Wisconsin state workers protest anti-union bill

MADISON, Wis. – Thousands of teachers, students and prison guards descended on the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday to fight a move to strip government workers of union rights in the first state to grant them more than a half-century ago.

The Statehouse filled with as many as 10,000 demonstrators who chanted, sang the national anthem and beat drums for hours in demonstrations unlike any seen in Madison in decades. The noise in the rotunda rose to the level of a chain saw, and many Madison teachers joined the protest by calling in sick in such numbers that the district – the state’s second-largest – had to cancel classes.

The new Republican governor, Scott Walker, is seeking passage of the nation’s most aggressive anti-union proposal, which was moving swiftly through the GOP-led Legislature. Legislative leaders said Wednesday night they would make minor changes to the bill, but would keep the provision to remove collective bargaining rights that generated the protests.

“It is momentous, and I think people around the state are going to welcome it,” said Sen. Alberta Darling, the co-chair of the budget committee. Leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly said it would pass there starting today.

If adopted, the move would mark a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, which passed a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959 and was the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees.

As protesters chanted “Recall Walker now!” outside the governor’s office, Walker insisted he has the votes to pass the measure, which he says is needed to help balance a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall and avoid widespread layoffs.

Walker said he appreciated protesters’ concerns, but taxpayers “need to be heard as well.”

“We’re at a point of crisis,” the governor said.