Protesters stream into the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison after the Senate votes 18-1 to strip public employees of their right to collective bargaining. More than 9,000 people have filled the buildin. There are calls for a General Strike.
Video from Sam Mayfield and Jacob Wheeler of The UpTake, text from Twin Cities Daily Planet
Live streaming video from The Uptake at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Wisconsin, where the Republicans abandoned the budget bill (which requires a quorum, as an appropriation bill), and passed a bill that only strips collective bargaining rights from public worker unions. Protesters streamed into the Capitol despite police attempts to keep them out. Chants call for a general strike and recall. The lower house still has to pass the law before it can become law. People inside the Capitol are refusing police orders to leave.
What’s next? There are as many questions as possibilities:
1) General strike? There’s a call for a general strike, but no real reading of how much support there would be. If there were a general strike, some workers would be fired. Walker has already said he will fire workers if the Democratic senators do not return.
2) Will the Democratic senators return? If they do, then the Republicans can also pass the budget bill, which still includes provisions for no-bid sales of up to 37 heating and cooling plants owned by the state.
3) What will the courts say? Democrats may sue to overturn the sudden Senate action.
4) Recall-Democrats are already gathering signatures to recall some of the Senate Republicans. Under Wisconsin law, recall elections can only be held after the elected official has served for a full year, so they’ll have to wait until next year to try to recall Governor Walker.
5) How long will protests continue? Protesters streamed to the Capitol as word of the vote spread, and quickly occupied it despite police efforts to keep the doors closed.
[Text from TC Daily Planet]
We talk with Media Matter’s Bob McChesney. Read along on our liveblog
Today in Madison, Wisconsin, the struggle for organized labor’s future continues. The UpTake correspondents Sam Mayfield and Jacob Wheeler interview leader of the Democratic Caucus in the Wisconsin State Assembly, Peter Barca, and Free Press co-founder and host of Media Matters, Robert McChesney.
Video by Sam Mayfield
How does Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s push to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights impact people? A mother of a teacher, a firefighter and a farmer’s wife says she encouraged her kids to go into these honorable professions and “now they’re getting screwed for it. It’s not fair”.
That’s one of the many comments The UpTake’s Sam Mayfield heard as she talked to people around the Madison, Wisconsin Capitol area. While the national news media is mostly ignoring the tens of thousands of people who are rallying to prevent the passage of the “budget repair bill”, people in Madison find it the focal point of their day.
An adjunct instructor says the bill would help her financially because she would no longer have to pay union dues. But she’s still against it because of what it does to workers’ rights. “Whether or not I’m required to pay, I will pay because I’m proud to be part of a union, and proud to stand in solidarity with my brother and sister teachers here in Madison.”
A pair of small business owners in Baraboo, Wisconsin say the bill has already “profoundly effected our business.” They are home builders and they have already lost two contracts on homes they were going to build for a teacher and a prison guard. “The people who are most effected by this draconian legislation are our clients.” said one. “What’s being missed is the impact this is going to have on the economy of Wisconsin. Just as we’re starting to emerge from this terrible recession, this is going to have a profound impact on the buying power of all of these middle income people.”
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