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Protests in Madison

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Lisa Wolfe
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« on: February 15, 2011, 01:21:03 pm »

People pack budget hearing, rotunda as Capitol is under tight security

People pack budget hearing, rotunda as Capitol is under tight security
MARY SPICUZZA | mspicuzza@madison.com | 608-252-6122 madison.com | (2) Comments | Posted: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 11:45 am


 
State workers, union members and others watch a telecast in the rotunda at the State Capitol.
 ANDY MANIS


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The state Capitol is under tight security as people packed a public hearing on Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair plan Tuesday morning, with the line of those waiting to testify flooding into the hallway.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters filled the rotunda and thousands more are expected throughout the day. Television sets have been set up in the rotunda so the public who aren't inside the hearing room can watch on WisconsinEye.

Areas of the Capitol were roped off and closed to the public Tuesday morning, and there's a noticeable increase in police presence. Capitol Police officers, Department of Natural Resources wardens, UW police and state troopers are all providing beefed up security.

The hearing will likely stretch on for hours, and lawmakers will likely be on the floor as soon as Thursday debating the bill, which effectively ends collective bargaining for nearly all public employees.

Republican leaders have said they have the votes to pass the legislation, which aims to fix a $137 million deficit in the current budget. But Democrats slammed the proposal as policy being rushed through the Legislature.

"I thought the budget repair bill was supposed to address the budget ... not policy," Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, said at the hearing.

But Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, co-chair of the Legislature's finance committee, said he and his fellow Republicans are committed to including the public in the process.

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« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2011, 01:23:06 pm »



Thousands descend on Capitol to protest Walker’s plans

Story Discussion Font Size: Default font size Larger font size Thousands descend on Capitol to protest Walker’s plans
CLAY BARBOUR | cbarbour@madison.com | 608-252-6129 madison.com | (4) Comments | Posted: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 1:00 pm


 
 
Thousands of protesters gather outside the State Capitol at midday Tuesday.
CLAY BARBOUR — State Journal


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Related: Legislators mum on Walker proposal as union leaders, protesters

The state Capitol was awash Tuesday in protests as thousands gathered to voice opposition to a bill by Gov. Scott Walker that would greatly weaken organized labor in Wisconsin.

More than 10,000 protesters crowded the southwest side of the Capitol building, many of them carrying signs and chanting “recall Walker.” Meanwhile, inside, thousands crowded the rotunda and watched TVs set up to broadcast the public hearing scheduled to discuss the governor’s proposal.

Unveiled Friday, Walker’s plan would remove collective bargaining rights for most of the 175,000 state and local employees, allowing workers to negotiate only over salary. Walker, however, exempted most law enforcement, firefighters and Wisconsin State Patrol troopers from the change.

On Tuesday, members of the fire fighters union received a loud ovation from the crowd outside the Capitol as they marched through holding signs that showed their solidarity with their fellow state and local employees.

“What’s good for one of us is good for all of us,” said Russell Griswold, a retired electrician from West Allis.

Griswold worked as a union electrician for 46 years. He has a nice retirement thanks to unions, he said. He came out Tuesday because he is afraid those who follow him will not enjoy the same benefits.

The governor has said the proposal is meant to help the state overcome a $137 million deficit in the current budget. If his proposal does not pass, Walker has said he would likely have to lay off about 1,500 people to make up for the shortfall.

“That would be more believable if he had ever bothered to meet with the unions to begin with,” said David Ahrens, a UW-Carbone researcher.

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« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2011, 03:13:31 pm »

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« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2011, 01:15:24 pm »

Scott Walker, Wisconsin Republicans' Plan To Cut Worker Rights Draws Powerful Protests



MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he has the votes to pass a bill removing collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Walker says he is open to making changes to the measure, but that he will not "fundamentally undermine the principles" he is proposing.

Senate Republicans met in secret earlier Wednesday in advance of a planned vote on the bill in the Legislature's budget committee.

More than 13,000 protesters descended on the Capitol a day earlier to participate in a 17-hour public hearing. Thousands more came on Wednesday, with hundreds chanting outside his office door, "Recall Walker now!"

The full Legislature could start voting on the bill as soon as Thursday. Walker has said concessions are needed from public employees to help balance a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Thousands of people descended on the Wisconsin state Capitol for a second day of powerful protests Wednesday as key votes approached on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to strip away the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

Republican lawmakers met in secret Wednesday morning to discuss Walker's proposal, the boldest move in the nation to abolish labor rights. Wisconsin was the first state to pass a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959.

There were some signs that support for the plan among Republicans who control the Legislature may be waning after more than 13,000 teachers, prison guards, nurses and others converged on the Capitol to speak out during in a 17-hour public hearing.

When asked where Republicans stood on Walker's proposal Wednesday, Sen. Dan Kapanke of La Crosse told The Associated Press, "That's a really good question. I don't know."

Republican leaders in the Senate and Assembly said before the marathon hearing started Tuesday that there were enough votes to pass the bill as Walker proposed. Walker scheduled a news conference for late Wednesday morning.

The Legislature's budget committee was set to vote on the measure Wednesday afternoon, with votes on passage in the Senate and Assembly expected as soon as Thursday. If Republican support is wavering, the first indication may be seen in what changes to the plan the committee adopts.

Scott Spector, a lobbyist for AFT-Wisconsin which represents about 17,000 public employees, said he felt the demonstrations were having an effect on Republicans who will decide the fate of the proposal.

Union representatives were attempting to sway key moderates for a compromise but Democrats said the bill would be tough to stop. Democrats lost the governor's office and control of the Legislature in the November midterm elections, leaving them powerless.

"The Legislature has pushed these employees off the cliff but the Republicans have decided to jump with them," said Sen. Bob Jauch, one of 14 Democrats in the 33 member chamber.

The outpouring of opposition has been overwhelming, leading to protests larger and more sustained than anything seen in Madison in decades. More than 1,000 protesters, many of whom spent the night in sleeping bags on the floor of the Rotunda, shouted "Kill this bill!" on Wednesday.

More than 40 percent of the 2,600 union-covered teachers and staff called in sick at the Madison school district, the state's second largest, forcing the superintendent to call off classes Wednesday. No other widespread sickouts were reported at any other school, according to the state teachers union which represents 98,000 teachers and staff statewide.

Prisons, which are staffed by unionized guards who would lose their bargaining rights under the plan, were operating as normal without higher than usual absences, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Linda Eggert.

Walker has said he would call out the National Guard to staff the prisons if necessary. A union leader for prison workers did not immediately return messages.

While other states have proposed bills curtailing labor rights, Wisconsin's measure is the boldest step by a new Republican governor and Legislature to solve budget problems by confronting organized labor. It would end collective bargaining, except over wages less than the Consumer Price Index, for all state, county and local workers except for police, firefighters and the state patrol.

Opponents seized on the budget committee's public hearing on the bill on Tuesday to launch what Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, called a "citizen filibuster" that kept the meeting going until 3 a.m. Wednesday. Democrats continued listening to workers who still wanted to speak through the morning.

Two floors below the hearing, dozens of University of Wisconsin-Madison teaching assistants and students surged into the Capitol rotunda late Tuesday evening, putting down sleeping bags and blankets. Many were still asleep on the floor when the hearing ended.

"I just think it's really crappy," said Alison Port, a 19-year-old freshman from Wauwatosa as she clutched her laptop and her Green Bay Packers blanket. "Let's take all the rights away. If he starts here, where's he going to stop? What else is he going to throw at us? It's only going to get more extreme."

New Republican governors and legislatures in other states have proposed cutting back on public employee costs to reduce budget shortfalls, but Wisconsin's move appears to be the earliest and most extensive.

Wisconsin has long been a bastion for workers' rights. Aside from decades of collective bargaining in the state, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – the national union representing all non-federal public employees – was founded in 1936 in Madison.

But the election of Walker, an outspoken conservative, last November and the GOP's seizing of control of both legislative chambers set the stage for a dramatic reversal of Wisconsin's strong labor history.

Walker's plan would make workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care premiums. State employees' costs would go up by an average of 8 percent. The changes would save the state $30 million by June 30 and $300 million over the next two years to address a $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

Unions could still represent workers, but could not seek pay increases above the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. Local police, firefighters and state troopers would retain their collective bargaining rights.

In exchange for bearing more costs and losing leverage, public employees were promised no furloughs or layoffs. Walker has threatened to order layoffs of up to 6,000 state workers if the measure does not pass.

Wisconsin is one of about 30 states with collective bargaining laws covering state and local workers.

Walker has argued that the public employee concessions are modest considering what private sector workers have suffered during the recession.

But Democratic opponents and union leaders said Walker's real motive was to strike back at political opponents who have supported Democrats over the years.

"So many people are against this," UW-Madison senior Kylie Christianson said early Wednesday as she sat in the Capitol rotunda on her blanket, putting the finishing touches on a protest sign. "His job is to help us, not to hurt us."

The public employee bill is the latest measure that Walker has pushed through the GOP-controlled Legislature since taking office in January. He's also signed into law tax cuts for businesses that relocate to Wisconsin and those that create jobs as well as sweeping lawsuit reform. To achieve additional budget savings, he is seeking authority to make changes in the Medicaid program, sell state power plants and restructure existing debt to save about $165 million.

Governors in a number of other states, including Ohio, Indiana, Nevada and Tennessee, have called for forcing concessions from public employee unions but no similar measures have moved to final action.

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« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2011, 01:22:58 pm »

UPDATE: Seats still full inside Joint Finance Committee hearing

Posted: Feb 15, 2011 10:55 AM CST

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MADISON (WKOW) -- Seats are still full inside the joint finance committee hearing as speakers continue to come forward.

Lawmakers are expected to vote as soon as Thursday on ending collective bargaining for all state, county and local employees except local police and fire and state patrol. Legislative leaders say Walker now has enough support in both chambers to approve the measure. He says it's necessary to address a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit.

The Department of Administration estimates about 10,000 rallied outside of the State Capitol today, and roughly 3,000 were estimated inside, in protest of Gov. Walkers' budget plan.

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) held a rally Tuesday. Some constituents told 27 News they were trying to talk to their representatives but all the doors are closed and no one is answering the phones.

Roughly 800 students from East High School were among those marching to the capitol, escorted by police.

Five former and two current Packer players are standing behind state union employees. Brady Poppinga and Jason Spitz along with former Packers Curtis Fuller, Chris Jacke, Charles Jordan, Bob Long and Steve Okoniewski have signed a letter supporting the AFL-CIO's efforts.

Members of ASCFME, educators and a handful of University of Wisconsin students chanted "Union Busting has got to go," as the state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee held hearings on Gov. Scott Walker's plan.

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) released the following statement on the public hearings, "We welcome public participation in our representative democracy. Unlike two years ago when Democrats did not hold a public hearing for the last budget repair bill, we want to listen to individuals' concerns. Due to the large number of participants, each person will be given up to 2 minutes to address the committee. This will ensure that everyone has their voice heard."

Day two of rallies at the Capitol, hosted by ALF-CIO, is expected to start at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Stay with http://www.wkow.com and http://m.wkow.com from your mobile phone, for the latest on this developing story.

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I can visualize the political cartoon. 


   


Picture a bunch of fat-cat Wall Street tycoons laughing and smoking cigars; playing poker with piles of thousand-dollar bills. Their pockets bulge with overflowing bills. Mounds of money litter the floor. Bernake crawls around the room on all fours with a leash around his neck like a dog. A Chinese banker tells him to sit. 


   


Outside, local politicians dance around a bonfire of blazing union contracts. 


Other wild-eyed politicians stomp on and beat teachers, police officers, firemen, and government workers. Some of the politicians are giants and they dangle public employees upside down, collecting the pennies that fall from their pockets. A giant Cuomo runs around stomping on schools, while a red eyed Arne Duncan forces students to eat one standardized test after another. 


   


In the background, rows and rows of houses are submerged in a tide of foreclosure documents. Others are sinking deeper and deeper underwater. A crowd of exhausted taxpayers, huddled on their roofs, cheer them on. They are about to drown and many are blind. Their seeing eye-dogs are paddling in circles around their heads. 


   


The Wall Street tycoons keep laughing. They laugh as an infirm old woman, who worked for thirty years, is told to return to her job instead of retiring. She is frail and weak. She devoted her life to helping others. They rob her, they beat her, and they laugh louder as they kick her out of a hospital. The politicians shrug and turn their back on her. 


   


She huddles in an alley beside another small business that has closed its doors forever. A cold wind blows and she shivers, coughing up blood. A recently fired worker tries to help her, although there is little he can do. He jumps up and kicks the toe of one of the giant politicians and shouts, “Enough!” 


   


There is still hope for them both. I wish I could draw. 


   


   
 


Today, 12:00:42 PM– Flag – Like
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Middle class is finally pulling together, it will spread, we have no choice, we are the majority and once united can clean up, recall/resign political corruption.  thousands are uniting, The gov has baracaded the house with police guarding the doors.  This is just the first of many, I hope it spreads thoughout the land and changes, in a cultural protest, the majority of americans rule, democracy at it's best.
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« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2011, 01:25:40 pm »

Wis. AFL-CIO launches campaign against Walker's union plan

Posted: Feb 13, 2011 3:32 PM CST

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MILWAUKEE (WKOW) -- The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO has launched an advertising campaign against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's proposed bill that will take away almost all collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, television and radio ads announced Sunday say Walker and other politicians plan to "take away rights of thousands of nurses, teachers and other trusted public employees." The ads say they are trying to pass the bill with almost no public debate.

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO represents over 250,000 members in more than 1,000 unions. Its ads follow one by the Club for Growth, which supports Walker's proposal, and says public workers have not had to make sacrifices while workers in the private sector have faced layoffs and pay cuts.

The changes would apply to all public employees except police, firefighters and state troopers.

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Public employees have had to make a ton of scarfices #1 and #2 they get paid a lot less than other PRIVATE employees but they took those pay cut because of the benefits. Also why not ALL public employess oh wait thats right they didn't give money to fund Walkers campaign.  I am a private employee BUT I also see what teachers and nurses and public employees deal with and they need something to keep at those jobs because we all know that they don't get paid well.
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Public employees have had to make a ton of scarfices #1 and #2 they get paid a lot less than other PRIVATE employees but they took those pay cut because of the benefits. Also why not ALL public employess oh wait thats right they didn't give money to fund Walkers campaign.  I am a private employee BUT I also see what teachers and nurses and public employees deal with and they need something to keep at those jobs because we all know that they don't get paid well.
Today, 9:51:28 AM– Flag – Like
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Public employees have had to make a ton of scarfices #1 and #2 they get paid a lot less than other PRIVATE employees but they took those pay cut because of the benefits. Also why not ALL public employess oh wait thats right they didn't give money to fund Walkers campaign.  I am a private employee BUT I also see what teachers and nurses and public employees deal with and they need something to keep at those jobs because we all know that they don't get paid well.
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« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2011, 11:13:05 am »

Controversial budget bill passes committee, moves to Senate



With a key committee vote out of the way, Republican leaders plan to soon pass a bill that would effectively strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers in Wisconsin, suggesting only modest changes to the proposal introduced by Gov. Scott Walker.

Key GOP lawmakers offered minor adjustments Wednesday night to the legislation, crafted during hours of closed-door meetings throughout the day, but those tweaks don’t affect Walker’s collective bargaining overhaul — a sweeping plan that brought thousands of protesters to the state Capitol for three consecutive days of demonstrations.

The Legislature’s powerful budget committee advanced the bill late Wednesday night on a party-line vote.

It likely will be taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate today, where Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, says it has the votes to pass. It then heads to the GOP-controlled Assembly.

GOP leaders, including Fitzgerald and committee co-chairs Rep. Robin Vos and Sen. Alberta Darling, said the proposed improvements would provide for a grievance procedure for public workers who lose bargaining rights, require committee approval of changes to the Medicaid program and limit the power of the Walker administration to circumvent current law and the Legislature’s approval to four years, and remove the bill’s provision dealing with full-time equivalent positions. It also would allow the committee to stop sales of state power plants.

It wouldn’t touch Walker’s controversial plan to strip bargaining rights for public workers, aside from police, firefighters and state troopers.

“You either have mass layoffs or you have a plan,” Fitzgerald said.

Walker and Republicans said they would not alter their plans despite the thousands of protesters who continue to flood the state Capitol. The crowd only got louder Wednesday as some pounded drums, others played bagpipes, and many chanted, “Kill the bill” and, “Recall Walker now!”

Some protesters never left. Hundreds came with sleeping bags or blankets and spent Tuesday night in the Capitol rotunda while hoping to speak at a hearing about the bill. Public testimony stretched from 10 a.m. on Tuesday to about 3 a.m. Wednesday and beyond, with Democratic lawmakers listening to people through the morning.

The protests in Wisconsin, a state with a long labor history, have drawn national attention, with network news stations picking up the story and President Barack Obama telling an interviewer Wednesday he was monitoring the situation.

The budget committee was expected to meet at noon Wednesday to vote on the plan after Tuesday’s marathon public hearing, but the session was delayed until after 7 p.m. There was a heavy police presence, access to some rooms was restricted and the crowd continued to grow into the night.

Walker told reporters Wednesday morning he will work with legislators on potential changes to the bill but does not want to undermine its main intent. He did not discuss specific changes, but said many of his other special session bills were amended by lawmakers before becoming law.

The governor added he expects the bill to pass.

“We want to make sure we’re listening to concerns that folks have raised at the hearings, that folks have raised to us and to lawmakers, to make sure that we’ve got a good, strong bill to go forward,” Walker said.

The governor has said the concessions he’s seeking are needed to help balance a $137 million deficit this fiscal year and a $3.6 billion budget hole over the next two years.

Democratic lawmakers remained unimpressed.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said he suspected the GOP changes were aimed at providing political cover for GOP legislators facing angry constituents. He accused Walker of creating a “manufactured crisis” to strip workers of their rights.

But Republican Sen. Dale  Schultz, R-Richland Center, said he was working on an alternative to the bill that still would strip public employees of their ability to collectively bargain on wages, pensions and health care costs, but only until 2013.

Those rights then would be restored.

Schultz said there are no easy solutions to dealing with the budget but put together his proposal in response to Walker’s call for people to bring forth suggestions.

“They are all painful,” he said of possible solutions.

Critics of the plan predicted protests will continue until Walker and Republicans back off making unilateral changes to collective bargaining.

“This indefinite mobilization will continue as people across Wisconsin try to stop this wrong-headed assault on workers,” said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. “The opposition gets stronger every day.”

Copyright 2011 madison.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2011, 11:14:49 am »

Protests build on Square again; streets shut down for 3rd straight day



Madison police are closing downtown streets as of 10:45 a.m. as thousands of protesters are massing once again at the Capitol.

Hundreds of young students from many school districts reached the Square after marching from Madison West High School and are joining in the protests against the Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, being taken up in the state Senate.

Motorists, pedestrians and protesters should be aware that traffic closing and detours are in a very fluid situation Thursday, so streets both away from and on the Square could open or close depending on what's happening.

Madison Metro buses have been running on the Capitol loop route instead of the Square since Tuesday and will continue to do so through Sunday, according to a news release from Metro. The loop is one street out from the square, using Doty, Webster, Dayton and Fairchild Streets.

Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain told madison.com on Thursday morning that police protocol will likely stay the same as it's been the past two days downtown.

"We need to make sure the protesters will be able to move safely," DeSpain said.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said, "Our job is to create an environment for democracy to take place."

Through two days of protests, the throngs have been peaceful.

"We want to thank the protesters for their decorum and would urge everyone to continue to remain peaceful," DeSpain said.

Capitol Police are allowing protest signs inside the Capitol, but the signs can't have sticks attached.

And protests may continue on Friday: The state Senate is scheduled to take up the budget repair bill on Thursday, and it then heads to the GOP-controlled Assembly.

Copyright 2011 madison.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2011, 11:20:39 am »

Chris Rickert: Budget pain hits beyond vocal crowd at Capitol

Story Discussion Font Size: Default font size Larger font size Chris Rickert: Budget pain hits beyond vocal crowd at Capitol
CHRIS RICKERT | crickert@madison.com madison.com | (22) Comments | Posted: Thursday, February 17, 2011 7:45 am


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Amid the boisterous crowds at the Capitol accusing Republican Gov. Scott Walker of something close to putting all public workers in shackles and making them work for Chiclets, my sympathies turn toward a young state workers' union and rural northern Wisconsin.

It's easy to overlook home care workers, who do a lot of the grunt work of taking care of low-income elderly and disabled people in their homes.

Like other unionized state workers, they had a contract up before the Legislature in December. And like those other contracts, theirs was torpedoed by a pair of Democratic lawmakers.

What's different is this was the home care industry's first such agreement — their 5,500 union members having only joined the Service Employees International Union last year. And it provided no benefits and a wage floor of only $9 per hour starting in 2013, SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin spokeswoman Christine Lamitina said.

It was "by far" the least generous contract of those under consideration, she said. "Most (home care workers) make around minimum wage."

Talk about a reason to chant slogans and carry signs.

Interestingly, $9 an hour is not much less than what workers make in Sawyer County, 329 miles north of the Capitol, according to Census data.

Sawyer Board Chairman Hal Helwig said many of the county's 17,000 souls are keeping an eye on the news in Madison since Walker enraged public workers by proposing to end most of their collective bargaining rights as part of a plan to close a projected $3.6 billion budget gap.

"Everybody's talking about it, of course," he said.

If Walker's proposal — which would supposedly save $300 million - fails, it could be bad news for Sawyer County, which was recently ranked the second-poorest in the state and has an unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent. That's because Walker has made clear that one of his targets to deal with the deficit is Medicaid eligibility. And the money's got to come from somewhere, right?

In contrast, Dane County, thanks in no small part to the many unionized government and university workers who live here, regularly has the state's lowest unemployment rate, according to Tim Smeeding, an economist and director of the UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty. And if you exclude people ages 18-24 — many of whom are in college but not exactly poor — Dane has one of lowest poverty rates in the state, according to an analysis by Applied Population Laboratory at UW-Madison.

Still, Smeeding said those at the very bottom of the government employee wage scale - regardless of where they live - could be brought closer to poverty if Walker's cuts to their benefits are approved. And I'm thinking, like home care workers.

All of which again goes to show that despite the umbrage on display at the Capitol from teachers, firefighters, engineers and other fairly well-compensated union government workers, the seriousness of an injustice doesn't always correlate with the loudness of its victims.

Contact Chris Rickert at 608-252-6198 or crickert@madison.com, as well as on Facebook and Twitter (@ChrisRickertWSJ). His column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

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« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2011, 11:20:47 am »

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« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2011, 11:21:10 am »

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« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2011, 01:10:13 pm »

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« Reply #12 on: March 14, 2011, 01:10:48 pm »



Thank You Notes
In order to prevent the measure from coming to a vote, the state Democratic caucus has left the capital, and probably the state (They are trying to keep their whereabouts a secret). These notes thank one lawmaker for supporting the union cause.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2053462,00.html#ixzz1GbBaAy8N
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« Reply #13 on: March 14, 2011, 01:11:26 pm »



The Assembly
Republicans hold 19 Senate seats in the legislature but 20 votes are necessary to conduct business. Unless one of the 14 Democrats return, the body is unable to move any matters forward.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2053462,00.html#ixzz1GbBjaN1X
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« Reply #14 on: March 14, 2011, 01:11:59 pm »



Picket
Outside the capital, protesters show their solidarity with the public employees' union.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2053462,00.html#ixzz1GbBsul00
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