Gov. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill Will Most Adversely Affect Wisconsin Minorities

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed the state’s controversial Budget Repair Bill last Friday amidst protests and disapproval from tens of thousands of citizens. Although it has not been on the forefront in the media, the bill will be most detrimental to the minority communities of Wisconsin and have a powerful effect on workers’ rights nationwide. Therefore, The League of Young Voters Education Fund teamed up with the Ebony Newsroom at a recent rally in Madison to give a voice to the people who are being affected the most.

The minority population of Wisconsin has not been given the proper platform to stand up for their rights even though this group will be hit the hardest by the new regulations of the Budget Repair Bill. The African-American community makes up 6 percent of Wisconsin’s population and over 25 percent of that is in Milwaukee County alone. This group has already been through hardship and cannot afford even more cuts to programs such as Badgercare, Medicare and Food Stamps. The Budget Repair Bill may have already been signed, but the minority population of Wisconsin is participating in rallies and protests until their voices are heard.

CTUL Calls on Cub Foods to Negotiate, Announces Possible Hunger Strike

About 50 retail cleaning workers with CTUL (Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha) and allies gathered today at 11 a.m. to call on Cub Foods to put an end to retaliation, violent reactions to peaceful protests, and to meet with cleaning workers to establish a code of conduct ensuring fair wages and working conditions for all workers who clean their stores. Over the past year, CTUL has sought dialogue with Cub Foods only to be ignored. Now, instead of dialogue, a worker leader in the campaign is fired and allies are assaulted and pepper sprayed as they peacefully protest at a Cub Foods store.

What the Revolution Feels Like and Looks Like in Michigan

Michigan musician Seth Bernard of the Earthwork Music Collective, narrates the raucous, party-like scene below him at the State Capitol in Lansing today, where thousands gathered to protest Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican legislature’s push to create a path toward privatizing municipalities, counties and school districts and eliminating collective bargaining rights.

“This is What Democracy Looks Like” — Michigan Style

Chad Cyrowski of Progress Michigan shot these videos at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing today — a protest attended by over 8,000 people who oppose upstart Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOP-dominated legislature’s attempt to gut union rights and privatize municipalities, counties and school districts in the event of a “fiscal emergency”.

The demonstration was billed as the “Rally for Michigan Families” in a state decimated by the fall of the automobile industry and lagging union membership in recent decades. As they have in Madison over the past month, protesters in the Mitten State today called on the Republicans in power to sit down at the bargaining table and negotiate.

Here, Progress Michigan Executive Director David Holtz leads the Pledge of Allegiance.

Grocery Guard Bags Protester At Cub Foods

Video courtesy of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha

Yesterday, a group of non-violent protesters and allies of CTUL (Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha) conducted a protest in the form of a skit and song at the Cub Foods Store on Lake St. in Minneapolis. The group’s protest was aimed at calling on Cub Foods to meet with retail cleaning workers to establish fair wages and working conditions for workers — and to call on Cub Foods to reinstate Mario Colloly Torres, a recently laid-off worker.

Several protesters were assaulted and — according to CTUL — sprayed with pepper spray by the security guard while trying to leave the store. The same security guard yelled at protesters at a Saturday rally, but did not attack anyone. CTUL will hold a press conference tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Cub Foods Store at 5937 Nicollet Ave S in Minneapolis. Retail cleaning worker Mario Colloly Torres will appear, as will David Wangaard, Bishop’s Associate for the Minneapolis Area Lutheran Synod.

Did Wisconsin GOP Senator Hopper’s Estranged Wife Sign Recall Petition Against Him?

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” — William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697)

Upon returning to Madison and speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the “Wisconsin 14″ Democratic Senators who had fled the state for Illinois implied that the thousands of protesters gathered at the State Capitol would soon drop their signs and pick up clipboards as part of a nearly statewide recall campaign against eight Republican Senators from swing districts who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s union-killing bill.

Some of those clipboard-carrying demonstrators were met with quite a shock that day in Fond Du Lac, an hour and a half north of Madison, at the home of State Senator Randy Hopper, who reportedly worked closely with Walker on the unpopular legislation. Alysia Hopper — aka “Mrs. Hopper” — answered the door and told the crowd that Sen. Hopper no longer lived there, but had taken up residence in Madison with his 25-year-old mistress. On Monday, the Milwaukee television station TMJ4 reported that it had received a letter from Alysia Hopper — on letterhead envelope from her business — claiming that Sen. Hopper “started an affair in January 2010 with a then 25 year old Republican aide.” The letter claims “Randy moved out” and “now lives mostly in Madison.” Court records confirm that they have since filed for divorce. According to TMJ4, the letter also implied that Alysia Hopper might have signed the recall petition against her estranged husband.

Sen. Hopper’s affair contradicts the union-supporting family-man image he sought to portray on the campaign trail last year. Behold this photo of him in an AFSCME t-shirt, and this video of him with wife and children:

Who is Hopper’s new fling? According to the Daily Kos, it’s Valerie Class, a lobbyist for a right-wing lobbying firm called Persuasion Partners, Inc. — at least she was until this past weekend. According to her bio on Persuasion Partners’ website (which has since been removed from their site), prior to going to work for Persuasion Partners, Cass staffed the Senate Economic Development Committee, of which Sen. Randy Hopper happened to be a member.

Minneapolis Activists Rally to Support Wisconsin and Union Workers

Yesterday, local citizens in Minneapolis joined 270 separate rallies across the nation organized by MoveOn.org and endorsed by 50 other organizations. These rallies were a protest against the Koch-Walker style politics in Wisconsin. They were also an action in support of Wisconsin and of worker rights in Minnesota. Passionate speakers talked about how their lives have been improved by union representation, and the danger of attacks on unions. The 250-person crowd was boisterous but well contained. There was also a simultaneous rally in Rice Park in St. Paul.

WI Rep. Tammy Baldwin Speaks Out For Workers’ Rights

So much happened so fast in Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend that we’re still posting essential video from the protests. This is one such moment. Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D) making a passionate speech at a “Speak Out For Workers’ Rights” presentation Saturday night. The program at the Barrymore Theatre also included speeches from Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Columnist Jim Hightower.

WI Gov Walker Warns MN Gov Dayton Against Supporting His Bill

Asked yesterday in Hudson, Wis., whether Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Mark Dayton ought to support Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker’s controversial anti-public sector worker bill — because it involves Wisconsin repaying Minnesota money that it owes — Walker told a reporter with a snicker that Dayton ought to know what else is in the bill first before supporting it.

Wisconsin Governor Walker Dismisses Protests as Coming from Out of State

“As the weeks escalated, we saw the numbers swell as people came in from outside the State of Wisconsin,” said Governor Scott Walker at an appearance in Hudson, Wis, yesterday, thereby repeating his assertion that the protests against his unpopular union-busting legislation have not been grassroots but have come primarily from out of state.