Board of Directors Makes Noise at Capitol Rally

And show they did! Bearing signs and banners—and led by fired-up, megaphone-armed chant leader and CSU San Marcos chapter President Mike Geck—they made sure everyone knew CSUEU was in the house.

At the mic, the speaker program ended with CSUEU President Pat Gantt, whose rousing speech got everyone in the crowd roaring with approval. You can see a video of the speech and 100-plus photos of the event at the CSUEU Facebook page. Photos are also available in the CSUEU web site’s Photo Gallery.

In his comments at the rally and in a presentation at the BOD earlier in the day, Gantt pointed out that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker created most of his state’s budget mess with large tax breaks when he first was elected.

Wisconsin unions, he said, have already agreed to cuts in health and pension benefits. Further, the dismantling of collective bargaining, as proposed in Walker’s state budget plan, would eliminate the role of unions in political races as well as employee representation.

“Threats like this are more about destroying the public sector and all social programs, including public education, than balancing the budget,” said Gantt. “Corporations don’t want a public or voters who are educated about workers’ rights.”

The rally was part of a wave of demonstrations supporting embattled state and local government workers across the country in late February. From Juneau to Boston and dozens more cities, activists and supporters took to their state capitals in a vibrant and unscripted surge of solidarity. 

The spark: tens of thousands of Wisconsin state workers and their supporters were demonstrating around, and even occupying, the state capitol building in Madison in steadfast opposition to Gov. Walker’s effort to strip them of collective bargaining rights—rights they had enjoyed for 50 years.

Walker was stymied in his attempt to advance his union-busting bill when Wisconsin Senate Democrats left the state, denying the Senate the quorum necessary to vote on the measure.  Walker claimed the law was necessary to help balance the state budget, but when unions said they would except the wage and benefit cuts he demanded, he still insisted on an end to collective bargaining. 

A February 19-20 poll by Greenberg/Quinlan/Rosner shows that Walker’s standing is poor and that most Wisconsin voters agree with the unions and public employees:

• A majority (51 percent) of Wisconsin voters disapproves of Walker’s job performance
• A majority offers a favorable view of public employees (62 percent favorable; 11 percent unfavorable) and labor unions (53 percent favorable; 31 percent unfavorable) 
• In this current dispute, voters side with the public employees (67 percent), the protesters (62 percent), and the unions (59 percent)
• In contrast, 53 percent disagree with Walker and 46 percent disagree with the Republicans in the legislature
• A large majority (74 percent) opposes taking away collective bargaining rights from public workers after they have accepted wage and benefit cuts

The New York Times recently editorialized that “Republican talk of balancing budgets is cover for the real purpose of gutting the political force of middle-class state workers.” This CNN.com analysis concludes that Walker “overreached” in his move to ban collective bargaining as part of his budget bill.

Watch an in-depth MSNBC analysis of the attack on state workers. Starting around the four-minute mark of this 12-minute segment, which was broadcast last week, the moderator provides some fascinating and pertinent statistics.

Read “Claims vs. the Facts on Public Workers” for suggested ways to discuss the false, misleading claims being made by those who want to end collective bargaining for state workers.

“We need our elected leaders to work together to create jobs and strengthen our economy,” says Gantt, “not wage partisan attacks on middle class families to score political points with big donors.”

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