40,000 protest in Madison Wisconsin against attacks on Union rights

I just spoke to a friend of mine in Madison Wisconsin.  We were both in AFSCME and she still is.  She said that the last two days it has been impossible for buses to get through downtown due to the protests.  There are four high schools in Madison and all the kids came out.  She described the scene as high school youth walked down to the protests and the state capitol.  Youth and teachers were bused in from all over the state.

Teachers and other adults told the youth, "Make as much noise as you want" and as you can see from the video, the high schooler's complied.

There were some 30,000 in the streets and 10,000 more around the capitol. There were many signs referring to Egypt, that in Egypt they were fighting for democratic rights and here in the US the government is taking them away.  My friend described the mood as exciting and jubilant.

The bill the public employees are protesting would force the workers in the Wisconsin Retirement System to pay about 5.8% of their salaries toward pensions, up significantly from 0.2%. And state workers would pay for 12.6% of their monthly health care premiums, up from between 4% and 6% percent.

The impetus for the protests though is the taking away of the collective bargaining rights for public sector workers.  The governor has also threatened to call out the national Guard in the event of any walkouts.

One Union official I heard mentioned that the rallies and walkouts are not becasue the workers aren't willing to take concessions but because their Union rights are being taken away, their right to bargain is being taken away.

This is an important issue to fight to defend but the the Union hierarchy will tend to focus on this and assure the employers that the workers are willing to take concessions in these "difficult times" *- This must not be allowed to derail the movement and let the bosses play the game they so often do, threaten the worst so the Union heads can offer concessions that are not quite so bad and they can call it a victory.  These are not difficult times.  The corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash as we have reported on this blog many times.  The Iraq and Afghan wars are costing billions, as much as three trillion when the total costs including the medical care for veterans and other other related issue are included.

This game, where the Republicans threaten catastrophe and the Democrats offer slightly less pain but the same overall approach, has been going on for a long time.  The issue is not just the abolition of collective bargaining rights.  We want jobs, increased wages, benefits and more leisure time for all workers and the public sector Unions can kick off a movement that can win these basic needs.

We want free education and an end to the wars; bring the troops home. The top leaders of organized Labor will try to use this developing opposition to the employers' offensive to limit its scope; we must not let that happen and build on what is happening around the world from Cairo to Madison.

We have the power, let's use it.