The Word from Madison
Wednesday — Thursday — Saturday
Wednesday
The young cabbie could hardly contain his outrage.
“The Republicans are taking away our rights,” he fumed in a thick Russian accent as he ferried his load of passengers from the airport into downtown Madison, Wisconsin. “It’s chaos on the streets.”
Just five hours earlier, the GOP majority in the state senate had devised an end-run around the Democratic minority, who had been using what little power they possessed to stall the passage of a draconian bill that would strip away the rights of unionized public employees. The 14 Democratic state senators had fled Wisconsin three weeks earlier, denying the Republicans the minimum number of senators needed to vote on the bill — what’s known as quorum.
But early on Wednesday, the Republicans discovered a loophole. A quorum is only required to vote on financial measures. If the Republicans took out the parts of the bill that referred directly to finances — cutting contributions to state employees’ benefits and pensions — and dealt strictly with slashing the collective bargaining rights, they could vote on it themselves without the Democrats.
The vote came out of the blue, catching its opponents completely off-guard. The first to react were students, who flooded into the capitol building by the hundreds, filling the chambers with angry chants and drumming. Scores would remain there all night, under the watchful gaze of state police, who allowed them to put up posters and sleep on the marble floors of the cavernous rotunda.
All this was happening while a three-member delegation from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, led by Vice-President Glen Scott, was en route to Wisconsin to support the public employees and learn their organizing techniques.
“We were traveling all day,” Scott explained. “We didn’t know what the senators had pulled until the cabbie told us.”
The team checked into their hotel at 10 p.m. and raced to the capitol building. Most of the crowd had already dispersed, but hundreds of students and other young people continued to occupy the legislature. Dozens of state police and sheriffs patrolled the hallways, many chatting amiably with the demonstrators, while the protesters’ leaders used a public-address system to encourage the demonstrators as the long night wore on.
“Stay strong. We’re all in this together,” said one, his young voice echoing off the domed ceiling and down marble-floored hallways.
Holding an AUPE flag in the centre of the Wisconsin state capitol’s rotunda, Scott took a turn at the mic.
When he announced where he had come from, the crowd burst into cheers.
“You are actually the ones who make Wisconsin a great state,” he boomed, “Not the politicians, not the corporations. You are the people who actually do all the work. You have to know this. We’re going to be here for a few days, standing with you, because the world is watching.”
Cheers erupted again. One teary-eyed man threw his arms around Scott.
The AUPE members stayed with the demonstrators until nearly 2 a.m. Throughout the night, the protesters danced, drummed, made posters and slept as much as they could on the cold, hard floors.
One group had rolled out sleeping bags right in front of the massive paneled doors of the committee room.
“We all have to be at work at 8 a.m. but we’re going to stay here as long was we can,” said one. “After work, I’ll be back again. I’ve been sleeping here for 11 days.”
When asked if he was a public employee, he shook his head. “This isn’t just about unions. It’s about democracy. It’s about regular people’s rights. That’s why I’m here.”
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AUPE Investigative Researcher Andrew Hanon is in Madison with Vice President Glen Scott and AUPE Organizer Trevor Zimmerman.
Thursday
When she’s asked how well-paid she is, Heather Harris-Fatty suppresses a sad chuckle.
“Oh please,” she says after regaining her composure. “I’ve worked for the Department of Transportation for 10 years. In that time I have had less than 10% in pay increases, including three straight years of no increase. I make $15 an hour, and somehow, these politicians can say that I’m living high off the hog?”
It’s late in the evening on Thursday. A few hundred protesters linger around the now locked-up state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. Earlier in the day the crowd had swelled to about 10,000 as the assembly, the legislature’s Republican-controlled lower house, voted on a bill that would strip public-sector unions of their collective bargaining rights.
The bill, spearheaded by Gov. Scott Walker, would take away public-sector unions’ right to strike, outlaw negotiating issues like working conditions, workplace safety and benefits and force recertification votes every year. The only item that would still be on the bargaining table is pay, but even that would be tied to the consumer price index.
Walker has argued that the state needs to rein in bloated wages and benefits in order to tackle its $3.6-billion budget deficit.
But the growing army of opponents calls Walker’s campaign a war on the middle class.
Jim Engel, a Vietnam veteran who now works with the state Veterans Affairs department, knows how hard Americans have fought for their rights and way of life.
“But if this continues the entire middle class is in jeopardy.”
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Vice President Glen Scott agrees. That’s why he’s leading a small three-member delegation from AUPE to Madison.
“Scape-goating of public sector workers is spreading like cancer,” he says. “All across the Midwestern states, Republican governors are blaming public servants’ wages for their financial problems. It’s a lie and it’s got to be stopped.”
The team is in Madison to show AUPE’s support for their fellow union members, and to gather information on how the fight is being organized.
“There are increasing calls for governments to take similar draconian measures in Canada,” Scott explains. “We have to be ready in case the war moves north.”
Scott delivered a $5,000 cheque to the organizers. It was donated by members of AUPE Local 054, which represents 7,000 general services workers in health care.
“That shows how important this fight is to our members,” Scott says.
But public sector unions aren’t the only ones fighting Walker’s plan.
Joining the demonstrators were private-sector union members, like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters. Madison city police, who along with all emergency responders are exempted from the legislation, also marched outside the capitol. Local firefighters closed all their personal accounts – worth a total of $192,000 – at a bank that had donated to the Republicans.
“This is about union/non-union,” says Jen Thompson, a non-union graphic designer who’s using her vacation time to attend the rallies. “It’s a human rights issue.”
Until Walker declared war on state employees last month, Thompson says she didn’t follow politics very much.
“It’s Walker’s inflexibility that really bothers me,” she says. “It’s classic bully behaviour. The Republicans don’t seem to feel they’re accountable to anyone who doesn’t support their platform. If we allow this to happen, what’s next?”
Despite all the opposition, at about 5 p.m. Thursday the assembly passed the bill, clearing the way for Walker to sign it into law.
But the protesters remained undeterred. Recall campaigns against Republican legislators are already underway. Labour lawyers are looking for legal challenges.
Another huge rally is planned for Saturday and organizers expect up to 200,000 people to turn out.
Outside a phone bank at the Teachers Assistants Association a few blocks from the Capitol, a woman named Jessica takes an angry drag on her cigarette.
When told that Canadians are closely watching the fight, she exhales slowly, sets her jaw and says, “Well, tell them to keep watching because this isn’t over.”
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AUPE Investigative Researcher Andrew Hanon is in Madison with Vice President Glen Scott and AUPE Organizer Trevor Zimmerman.
Saturday
The day before the rally, Jason Sidener admitted that he had no idea how many people would show up at the Wisconsin capitol building on Saturday.
“It’s the first time we’ve had more than two days to organize a rally,” the political action representative with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), one of the groups fighting the Republicans’ draconian new anti-labour laws. “It could be a total flop.”
He had nothing to worry about. By mid-morning Saturday, five hours before the rally was to start, tens of thousands were already streaming onto the streets around the legislature.
By 3 p.m., city police estimated that 85,000 people had surrounded the building, and thousands more were still arriving. The crowd could easily have exceeded 100,000.
Jesse Jackson was there. So was activist movie star Susan Sarandon. TV star Tony Shalhoub, who grew up in Wisconsin, came home to show his support.
But it was the massive turnout of everyday people that was most awe-inspiring. Busloads came from far-flung towns like Eau Claire, Wausau and Marinette. Young, old, union members, small business owners, students, farmers — all walks of life.
“Can you hear us now, Governor Walker?” demanded one of the rally’s speakers, as the crowd roared its approval.
It would be easy to assume the war was over, that the people battling Gov. Scott Walker’s war against the middle class have been defeated.
After all, he signed his bill into law on Friday, after ramming it through both houses of the legislature in a matter of weeks. Unionized public sector workers in Wisconsin now have next to no collective bargaining rights. They can no longer strike, must hold recertification votes every year and are forbidden to negotiate issues like job security, workplace safety and benefits. Even wage increases are limited to the consumer price index.
But as the speaker said, “Now we begin phase two. We will not rest until our rights are restored. The fight has only begun!”
Lawyers are already examining Walker’s tactics in getting the law passed so quickly to see if it can be challenged in court, while recall campaigns have begun against several Republican senators. Walker, who only took office in January, cannot be recalled until he’s been in power at least one year, but groups like AFSCME are already vowing to kick him out of office as soon as they can.
Even though their strategy failed, the crowd welcomed back the “Fab 14” Democratic state senators with chants of “thank you, thank you.” They fled Wisconsin last month in order to deny the state senate enough people to vote on the measure, but the Republicans eventually found a loophole to pass it without them.
Staying away that long was no small task for senators, who have among them one reported to have terminal cancer, another who’s seven months pregnant, a single parent and a geriatric who’s been in office since the Eisenhower administration.
“This rally was unbelievable,” said AUPE Vice President Glen Scott, who led a three-member delegation to Madison. “It was so inspiring to see such a massive show of solidarity. For the past three days we’ve had all kinds of people coming up to us and thanking us for coming and supporting them. But really, we should be thanking them for their courage.”
Before the rally, Scott read a letter of solidarity from AUPE President Guy Smith to the growing crowd.
“Now is the time for organized labour across North America to unite against a common threat. If this anti-union campaign isn’t halted in its tracks right now, it will spread like a cancer to other jurisdictions,” Smith wrote. “Please take heart in the fact that your members are not alone in the fight. Millions of working people across the continent are cheering for you.”
After the rally, people stopped in nearby restaurants to grab a bite to eat before hitting the road.
In one, two women chatted while waiting in line. One was from Madison and the other from another community.
“Thanks for coming from so far,” the first said as she squeezed her acquaintance’s arm.
“No, thank YOU for having this. We’re all in this together, aren’t we?” was the reply.
They hugged, picked up their orders and parted ways.
“See you at the next rally,” one called over her shoulder. “We’re not done yet.”
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AUPE Investigative Researcher Andrew Hanon is in Madison with Vice President Glen Scott and AUPE Organizer Trevor Zimmerman.