Sunday, February 27, 2011

Us, 150,000; Them, maybe 300?

Today in West Bend., Wisc.
We didn't expect the corporate-owned media to pay much mind to the tens of thousands of Americans in at least a hundred cities and towns who came out on Saturday to stand up for workers in Wisconsin. So we combed through youtube videos, local news reports, twitter feeds and blogs and finally concluded: yes, there were at least 150,000 people out yesterday in an amazing show of solidarity across the country.

We saw Teamsters everywhere as we pored over the images on Facebook and flickr, on youtube and twitter, on moveon.org and Raw Story. We saw pictures of the red and blue "Stop the War on Workers" signs in Asheville, N.C., in Olympia, Wash., in Washington, D.C., in Miami, in Madison (of course), in South Bend, Ind., and elsewhere. We saw twitter feeds announcing the Teamster truck arriving in San Diego. We saw youtube videos of our brothers and sisters on the steps of the capitol in Atlanta and marching in Sacramento. 

Thousands came to rallies yesterday in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Denver -- and in smaller cities like Columbus, Hartford, Lansing, Salem and Olympia. Hundreds came to small towns like Cheektowaga, N.Y., Lancaster, Ohio and Green Bay, Wisc. In tiny Portsmouth, N.H., (pop. 25,000) 800 people rallied in Market Square.  (Oh, and we heard reports of a handful of Tea Partiers here and there.)

Right now, Teamsters are marching in the snow with a crowd of a thousand people in West Bend, Wisc. They were there with the 100,000 who came to the biggest rally ever in Madison yesterday, even as workers marched elsewhere in Wisconsin -- in Green Bay, Eau Claire, Appleton, Oshkosh, Waupaca, Elkhorn, Milwaukee, Platteville, Racine and Kenosha.

We'll try to get you stories about your Teamsters brothers and sisters over the weekend as they come in from the field. Remember that this revolution is not being televised. It's up to you to take pictures and videos and send them to ddelacruz@teamster.org so we can report back to all our brothers and sisters.

Below is an updated list of the rally attendance (in some cases, our best guess) throughout the country, with additions from yesterday in red.

Albany The event brought some 500 people and representatives of at least 50 unions (Albany Times-Union)
Annapolis, Md. 200, judging by the http://twitpic.com/440nfs
Asheville, N.C. About 400 people from all over Western North Carolina were here in Pack Square, including Teamsters from Local 61 (WLOS ABC News)
Atlanta 300 maybe, judging by youtube.com video (which had lots of Teamsters "Stop the War on Workers" signs)
Augusta, Me.  More than 500 people rallied Saturday outside the State House to support state workers and their union...(Kennebec Journal)
Austin, Texas @convergecollide it's cloudy in Austin but the crowd at the capital is on fire! #WeAreWI http://t.co/3oG5543
@pamelaoldham Unofficial count at #wearewi Austin is more than 1,000
Baton Rouge, La. The crowd of about 200 replaced Walker's name with Jindal's.  The Advocate
Bismarck, N.D. 160 people came out in 3 degree weather, according to youtube, in a gesture of support and solidarity for workers across the country
Boise, Idaho At least 100, judging by the Raw Story photo
Boston, Mass. Just got back from the Boston rally. Heard one policeman say that there were at least 1000 people there today. It's our second rally this week of over 1000 people. (moveon.org)
Buffalo, N.Y. ...at least 500 strong on the snowy steps of city hall. (moveon.org) Richard Lipsitz, JC 46's political action coordinator, was a main speaker.
Burlington, Vt. 100? photo from @all_a_twitt Burlington, VT Save the American Dream #weareWI #WIunion ~ http://dlvr.it/HhjFL #WI @msnbc @foxnews
Carson City, Nev. About 300 people came together today in front of the Nevada Legislature to rally in support of labor unions and in solidarity with protesters in Wisconsin. CarsonNow.org
Charleston, W.Va. About 250 people gathered Saturday afternoon at the Capitol to support public employees in Wisconsin. Sunday Gazette-Mail
Cheektowaga, N.Y.  350 people showed up, including Teamsters from JC 46 and Richard Lipsitz, Teamster political action coordinator, was a main speaker. (JC 46 reports) 
Cheyenne, Wyo.  At the WY State Capitol with 100 of my closest friends (hummingbirdminds)
Chicago 2000 people in Chicago fired up (moveon.org)
Columbia, S.C.  About 125 turn our for rally at S.C. Statehouse, according to The State
Columbus, Ohio 2000 people in Columbus, OH, (NEA) another state facing crazy attacks on workers by a new Republican governor. (moveon.org)
Concord, N.H. http://yfrog.com/3wy32z I would guess 100-200 on the steps of the state house in Concord, NH - lots of Badger red and white, including a flag! (moveon.org)
Denver, Colo. Just got home from the Denver Rally. Over 3000 people who were very vocal and stand with Wisconsin! (moveon.org)
Des Moines, Iowa We're guesstimating 300 based on this flickr slideshow
Dover, Del. We're guesstimating 100, judging by this twitpic
Frankfort, Ky. About 400 rallied in Frankfort KY (mimikron@yahoo.commimikron@yahoo.com: ])
Green Bay, Wisc. We're guessing 100, judging by the Raw Story photo
Harrisburg,Pa. At 2:46 EST: 1000 people gathered in Harrisburg, PA today for a "We Are Wisconsin" rally. (Raw Story)
Hartford, Conn. At 2:54 EST: Reader Robert reports, "I just returned from a spirited rally in support of Wisconsin (and other state) public worker unions at the Connecticut State House. My estimate is 1000 people attended. There was a counter rally of about 6 people." (Raw Story)
Helena, Mont. 500, according to the NEA
Honolulu, Hawaii 50, based on this youtube.video
Indianapolis We saw between 500-1000 people on this youtube video
Jackson, Miss. We're guessing 100, based on coverage by WJTV.com
Jefferson City, Mo. At 2:46, the rally there is over, but we're getting reports of 300-400 people in Jefferson City. (moveon.org)
Juneau, Alaska  We saw 100 people in this Raw Story photo
Lancaster, Ohio 300 showed up in this tiny town
Lansing, Mich. @PhoenixWomanMN RT @ddayen: From MoveOn livechat: Apparently there are 1,000 people in Lansing, Michigan. LANSING, folks! #weareWI
Lincoln, Neb. 250 according to the Omaha World-Herald
"Lincoln NE here, undeterred by the cold. It was a rare occasion to hear Husker fans cheer for the Badgers." (moveon.org)
Little Rock, Arkansas is reporting 400 folks attending and they were covered by CBS, NBC and ABC. (moveon.org)
Los Angeles @sephiroth144 tweets bout 800-1000 at the #wearewi rally in Los Angeles today- photos coming... but could they have spelled Wisconsin out? C'mon
Madison, Wisc. Police reporting 100,000
Montgomery, Ala. 125, according to LeftinAlabama. Crowd sang "We Shall Overcome."
Montpelier, Vt. Maybe 300 in Montpelier, at the capitol building. (moveon.org)
Nashville, Tenn. Just got home from the Nashville rally. About 400 to 500 people, very vocal. Lets keep this going strong. (moveon.org)
New York City Police report 3,000, according to CBS.
Oklahoma City, Okla. We'd say 100, judging by this Facebook page. KOCO.com reports
From teamsters to military vets to teachers, Oklahoma locals are worried what's happening across the country could happen here.
Olympia, Wash. 2500 marched in the snow. Plenty of Teamsters "Stop the War on Workers" signs. Great youtube video.
Philadelphia   "Twice as big as Harrisburg," according to Lancaster Online. Saturday's rally was the second in three days, after 1,000 people showed solidarity with workers in Wisconsin in downtown Philadelphia on Thursday
Phoenix, Ariz.  Democratic Underground reports


...no pictures because of the glare on my cell phone and my eyes but I would estimate 700-1000 people.
Pittsburgh, Pa. Perhaps 500 workers and supporters from most of Pittsburgh’s labor movement turned out on short notice for this afternoon’s rally. (Democratic Underground)

Pierre, S.D. Guessing 50.
Portsmouth, N.H. WMUR reports ...Organizers estimated about 800 people attended the rally sponsored by Seacoast for Change.Providence, R.I.  At least 200, according to WPRI
Raleigh, N.C.: Several hundred people rallied, according to WRAL.com.
Richmond, Va. About 250, according to WTOP
Sacramento, Calif. Sacramento #WeAreWI rally from back of crowd. I'm guessing 2,500 here. http://post.ly/1fuiv (@sjdorst) @brettlemke offers this tweet:
I'm amazed and proud at the amount of #wiunion workers & Teamsters that showed up in Sac to protest the disgraceful WI Budget bill. #WeAreWi
Salem, Ore.  About a thousand, according to KOINlocal6
Salt Lake City, Utah We're guessing at least 200, judging by this twitpic
San Diego @lucasoconnor Art Pulaski addressing 1000+ in San Diego #weareWI
@jasminepw San Diego Teamsters making their presence known (honking) in support of Unions and Wisconsin! #WeAreWI http://t.co/DYmHYY
San Francisco there were about 3,000 people there, very spirited, very vocal. That rally started at noon, with only 48 hours' notice. (Democratic Underground)
Santa Fe 5:57 EST: Santa Fe, New Mexico's turnout of "several thousand" by one reader's estimation (Raw Story)South Bend, Ind. At least 100, judging by the Facebook photos
Springfield, Ill. About 200, judging by the Raw Story photo
St. Paul, Minn. 1:48 EST: Crowd of 3500 reported in St. Paul. (Raw Story)
Tallahassee, Fla. At least 100, judging by this
Topeka, Kanas @jakelowen 1200+ strong rally in Kansas for #WeareWI http://yfrog.com/h76f6rtj
Trenton, N.J. ... happened yesterday ... State Police estimated there were 3100 people there. (moveon.org)Tucson, Ariz. Well over 500 people, judging by this youtube video