"We Stand With Wisconsin"

We are at the dawn of a new, reawakened labor movement thanks to the thousands of Wisconsin state workers and supporters who jammed the state house in Madison to protest unjust proposals to take away workers’ bargaining rights.

That was the message that spread like wildfire as Wisconsin union members and supporters stood strong to keep the collective bargaining rights public workers have had for 50 years.

As Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures in many states attempted to strip away public worker bargaining rights, the state capital in Madison became the starting point of a huge grassroots campaign to stop the attack on workers.

Demonstrations began in mid-February and crowds swelled from 15,000 early on to 70,000 by the second weekend and up to 100,000 by the third, protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s extreme agenda to drastically cut pensions and health care benefits and eliminate collective bargaining. Walker wanted it done immediately, without opportunity for discussion, debate or compromise. Wisconsin’s 14 Senate Democrats said they had no other option but to leave the state, preventing a quorum and a vote.

Union workers agreed to economic demands but the governor said that wasn’t good enough. He was determined to take away workers’ bargaining rights.

In the Assembly, sleep-deprived Democrats tried hard to stop the bill. But after three days of continuous session, Republicans called for a vote, leaving the roll call open for only a matter of seconds. Just 13 of 38 Democrats were able to vote in time, leading to outcries of “Shame!” from the Assembly floor and gallery as Republicans walked out.

As the CWA News went to press, the Senate Democrats remained outside Wisconsin and Walker was threating to send layoff notices to thousands of state workers.

He pledged to do so even though public worker unions have agreed to accept all of the health care and pension cuts he’s demanding, as long as they maintain their bargaining rights. Walker refused their offer.

Wisconsin was actually looking at a budget surplus until Walker pushed through $140 million in tax breaks for businesses and the wealthy. Now he is trying to blame public workers for the deficit he created.

Rallying in Wisconsin, from left: Greg Hartjes, a retired Local 4025 member, with his wife, Local 4025 President Kim Collier-Hartjes, and Local 4671 member Ann McNeary, chair of the CWA Wisconsin Political Council.

By an overwhelming margin — 57 to 37 percent — citizens of Wisconsin support the right of state workers to collectively bargain, according to Public Policy Polling. The poll, conducted in late February, even found that respondents in non-union households support workers’ right to bargain, 51 to 45 percent. Union households support bargaining rights for state workers 70 to 26 percent.

When the protests erupted in mid-February, some 10,000 people rallied outside the capitol and another 3,000 waited in long lines to testify before the Joint Finance Committee. Democratic members continued to take testimony late into the night, and hundreds of people spent overnight inside the capitol.

“The energy that was going on in there, it was the biggest union boost I’ve had in my life,” said CWA Local 4630 President Terry Russell, who turned out with about dozen members of his local. “Absolutely every union was represented. It was a bonding like I’ve never seen before. I was proud to be part of it.”

CWA members from statewide Local 4671 traveled for hours to join the protest. “I think the energy that got ignited there is something the governor did not anticipate,” Local President Mike Oliver said, noting the roar from the crowd as firefighters and off-duty officers in police union sweatshirts marched around the capitol square.

When Walker announced his intention to strip away those rights, he tried to intimidate workers by raising the possibility of using the National Guard against them.