivers honked their horns in support of the protesters.

The report says, "More than 1,000 people showed up in opposition of state legislation that would change collective bargaining rules for public employees. Protesters flocked to the Civic Center for the appearance of Gov. John Kasich, the featured speaker Tuesday night at the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet."

Missouri activists, unions say yes to cost-of-living

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:05:00 +0000

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo - "This is about workers in general, all workers - low-wage workers and union workers. This is about rewarding hard work that directly impacts the entire community and our economy," Clark Brown, a representative from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told the People's World here on February 23.

Brown, other SEIU members, and members of Missouri Jobs with Justice (JWJ) were lobbying Missouri legislators against HB 61 and SB 110, which would "prohibit the state minimum wage from exceeding the federal minimum wage."

To Brown, standing up for all workers is "part of our agenda, part of the labor movements' agenda."

In 2006 Missouri voters voted overwhelmingly to increase the state minimum wage, including an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Currently, nine other states have minimum wages that are tied to cost-of-living increases.

In fact, over 76 percent of Missourians voted in favor of the Increase - the highest approval of any minimum wage increase in the country - and every county in Missouri voted in favor of the initiative by at least a margin of 16 points.

The current minimum wage in Missouri is $7.25 per hour or $15,080 annually. The poverty level for a family of three in Missouri in 2010 was $18,310. It is estimated that 54,750 people work for the minimum wage in Missouri; of which 72 percent are adults 20 or older.

According to Brown, "everybody benefits from an increase in the minimum wage, through increased spending and an increased tax base, which means increased revenue for the state."

Additionally, a higher minimum wage "drives up our union contract wages," Brown added. "We want to bring up the bottom."

JWJ activist Charlie Edelen highlighted the Republicans hypocrisy, saying, "We are holding up the will of Missouri voters. We are protecting our state's worst-paid workers."

Missouri Republicans currently have majorities in both the House and Senate. They claim that the cost-of-living adjustment will drive away business, while ignoring the will of voters.

"COLA will have a negligible impact on business," Edelen added. "Businesses won't leave Missouri because the minimum wage is 20 cents higher."

Edelen continued, "Gas, groceries, rent - it all goes up. The cost-of-living adjustment keeps low-wage workers from falling further and further behind."

As JWJ activists and union members roamed the Capitol scheduling meetings with their representatives or just "pulling them off the floor" the fight-back mood was evident, as activists and representatives alike talked about the protests in the Wisconsin state capital.

State Representative Clem Smith (D-71), a former autoworker and current machinist, told the People's World, "We need to do what they are doing in Wisconsin here! So-called right-to-work legislation, the attempt to repeal child labor laws, English-only provisions and attacks on our minimum wage! They have gone too far. We have to stop them."

Brown added, "The right-wing extremists did not expect this kind of fightback. It is an amazing display of collective power and solidarity of all workers."

He concluded by saying the protests in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana "send a clear message to right-wing legislatures everywhere."

Members of the Missouri State Workers' Union (CWA 6355), United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) Local 655, and the Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates Coalition (MIRA) also lobbied.

Photo: Jobs with Justice activists at the Missouri Capitol. At the left, bottom
is Charlie Edelen. Tony Pecinovsky/PW.

Labor descends on Michigan capital to battle Republican budget

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:44:00 +0000

LANSING - Following in the footsteps of their Midwest brethren, Michigan labor gathered here Feb. 22, determined to stop the onslaught of anti-labor bills and budget cuts Republican majorities in the Statehouse and Senate are throwing at them and the people of this state.

Building trades workers converged to stop a bill aimed at curbing prevailing wage. Public and private workers unions came to lobby against HR 4246, a bill that would allow the state to appoint emergency financial managers (EFM) or "firms" to run cities and towns whose budget deficits have risen due to the economic crisis and cuts in state revenue sharing. Instead of helping struggling communities get back on their feet, the bill will put the power to control local schools and local finances into the hands of a private individual or a private company.

The bill would do away with collective bargaining rights for public workers.

American Federation of Teachers Michigan President David Hecker told the crowd, "We thank you for standing up for yourselves, your families, your communities, and we're not going to let them get away with what they are trying to get away with.

What was expected to be a lobbying effort of just a few hundred became five times that number as labor from throughout the state converged to press their elected officials.

At one point, word was the Statehouse building had been temporarily closed as clogged hallways and elevators could not handle the crowd.

Speaking to Governor Rick Snyder's recently released budget of cuts and pain, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, told this reporter, "When they talk about shared sacrifice, I don't know that this is actually shared sacrifice. I've never seen my own community this engaged on the state budget issues."

She urged constituents to keep coming back. "This budget proposal could completely change depending on how active they are."

After lobbying representatives and senators, the demonstrators filed over to the Capitol to witness debate - or unfortunate lack thereof - on the Emergency Financial Manager bill.

From the House floor, Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint, said the purpose of the EFM was "to void collective bargaining agreements that had been negotiated in good faith."

A series of Democratic attempts to improve the legislation through amendments were voted down on a strict party line vote: 46 Democratic votes for and 62 Republican votes against.

Republican legislators, the same ones that demand leaner workforces and harsher work rules, seemingly "fiddled," leaned back in their chairs and engaged in trivial conversation with their colleagues.

It was not lost on this labor crowd.

As the amendments went down to defeat one after another, a UAW member from Grand Rapids sitting next to me said, "at least they know we are watching."

Yes they do. Word was the 1,000 people who had come had left quite an impression.

On the bus ride back to Detroit, Ruby Newbold, President of the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees and an AFT Vice President, reacted to the day's events, saying, "Given what they just did, Detroit is going to be next. I wonder where they are going to find the money to resolve all of our issues; I hope it is not on the back of our public workers."

Detroit already has an Emergency Financial Manager for its schools. Newbold reacted angrily to the state's draconian call for the Detroit Public Schools to close half of its schools and allow class sizes of 60 students in high school. "If they tear DPS down like they are talking about, we won't need an EFM, [the school system] will be gone.

"We need more to keep coming up until it hits them in the face. When we go back and talk to our family, friends and neighbors, we need to stress to them that this is not just a labor issue. This is a public issue, this is a Detroit issue, this is everybody's issue. They are not going to believe what we saw today.

"It's time for Michigan to fight because if we don't, we are going to be flushed right on down the sewer," Newbold concluded.

Photo: John Rummel/PW

Ohio workers, students: Why we fight

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:42:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Participants in Tuesday's mass rally at the Ohio Statehouse tell the People's World why they came:

Glen Dunaway, president of United Steelworkers Local 735, in Cleveland: "This is the most important fight of my life. I've been involved in this union for 23 years and everything I've fought for they are trying to take away in one swipe. This has been the Republican agenda all along - Get rid of the opposition. We're not going to give away our rights. I'm doing this on my own time because I believe in this. We're going to win this fight."

Jim Speyer, Ohio Education Association member, junior high school science teacher in Riverdale, a suburb of Toledo, holding a sign reading "Republicans Against SB 5": "I've been a Republican all my life, but I'm just about ready to change. There are 11 teachers in my family and four firefighters. You have to have the right to collective bargaining. This bill takes away rights of both teachers and students. It will lead to larger classroom size."

Anne McPherson, retired Alcoa worker (UAW Local 1050) and Sandra Dulaney, retired food service worker, who came in a bus from the Democratic Party in Cleveland: McPherson said, "Kasich needs to be bringing in jobs, not cutting them." Dulaney said, "My grandchildren are in college. They need something to fall back on. If we don't fight, future generations won't have anything. We need to stand firm as a people and a nation."

Greg Zattau, sergeant-at-arms, Toledo Police Patrolmen's Association, who came in a bus of firefighters and police: "We had a town hall meeting at the VFW hall last night. There were 450 people even though there was a freezing rain. We want to know why are they trying to rush this through?"

Mark Pelfrey, secretary, Firefighters Local 4027 in Springdale, near Cincinnati: "Our biggest concern is the attempt to eliminate binding arbitration for safety forces who have no right to strike. But the whole bill is bad. It eliminates seniority and establishes merit pay which only means nepotism, cronyism and favoritism."

Mark Henderson, financial secretary, United Steelworkers Local 169, Mansfield: "This is the opening gun. If they get this, they will come after all the unions. They will go for a ‘right-to-work' law. Kasich said ‘Get on my bus or I will run you over. If this passes, we're next."

Sydney Householder with a group of other students from the University of Akron: "How can you be for the people and against unions? Workers make up the people and unions get good paying jobs. We are also worried about cuts to education and higher tuition."

Kelli Lanzot, SEIU Local 1199, corrections officer, Columbus: "I'm here because I was born and raised union. My father was a teamster. This bill would destroy our family. My husband works for the Department of Jobs and Family Services. He is in OCSEA (Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, representing state employees). "

Linda Higgins, retired librarian, and husband William, retired Operating Engineer Local 18, Chillicothe: Linda said, "I'm concerned about discrimination and gender bias. The only protection is your union. People have the right to bargain. Doing away with collective bargaining will not affect the deficit. You're not going to save anywhere near eight billion dollars with this." William said, "Without unions there's nothing. People fought and died for this. Unions built this country."

Terri Byers and Amy Grittani, elementary school teachers in Southwest City Schools outside Columbus, Ohio Education Association: Terri said, "We are fighting for our livelihood. We are fighting for every advantage for the children. My son is in the police academy. This affects our entire future." Amy said, "We're fighting for the future of Ohio, for the police and safety forces and for the nurses. How can we get kids to stay in Ohio if this passes? Our state senator, Jim Hughes, is a Republican. He has been endorsed by the OEA in the past because he has been a friend of education, but he won't get our endorsement again if he supports this. We are having a lobby day next week and he will be hearing from us."

Tara Thobe, sophomore studying political science at Ohio State University in Lima, an activist with Organizing for America from St. Mary's: "I'm here because my grandpa was a union guy. He worked at Goodyear. Without that our whole family would be nowhere. And also I love teachers." Tara said she does virtual phone banking for OFA calling registered voters of all parties in four western strongly Republican counties about SB 5. "The response is overwhelming against this bill," she said. "Yesterday the OFA reached 4,000 people."

Charley Andrew, truck driver, Political Action Committee chairman, Teamsters Local 407, Cleveland: "This bill is political payback to the unions because we supported Democrats. They want to cripple us for 2012. If they do this to the public unions, we will be next."

Photo: Debbie Kline

Thousands flood Ohio Capitol to defend union rights

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:17:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - As rallies, town hall meetings and teach-ins spread throughout the state up to 10,000 Ohioans converged on the Statehouse here Tuesday to protest a Republican bill to repeal public employees' right to bargain collectively.

It was hard to estimate the size of the crowd that rallied on two sides of the building and filled the atrium and rotunda inside, as well as a large room in another state building where the fourth hearing on the measure, Senate Bill 5, was broadcast. In addition, the ranks of the demonstrators, some of whom arrived as early as 7:30 a.m., continually changed as buses came and left throughout the day. A large flood of Columbus area teachers appeared when school let out. (See related story: "Ohio workers, students: Why we fight")

Rattled by steadily growing demonstrations at previous hearings in the past two weeks, the Republicans tried to discourage and disperse the unprecedented mobilization. Many demonstrators were locked out in the early afternoon on false grounds that the Capitol building was over capacity. There were continual chants of "This is our house" and "Let us in," but the doors only reopened shortly before the hearing began at 4 p.m. when Democratic legislators sought a court order.

Although the hearing that day was supposed to be allocated to opponents of the bill, the session opened with lengthy presentations by supporters including from the management office of the state universities and the ultra-right-wing tea party. The state AFL-CIO charged that many opponents were denied the right to testify and that e-mails from union members to Republican legislators were being blocked.

In fact, the Republicans have been inundated by opponents' calls and e-mails, encouraged by phone banks of unions and Organizing for America, President Barack Obama's campaign group. Some Republicans have broken ranks and come out against the bill and others are wavering. OCSEA, the union representing most state workers, reported that a proposal has been made to reinstate the right to negotiate wages but not benefits or conditions of employment. This is seen as an attempt by Republican Gov. John Kasich to stop GOP defections as well as possibly divide Democrats.

Former Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat who was narrowly defeated by Kasich in November, was given a hero's welcome as he made his way through the crowds inside and outside the Capitol.

"Bring back Ted," the people chanted.

"This is nothing but a political power grab," Strickland said. "An attempt (by the Republicans) to consolidate power and diminish the rights of working people all in the guise of fiscal restraint. There is an attitude of elitism, arrogance and disrespect."

"This is about dignity, it's about respect," the former governor said, speaking from the balcony of the Capitol atrium to the crowd below. "I will be here as long as it takes," he said to deafening cheers as people chanted, "Kill the bill," "We want respect!" and "Recall Kasich."

Strickland, who had sent robocalls and e-mails to mobilize for the protest, was accompanied by U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan from Youngstown. Two other Democratic members of Congress, Betty Sutton and Dennis Kucinich, also took part.

The demonstrators from towns and cities throughout the state included contingents from virtually every union, in both the public and private sector, as well as students from many state universities, retirees and ordinary citizens, many brought by buses from Democratic Party offices. They held union banners and printed signs saying "Stop SB 5" and "Save Collective Bargaining," as well as many imaginative homemade placards.

"Welcome to Kasichistan," read one. "K-SICK You make ME-SICK," read another. A teacher held a sign reading, "In our school we call this bullying."

Many had been in town hall meetings involving thousands protesting SB 5 the previous day in Youngstown, Dayton, Toledo and Cincinnati. Kasich, speaking at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, faced 1,000 demonstrators the night before in Canton.

Tired and weary from the long day in at the Capitol, two union officials reported being stopped by police for traffic violations in Columbus and Cleveland on their way home. When they explained where they had been, the officers, whose unions took part in the protest, waved them on with one saying, "This is your lucky day."

It seems that actions are happening almost daily somewhere in the state. Students at Cleveland State University have called a rally against SB 5 at noon Thursday, Feb. 24, in the city's Public Square. The Lorain County Central Labor Council is holding rallies the same day in Elyria and Lorain. Next Wednesday, March 2, students at Ohio University plan a teach-in and film showing.

There is widespread understanding that the anti-labor attack in Ohio is part of a coordinated national offensive occurring in other states like Wisconsin, Indiana and New Jersey with radical right-wing governors. This was underscored Wednesday with the prank phone call to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from someone posing as right-wing oil billionaire David Koch, a funder of groups promoting elimination of union bargaining rights. In the call, Walker, facing continual massive Statehouse protests against similar legislation, admitted he and Kasich are in daily contact.

Photo: Debbie Kline

Video: Steelworkers support Madison public workers

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Madison, Wis. - On day 6 of the peaceful occupation of the Wisconsin Capital, Steelworkers president Leo Gerard led a delegation of union members into the Capital Rotunda. Speaking to the crowd (see video below) Gerard brought solidarity messages from union federations around the world including Britain, Germany, Brazil, and Australia.

Speaking for millions of industrial workers around the world, Gerard told the crowd, "We stand with you! Not only is America watching, the world is watching. All over the world workers are fighting the same fight."

Photo: Leo Gerard. Scott Marshall/PW

Madison State House Feb 21 2011 from Scott Marshall on Vimeo.

Capitol battle Day 9: Walker runs from Wisconsin workers

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:17:00 +0000

MADISON, Wis. - Several thousand workers continue to occupy the state Capitol today, singing, chanting and drumming, in the ninth day of their struggle to defend collective bargaining for Wisconsin's public employees. Among them are hundreds who have been camped out inside the building since last Tuesday when the protests began against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting plan.

Outside the Capitol this morning, thousands massed for the 12th major rally since the protests began.

Down Main Street came 1,000 police, firefighters and sheet-metal workers, heading to the rally site. Some made their way inside the Capitol to join those "holding the fort" there.

Hundreds of nurses from Wisconsin, Illinois and as far away as West Virginia and California marched into the Capitol grounds.

Sixty nurses came up from Chicago, where they had boarded busses at 6 a.m. Many had just gotten off their night shift, but said they were determined to join their sisters and brothers in the Badger State.

"Collective bargaining contracts for nurses are as important for patients as they are for the nurses," said Leslie Curtis, Midwest regional director of National Nurses United, who is based in Chicago. Pointing to the nurses around her, mostly women, she said, "Any one of the women here will tell you that their collective bargaining contracts are practically the only wedge they have to pressure for better services for their patients."

Meanwhile, with Democratic state senators having left the state to block action on the governor's bill by the Republican-controlled Senate, GOP lawmakers tried on Tuesday to ram the measure through the state Assembly. But Democrats responded with a 25-hour filibuster. When they recessed this morning, Democratic lawmakers were in a celebratory mood.

A senior Democratic Assembly staffer, Mary Lou Kelleher, said, "I'll tell you, today, for the first time in my life, I'm really, really, really proud to be a Democrat." Standing in the hallway near her office, she had to shout over the noise of cheering, drum-beating workers in the Capitol rotunda.

During the Assembly session, Kelleher said, everyone could hear the demonstrators chanting outside. Many Democratic lawmakers prefaced their filibuster remarks by asking their Republican colleagues, "Can you hear the people outside?" and telling them, "Your intransigence affects people's lives." The Republicans sat stone-faced, she said.

The workers had Gov. Walker on the run today. Walker had a meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's version of the Chamber of Commerce. But AFSCME, the state, county and municipal employees union, heard about it and organized a demonstration outside. Walker got wind of the plan and changed his time to 10 a.m. to avoid the workers. But Thor Backus, an organizer for AFSCME Wisconsin Council 40 and head of the union's operations inside the Capitol, put the word out, and a couple hundred workers ran down the street this morning to catch Walker.

Nevertheless, AFSCME kept going with its plan for a mass demonstration at 2 p.m. outside the corporate confab, at Menona Terrace conference center, near the Capitol. "Walker thinks he can do his job while assaulting ours," the union says. "We plan on tracking down the fleeing Walker until he finally talks to us."

Backus said Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce funded the election of three right-wing state Supreme Court judges in last fall's election.

Big business not only moved to take over the state legislature, they also moved to take over the state courts, Backus said.

Photo: Workers rally in Madison last Friday. (PW/Teresa Albano)

Egypt labor leader to Wisconsin workers: “We salute you”

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:30:00 +0000

(MichaelMoore.com) "We stand with you as you stood with us," Kamal Abbas, leader of Egypt's Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services, said in a Feb. 20 video addressed to the workers of Wisconsin, battling to defend their union rights.

Kamal Abbas is general coordinator of the CTUWS, an umbrella advocacy organization for independent unions in Egypt. The CTUWS, which was awarded the 1999 French Republic's Human Rights Prize, suffered repeated harassment and attack by the Mubarak regime, and played a leading role in its overthrow. Abbas, who witnessed friends killed by the regime during the 1989 Helwan steel strike and was himself arrested and threatened numerous times, has received extensive international recognition for his union and civil society leadership, including an award from the AFL-CIO last year.

English transcript is below the video.

The poster in the background shows photographs of some of the recent young victims of the Mubarak government. The writing says they are among the martyrs of the 25 January Revolution.

KAMAL ABBAS: I am speaking to you from a place very close to Tahrir Square in Cairo, "Liberation Square," which was the heart of the Revolution in Egypt. This is the place were many of our youth paid with their lives and blood in the struggle for our just rights.

From this place, I want you to know that we stand with you as you stood with us.

I want you to know that no power can challenge the will of the people when they believe in their rights. When they raise their voices loud and clear and struggle against exploitation.

No one believed that our revolution could succeed against the strongest dictatorship in the region. But in 18 days the revolution achieved the victory of the people. When the working class of Egypt joined the revolution on 9 and 10 February, the dictatorship was doomed and the victory of the people became inevitable.

We want you to know that we stand on your side. Stand firm and don't waiver. Don't give up on your rights. Victory always belongs to the people who stand firm and demand their just rights.

We and all the people of the world stand on your side and give you our full support.

As our just struggle for freedom, democracy and justice succeeded, your struggle will succeed. Victory belongs to you when you stand firm and remain steadfast in demanding your just rights.

We support you. we support the struggle of the peoples of Libya, Bahrain and Algeria, who are fighting for their just rights and falling martyrs in the face of the autocratic regimes. The peoples are determined to succeed no matter the sacrifices and they will be victorious.

Today is the day of the American workers. We salute you American workers! You will be victorious. Victory belongs to all the people of the world, who are fighting against exploitation, and for their just rights.

Courtesy of Michael Moore's website, michaelmoore.com