R i g h t a r d i a: WIN: Biggest Madison Labor Protest Yet As "Fab 14" Senators Return

By Doug Cunningham

[Firemen Bagpipes & Drums]

Well over 100,000 people demonstrated and marched for worker rights in Madison Wisconsin over the weekend during a daylong rally that included a Farm Labor Tractorcade. Fifty tractors joined firefighters, off-duty police, teachers and other people of all ages from every walk of life in solidarity against the gutting of collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin public workers.

[Cheers]:

Wisconsin’s “Fab 14” state Democratic senators, who had been blocking a vote destroying public worker collective bargaining, returned to a hero’s welcome in Madison. Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller.

[Miller]: “We have returned to Wisconsin to thank the people who have with their voices, and their marches and their rallies here in Madison and around the state to protest the stripping away of the rights of employees in the state of Wisconsin. They have inspired us. They have created a new dynamic, a new political dynamic in the state of Wisconsin that says respect workers, respect citizens. We are here to join them in that fight.”

Senator Fred Risser is in his eighties and has been serving in the state senate since the 1950’s.

[Risser]: “The war is not over. The fight for workers’ rights is continuing. It’s a real privilege to participate in this. And I want to thank everyone who’s helped us on this. The people, the crowds around the capitol, we watched those on TV and they were stimulating to us and kept us going. It’s a remarkable experience and it’s not over yet.”

A robust effort to recall eight Republican state senators who voted to gut collective bargaining is underway. Money and signatures for the recalls – including one aimed at Governor Walker -were being collected at the rally.

[Rally nat Sound of protester and recall activist]

Wisconsin’s Democrat Secretary of State, Doug LaFollette, is delaying the collective bargaining law’s implementation by refusing to officially publish it later this month. The law doesn’t go into effect until March 26th - a day after he officially publishes it. That allows more time for legal challenges to the new law.

By Doug Cunningham

Well over 100,000 people demonstrated and marched for worker rights in Madison Wisconsin over the weekend during a daylong rally that included a Farm Labor Tractorcade.

Fifty tractors joined firefighters, off-duty police, teachers and other people of all ages from every walk of life in solidarity against the gutting of collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin public workers.

Miller: We have returned to Wisconsin to thank the people who have with their voices, and their marches and their rallies here in Madison and around the state to protest the stripping away of the rights of employees in the state of Wisconsin.

They have inspired us. They have created a new dynamic, a new political dynamic in the state of Wisconsin that says respect workers, respect citizens. We are here to join them in that fight.

Senator Fred Risser is in his eighties and has been serving in the state senate since the 1950’s.

Risser: The war is not over. The fight for workers’ rights is continuing. It’s a real privilege to participate in this. And I want to thank everyone who’s helped us on this. The people, the crowds around the capitol, we watched those on TV and they were stimulating to us and kept us going. It’s a remarkable experience and it’s not over yet.