The Wisconsin Assembly got in the act today to deny public employees the right to collective bargain. Wisconsin police were out todday with riot gear and crowd control implements. Even a few students got arrested--the first in weeks of demonstrations.
Fox and Friends celebrated the union busting measures in Wisconsin, even though all the hosts are union members whether they know it or not.
There was a vote to replace the Republican Speaker of the Senate. It lost but it was accompanied by a series of speeches by Democrats. Speaker Fitzgerald claims that the recall efforts in the state were being orchestrated by President Obama as a payback to the unions. Even Fox News was skeptical.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating the e-mail threats against the Republicans. Alot of people suspect this will turn out to be another one of those B girl incidents--named after the girl who carved a backward B into her cheek and claimed it was black supporters of Barack Obama who did the did. Of course, she did it.
The demonstrators in Milwaukee started picketing the Governors' office there. Minutes later they saw him fleeing the bullding through the back door.
The police union is asking for legal protection against charges they illegally performed duties for the Governor. Only a few days ago they publically told the Governor they were not his pretorian guard.
One Democratic Senator came back to attend a demonstration, the rest are remaining in Illinois.
The lawyer for the state employees is the former Democratic Attorney General. All day he has been outlining how the whole bill was unconstitutional and how unorthodox last night's proceedings were. he was very confident that all of this would be declared unconstitutional.
Jesse Jackson, the only man who can save us now, has returned to Wisconsin. When the protests first started, he was one of the few known outsiders who appeared. I would imagine demonstrations will increase over the weekend.
One little detail about the bill, which people neglect to mention, is that it defunded Medicaid in the state, which will be crippling to poorer people and those with disabilities.
Richard Trumpka said that Scott Walker was the AFL-CIO's Mobilizer of the Year. What started as a one state issue has now gone regional, with large crowds turning out in Indiana and Ohio. The collective bargaining issue is now moving on to Iowa.
Besides leading his own wildcat strike, the mayor of Madison has also filed papers in the court asking for the bill to be voided.
Meanwhile back in Washington, if there is no budget deal by Friday,the government will shut down. Of course, there is no human cost to any of this.
NEA and CATO both blasted Karl Rove's anti-Obama and anti-union ads in Wisconsin. NEA said that everything said about them and their president was taken out of context. CATO was more snippy saying that the aid misused the information from their study and just lied about the results. Karl Rove is standing by the accuracy of his ads but will not tell you the donors.
Speaking of which--Can we seize all the businesses and personal assets of the Koch Brothers under the RICO Act? This could then be distributed to the states to pay for their shortfalls in education budgets.
Showing posts with label Wisconsin Union-busting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisconsin Union-busting. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2011
And There Will Be Blood
The Republican Senators had to flee last night from the State Capitol in Madison, being protected by State Troopers against the shouting demonstrators. Within 15 minutes they made their way to Milwaukee where they gave their interviews with Fox News.
Late last night Governor Walker ordered that the state troopers remove the demonstrators from the Capitol. One video I watched you could hear,"They've gotten past the perimeter."and then there were film shots of demonstrators scrambling through the windows. By then the State Troopers didn't feel like hassling anyone and they stayed.
By this morning, all the Republican Senators had received e-mailed death threats.
What was so interesting last night was when the news broke that the Republicans were going to pass the union-busting bill, people actually left their living rooms without any coats and hurried to the capitol building. School teachers were still in their classrooms but were informed via Facebook by their students and then they hustled down to the Capitol.
Last night Greta Van Sustern perked up about the breaking story and a local Fox news reporter was in Madison and objectively reported on the sneaky move by the Republican senators and how shocked people in Wisconsin were about this. Then we had a cut away to a Republican Senator, who claimed that "No Republican was safe in the Capitol now."
What a state--The Democrats have to flee to the safety of Illinois and the Republicans had to move south to Milwaukee because of the tension in the air. A Walker appointed farm bureau director said that the scene in the Capitol was a "holocaust". I guess he hasn't experienced free speech before.
I felt the Democratic response in exile was weak about urging everyone to work on the recall motions being circulating. So far signatures have been secured for the recall of two Republican Senators. Today, the recall movement has gone into high gear as evidenced by my receiving at least five fund-raising e-mails on the subject.
Democratic leader, Assemblyman Barca, who read the Attorney General's letter out to the Republicans last night, has filed with the Madison District Attorney a complaint that the bill violated the open meeting law and therefore should be declared null and void. Republicans are arguing that because it was a "special session" the rules don't apply.
This morning Governor Walker announced that indeed the bill was fiscal in intent--thereby undermining his future case in court. The bill will now be contested up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Unions' lawyer is the last Attorney-General of the state. It will be a slow process--certainly slower than the 15 minutes it took to end collective bargaining.
The good news is that the public sector workers of Madison are on a wildcat strike today. Wildcat strikes haven't been used in the United States for years. Technically with the new law, all the strikers could be fired instantly. This seems somewhat unlikely since the Mayor himself is leading their demonstration.
There was an AFL-CIO meeting in Wisconsin to discuss the idea of a general strike.
The Capitol was sealed off today as legislators had a very difficult time trying to enter the building. Today was the day the Assembly would then vote on the Senate's bill. Apparently,Republicans were having the hardest time getting into the building.
Short of travelling there yourself, donate to the repeal campaigns. They are coming after you next.
Late last night Governor Walker ordered that the state troopers remove the demonstrators from the Capitol. One video I watched you could hear,"They've gotten past the perimeter."and then there were film shots of demonstrators scrambling through the windows. By then the State Troopers didn't feel like hassling anyone and they stayed.
By this morning, all the Republican Senators had received e-mailed death threats.
What was so interesting last night was when the news broke that the Republicans were going to pass the union-busting bill, people actually left their living rooms without any coats and hurried to the capitol building. School teachers were still in their classrooms but were informed via Facebook by their students and then they hustled down to the Capitol.
Last night Greta Van Sustern perked up about the breaking story and a local Fox news reporter was in Madison and objectively reported on the sneaky move by the Republican senators and how shocked people in Wisconsin were about this. Then we had a cut away to a Republican Senator, who claimed that "No Republican was safe in the Capitol now."
What a state--The Democrats have to flee to the safety of Illinois and the Republicans had to move south to Milwaukee because of the tension in the air. A Walker appointed farm bureau director said that the scene in the Capitol was a "holocaust". I guess he hasn't experienced free speech before.
I felt the Democratic response in exile was weak about urging everyone to work on the recall motions being circulating. So far signatures have been secured for the recall of two Republican Senators. Today, the recall movement has gone into high gear as evidenced by my receiving at least five fund-raising e-mails on the subject.
Democratic leader, Assemblyman Barca, who read the Attorney General's letter out to the Republicans last night, has filed with the Madison District Attorney a complaint that the bill violated the open meeting law and therefore should be declared null and void. Republicans are arguing that because it was a "special session" the rules don't apply.
This morning Governor Walker announced that indeed the bill was fiscal in intent--thereby undermining his future case in court. The bill will now be contested up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Unions' lawyer is the last Attorney-General of the state. It will be a slow process--certainly slower than the 15 minutes it took to end collective bargaining.
The good news is that the public sector workers of Madison are on a wildcat strike today. Wildcat strikes haven't been used in the United States for years. Technically with the new law, all the strikers could be fired instantly. This seems somewhat unlikely since the Mayor himself is leading their demonstration.
There was an AFL-CIO meeting in Wisconsin to discuss the idea of a general strike.
The Capitol was sealed off today as legislators had a very difficult time trying to enter the building. Today was the day the Assembly would then vote on the Senate's bill. Apparently,Republicans were having the hardest time getting into the building.
Short of travelling there yourself, donate to the repeal campaigns. They are coming after you next.
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