WI: 'Strangers high-fiving in courthouse elevator'

The news is spreading like wildfire and people are thrilled (for now). Tweets @legaleagle:

Strangers high-fiving in courthouse elevator. #wiunion #thankyoujudgesumi”

@techpr tweets:

The #wiunion happy hour's gonna be even sweeter now. 5pm at Rotunda, pub crawl from there.

Here's what Tom Bennett, president of Teamsters Local 200 in Milwaukee, had to say in an email message:

Sumi’s order will prevent Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the law until she can rule on the merits of the case. Dane County Ismael Ozanne is seeking to block the law because he says a legislative committee violated the state’s open meetings law.

Sumi said Ozanne was likely to succeed on the merits.

"It seems to me the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law)," she said.

The judge’s finding – at least for now – is a setback to Republican Gov. Scott Walker and a victory for opponents, who have spent weeks in the Capitol to protest the bill.

Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said he was pleased with the judge's ruling.

"I am very pleased with her action," Barca said. "We felt from the beginning this was a violation of the open meetings law. And now we go on from here."

It is a positive step in the right direction to let the Wisconsin working middle-class families understand that rights do matter. Brothers and Sisters took to the streets of Madison to be heard, then others outside Organized Labor joined with us because our values understand right from wrong. Building off today's decision cannot be shorted lived, it is the catalyst to keep the battle moving.

UPDATE: And this from Danny McGowan, political director for Local 662 in Eau Claire:

This is a small victory for the public employees in Wisconsin but it is better than nothing. The Republican lawmakers will still try and get this bill through one way or the other. The working middle class in Wisconsin now needs to get the eight republican senators and Governor Walker recalled and elect individuals that will listen to the people instead of silencing them.

Then and only then will we be able to right the injustice that is being imposed on Wisconsin workers.And some good tweeted advice from @WI_Outrage

Also, campaign for Kloppenburg, because we need good judges. RT @JustPlainTiredO Put that energy into the recall effort! #wiunion

The jsonline offers this

"Miracle on Hudson" pilot boycotts Walker-loving bank

Madison, March 12

Passenger airline pilots are among the many workers getting screwed by greedy employers. Which is why we've been seeing "Teamster Pilots" signs at the Madison protests, held up by our brothers in solidarity with all the other workers getting screwed by greedy employers.

So we were delighted but not surprised to learn that Jeff Skiles, the first officer in the "Miracle on the Hudson" landing in 2009, has taken his money out of M&I Bank. M&I executives, you will recall, supported Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's political campaign.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports

Jeff Skiles ... has been involved in the budget protests that engulfed Madison in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, he took another big step, choosing to withdraw what he said was hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money from M&I Bank to protest the actions of bank executives there who backed Gov. Scott Walker..."They have supported Gov. Walker and I wanted to send a message to them," Skiles said.

Seven unions -- police, firefighters, teachers and sheriffs -- sent letters to M&I Bank and Kwik Trip Inc., reports the Journal-Sentinel,

...for either supporting Walker directly, or its executives supported Walker's campaign, or because the companies are members of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a pro-business group that supported the governor, or all three.

The Miracle on the Hudson was a case history in how unions make us all safer. As People's World pointed out back then, the "Miracle" was pulled off entirely by union members:

Once again, the nation has witnessed the difference between life and death that comes from having trained, experienced union members on the job....every single one of these heroes involved in pulling it off is a union member. Passengers on many commuter airlines, flown by poorly paid non-union pilots and staffed by non-union crews, might not have been as lucky.

All of the airline and airport workers involved in the Jan. 15 miracle were union members who received extensive training that was provided for and required under their union contracts.  

That includes the pilots, the flight crew, the air traffic controllers, the seafarers, the marine engineers, the firefighters and the police officers.

It just makes you sick to think about greedy corporate executives giving money to trash these brave people.

Protest on Wed for WI Republicans at $1K a head fundraiser in DC

The Wisconsin Republicans who voted with Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker are in Washington on Wednesday for a $1,000-a-head fundraiser from corporate lobbyists who represent foreign governments and the nuclear energy industry.

They will be met by hundreds – at least – of D.C.-area Teamsters, union supporters, concerned citizens and community activists who say enough is enough.

Expected to attend are a charming bunch: Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who most recently denied the Fab 14 Democrats the right to vote; Sen. Glenn Grothmann and Sen. Alberta Darling, two senators we hope to recall; Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, who rammed through Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker’s bill to strip government workers’ collective bargaining rights; and Rep. Robin Vos, who wants right-to-work (for LESS) legislation passed.

As Digital Journal points out,

When you're a good little corporately-owned Republican politician in Wisconsin who just illicitly passed legislation aimed at eviscerating union workers rights, what do you do next? You head to Washington DC to hold secret meetings with corporate lobbyists to receive your reward.

That's exactly how Craig Holman of Public Citizen sees it. He told Talking Points Memo,

This fundraiser is far more a celebration and reward to the Wisconsin Republican delegation for its leadership in attacking labor unions and turning back union rights. It accurately reflects that the battle of Wisconsin is in fact a highly-funded campaign orchestrated by national political players. Its origins and support span from the Koch strategy conference held in Rancho Mirage to the lobbyist fundraising event held in DC.

BGR, the lobbying firm sponsoring the fundraiser, is a lovely group as well. We again borrow from Digital News:

BGR represents a significant number of foreign interests and governments including The Republic of India which paid BGR $1.2 million to represent its interests in Washington, India's Reliance Industries which has paid BGR $1.52 million from 2009 and 2010, The American Chamber of Commerce in China and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, which paid a combined total of $280,000 to launder money into the U.S. political process, The Kurdistan Regional Government which paid BGR $1.13 million from 2009 to 2010, and Russia-based Alfa Bank which paid BGR $510,000 in 2010 to help subvert U.S. politics.

And that doesn't even include the nuclear energy industry. According to records from the Lobby Disclosure Act Database and OpenSecrets.org, BGR has been paid $250,000 to lobby for KazAtomProm, National Contractors Group on Nuclear Liability, and Uranium One.
Here’s the rally cry (from the flyer):

These politicians might be willing to subvert our democratic process to move Wall Street’s corporate agenda, but we’re fighting to bring balance to our economy and protect middle-class families. We will raise our voices and tell them we are one!

The rally is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at BGR Group headquarters, 601 13th St., N.W., in the heart of the city. All labor activists, concerned citizens and community organizers are invited to attend.

Today's Teamster News 03.13.11

Democratic senators greeted by cheering crowds in Wisconsin CNN International   ..."People think that this is a picnic for us. They're wrong. But I'll tell you something, we did it for the right reasons," said state Sen. Dave Hansen...
Ohio’s legislators ignore campaign promise for bipartisan focus on jobs  Plunderbund   ...They promised us jobs and an improved economy but all we’ve seen is union busting, misogyny, a war on middle class ohioans and the promise to sell off all state assets to their lucky business pals...
Carnage on I-95 After Crash Rips Bus Apart  New York Times   ...The driver...survived. He told the authorities that his bus was clipped by a passing tractor-trailer, which sped away, an assertion that the police later said was under investigation...
American Professor Kidnapped in Mexican Border City  Fox News   ...Armed men kidnapped an American university professor while she was visiting her mother in the violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez...
A Swift Deal May Not Be a Sound One  New York Times   ...Shoddy loan servicing has clearly done significant damage to borrowers. If a state settlement morphs into yet another gift to the banks, let’s hope that at least some attorneys general will take a different path...
Why Don’t All Major Unions Own Banks? (opinion)  firedoglake   ...the new union-owned banks can provide favorable loans to businesses that are unionized, new union-owned businesses, and loans to members trying to start small companies organized as worker-owned cooperatives...

150K? 200K? Historic protest in Madison

We're hearing reports of astounding crowds in Madison. One speaker announced 150,000 had massed around the Capitol, and people are still arriving. The twittersphere is counting 200,000. By all accounts, it's the largest protest yet.

Fifty tractors drove from LaCrosse to protest Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to cut $1.6 billion in funds for education and health care. We watched a live stream of John Nichols, a Wisconsinite and Nation writer, ride in with the tractorcade. Nichols said Walker is destroyinig rural Wisconsin. Farmers get it, he said, because they've been fighting corporations for decades.

The only way farmers get a good price is to organize.. collectively .. get it? Collective bargaining.

Among today's celebrities are Tony Shalhoub (Monk), a native of Green Bay; Susan Sarandon; Willie Nelson; Michael Moore; Jesse Jackson; Jim Hightower; and the Fab 14 senators who fled the state to prevent a vote on Walker's bill to strip government workers of their collective bargaining rights.

We liked this tweet from @gjzielinksi: 

Rookie mistake: Standing too close to the Teamsters rig. My left ear drum is pierced, think.

WI protesters shut down Walker-loving bank branch

We love this story. Wisconsin firefighters (not sure how many yet) decided to withdraw their money from M&I bank in Madison on Thursday. M&I not only received bailout money, but its executives gave substantial money to Koch whore Scott Walker's campaign for governor.
According to Alternet, the firefighters took out $192,000.

Heeding a call by Firefighters Local 311 President Joe Conway to 'Move your money,' union members withdrew over $100,000 from the bank, with some reports stating that number is as high as $192,000. Either way, it was a hefty enough chunk of change that M&I shut its doors and closed for the day at 3PM.

Other bank customers took out money too, hundreds of protesters picketed outside its doors and the bank branch locked its doors. DailyKos has pictures of citizens protesting outside the bank and a few more details. (The mainstream media probably won't touch this one):

...the specific branch near the Capitol is closed to avoid a run and the amount withdrawn by the firemen was only $192,000. I think that means random citizens pulled another $400,000 out on their own...

We're delighted to report there's a campaign to boycott the bank:

Is This The Thanks We Get?

After working families gave Marshall and Ilsley Bank (M&I) a $1.7 billion bailout in 2008, their executives did an about face and funded Governor Scott Walker's attack on our right to collectively bargain. (visit www.followthemoney.org for more information)

In fact, their financial help combined was more than what the Koch Brothers contributed.

And while Governor Walker was demanding austerity from working people, M&I CEO Mark Furlong got an $18 million golden parachute.

Even after the bank was having diffulty paying back its TARP loan.

Is this the thanks we get for bailing out M&I Bank?

Tell M&I CEO Mark Furlong and his board to come clean and stop backing the politicians who took away our rights.

Thank the Fab 14

Rumors are flying that the 14 Democratic senators who had the courage to leave Wisconsin may return. They're in hiding in Illinois because of Teabagger harassment. There are also rumors that three Republican senators may switch sides in the standoff over Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker's insane budget bill.

Here's something you can do to bolster the Fab 14: go to the Stop the War on Workers Facebook page and write a message of thanks and encouragement. We're collecting them regularly and sending them to the Fab 14. Here's a recent post:

Gary Myers
BLET Division 301 is behind all of you. We discuss this at our union meeting Tuesday. So Good Luck! We are with you in heart and soul.

If you're in Madison today, go to the Teamster truck from about 10:30 a.m. to noon. Find our camera guy and say a short message of thanks to the Fab 14. If you have a sign, bring it; if you have a button, wear it. We'll make sure they see the video tonight.

Today's Teamster News 03.05.11

Are Wisconsin Republicans preparing to break with Walker?  Washington Post   ...we now have two news outlets, one local and one national, claiming GOP defections from Governor Scott Walker may be in the works...
Convictions 'Very Strong' for Wisconsin 14 as pressure grows   International Business Times   ...fourteen Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers said Friday they are not threatened by possible arrest and the chance that 1,500 people could lose their jobs if they don't return to work...
More Than 200 Union Protesters Rally Against SB 5  WLWT   ...Ohio Senate Bill 5 sent more than 200 union protesters to the streets of Clermont County in their vow to fight the bill all the way to the polls...
Indy protests run 'one day' longer, stronger  Evansville Courier & Press   ...For 12 days, union and nonunion workers have flocked to the Statehouse in protest of what they consider "anti-worker" legislation...
Randolph County Workers, Business Negotiate Contract (Local 175)   MetroNews   ...Union workers at a Randolph County Plant are still trying to work out a contract with company officials...
CAW members ratify contracts at Air Transat's Handlex; Teamsters still out  The Canadian Press   ...The labour contracts don't cover 400 Handlex employees in Toronto and Montreal who are represented by the Teamsters union and off the job...

Another battle won: Walker can't clear the Capitol



We held the building

 Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Walker and Republican senators said yesterday that by 4:00 pm people had to clear the Capitol building.


The brought in state troopers because many police are standing with the workers inside the building in the midst of the protests.

At 4:00 pm, protesters were told to leave.  Some did, but many others -- clergy, students and union members -- said they would not leave and would engage in peaceful civil disobedience if they tried to remove them. Firefighters and police officers showed tremendous courage in their willingness to be arrested.

They were not removed.  They will not be removed.  The people of Wisconsin held their capital building against the Governor.

AP reports:

A few hundred pro-union protesters left the Wisconsin Capitol peacefully on Sunday, but police stood by as hundreds more remained in defiance of a deadline state officials set for clearing the building after a nearly two-week-long sit-in.


The state agency that oversees the Capitol asked the throngs of demonstrators who have camped out at the Capitol since Feb. 15 to leave by 4 p.m., saying the building was in dire need of a cleaning.

But in the hours before the deadline came and after it passed, it was clear most protesters did not intend to leave voluntarily and police had no immediate intention of forcing them to go...

At 4 p.m., organizers who commanded a microphone on the ground floor urged people to remain until police physically tapped them on the shoulder and asked them to leave. Some individuals left in groups of 10 or 20, while most remained behind. Hundreds of other protesters watched from one floor above, the informal gathering place for those who expected to be arrested.


As the deadline passed, hundreds of protesters on the Capitol's upper floors picked up their energy level, chanting "peaceful protest," and "Whose house is this? Our house." At one point, the crowd sang the national anthem. Many said they were prepared to be arrested.

Teamsters by the 000s stand with Wisconsin



Teamsters in Madison Saturday


Thousands of Teamsters across America showed their solidarity with workers in Wisconsin on Saturday after a long week of protests in the Midwest. Hundreds of our brothers and sisters from locals in Ohio, Indiana, Northern Kentucky and Wisconsin swelled the ranks of statehouse protesters all week.  Saturday was not a day off for them.

Labor unions organized rallies across the country on Saturday, while moveon.org brought people to all 50 state capitals and the District of Columbia. The Teamsters red and blue "Stop the War on Workers" signs were visible from Miami to San Diego, from Olympia to Atlanta, in South Bend, Ind., and Madison, Wisc.

Brother Steven Nelson sent photos from Madison, where it was 15 degrees and sunny. Local 200 had new signs made for Saturday's protest that said, "1.4 Million Teamsters Support Public Service Workers." We estimate at least 300 Teamsters marched toward the Statehouse for the historic rally, which drew 100,000 people.

Washington, DC

At 1:33 p.m., Brother Nelson emailed us: The inside of the Capitol is full we can't get in. This is fantastic!

(We expect to hear more from our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin when they get take a break from demonstrating.)

Rally Girl reports from our nation's capital:
Today, Teamsters in Washington, D.C., stood united with the people of Wisconsin, joining more than 3,000 residents who poured into the city’s historic Dupont Circle. Holdings signs, singing and chanting, citizens of the nation’s capital vowed to never give up or back down. Said our Teamster brother Eustace Mann:

Today, we are not D.C. We are not Maryland or Virginia, Democratic or Republican. We are one with Wisconsin.

Protestors peacefully marched through the streets of D.C. to the White House where they continued to gain support.
 

Teamsters Local 61 organized a large and energetic rally in Asheville, N.C. One message was heard loud and clear: "Labor is United!"

Buffalo, N.Y.



Olympia, Wash.

Teamsters from Joint Council 46 in Buffalo, N.Y., showed their solidarity for union members in Wisconsin and other states by taking part in two rallies on Saturday, in Cheektowaga and Buffalo. Hundreds of people attended both rallies. Richard Lipsitz, JC 46's political action coordinator, was a main speaker.
Teamsters marched through the snow with a crowd of 2,500 in Olympia, Wash.,  holding "Stop the War on Workers" signs. (Check out the youtube video.)

VIDEO: WI Protests Tues, Teamsters in Solidarity

Here's a great video of yesterday's protest in Wiscconsin. You'll see the Teamsters march into the Rotunda at about 3:39.


We have this account from our BMWED brother Keith Shisler:

We had 5 guys there from Local 99 and met up with Mike the legislative director and a few guys from BNSF. What a sight to see and a sound to hear. The place was rockin' with union solidarity, no fights or violence of any kind. The outside and inside of the capital were packed with people from several unions.

I'd like to thank Dave Johnson, Jim Hess, John Scott and Corey Shisler for joining me on the trip. You should have been there, you couldn't have helped but feel thrilled by the power of labor united. I saw Firemen and Police, IBEW, Steelworkers, Sheetmetal Workers, other Teamsters there to name a few of the organizations without a direct stake in the bill at hand that were there to show support. As we all know we actually do have a direct stake even though the law doesn't apply to us (yet) an affront to collective bargaining is a mortal threat to workers everywhere who want a fair chance in the labor market.

Teamsters in the thick of things in OH, WI, IN, VT (and we're just getting started!)

Indiana Teamsters sit in at the state capitol.

Indiana Teamsters staged a sit-in at the Indiana Statehouse today as their brothers and sisters in Wisconsin and Ohio marched in massive rallies around their state capitols. More than a dozen rallies were held elsewhere throughout the country.

In Indiana, thousands of union members and students sat down in front of the Senate chamber to protest a scheduled vote on two anti-union bills. Democratic senators House members walked out, denying the quorum required for a vote. Reports the Louisville Courier-Journal,

...angered over a GOP agenda they say is anti-worker, hundreds of union workers and students staged a sit-in Tuesday morning outside the Indiana Senate chamber, chanting, “Ain’t no power like the power of the people.”

Meanwhile, House Democrats continued a boycott that is denying Republicans a quorum needed to move a controversial right-to-work bill, conjuring images of Wisconsin, where Senate Democrats have left the state to avoid voting on controversial anti-labor bills.

And this just in from the Indianapolis Star:

Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.

In Wisconsin, thousands of protesters an estimated 30,000 were joined by at least a hundred Teamsters from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine and elsewhere.  They marched around the capitol this morning as two  Teamsters semis -- one from Local 120 in Miinnesota -- served as a gathering point. Brother Steven Nelson from Local 200 reports that the Teamsters have entered the Rotunda, where brother Rick Smith from Harrisburg, Pa., is broadcasting his radio program. Earlier, Nelson said:

We got a good group of union people walking around the capitol. AFSCME, correctional officers, teachers, the International Bricklayers and Allied Crafts. They're shouting "Kill the Bill" and "What's Disgusting? Union-busting!"

Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker remains unwilling to compromise on his union-busting budget bill and the Assembly will once again attempt to pass the legislation today. The 14 Democratic senators (including our former Teamster brother Sen. Dave Hansen) are still in Illinois, preventing a quorum and a vote on the bill. The good news: new polls show Wisconsinites strongly support the efforts of working men and women, and strongly disapprove of Walker’s assault on the middle class.

Walker has also borrowed a page from Egyptian dicatator Hosni Mubarek and blocked pro-union websites. Reports CNN:

A left-leaning website that union supporters used to rally protesters in Wisconsin was partially blocked as demonstrators gathered in the state Capitol over a controversial budget bill.

Events were moving rapidly in Ohio as well, where thousands of protesters were denied access to the Statehouse. Our brothers and sisters flocked to Columbus from all over the state, where thousands of workers rallied for the second week to protests SB 5. (We're expecting photos later this afternoon.) The bill would eliminate collective bargaining rights for all state workers.

Testimony before a Senate committee was limited to those who met a deadline that was never publicized. While thousands are standing outside, peacefully protesting in the cold, only 1,200 have been allowed inside the Statehouse. Our sources tell us the Senate Democrats have filed for a court order to get the Republicans to open the Statehouse and a judge is hearing the case now.

Our Teamster brother Daniel Brush led a rally in Montpelier, Vt., where 300 people stood in the frigid cold to show their support for protesters in Wisconsin. Brush is the guy with the flag in the photo below:

Stay tuned, as there's lots more to come.

Teamsters take the fight to IN, OH, OR, WA, NV



Indiana Statehouse


Thousands continued to protest for the eighth day in Madison but some of the action moved to Indianapolis today, where 7,000 workers showed up to protest a right-to-work (for LESS) bill that was voted out of committee.

Teamsters were there in force, their red-and-blue "Stop the War on Workers" signs extremely visible.

The IndyStar included an awesome photo gallery with several great photos of our members. One photo (can't use because it's copyrighted) shows our brother James Taylor, a truck driver with Local 135, sitting outside the committee room with the sign. Here are a couple more photos from Indiana:

In Washington state, Teamsters Local 117 sang the Wisconsin fight song at a noon rally in the capitol. They'd carpooled from Tukwila to Olympia. KIRO-TV reported 

Hundreds attended a rally in Olympia on Monday for the dual purposes of supporting state workers in Wisconsin and trying to save public services from the chopping block here in Washington.

Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer Tracey Thompson reminded her members:

It is important that the rights we possess in Washington State are not taken for granted. If the political landscape in our State were to alter slightly, the kinds of radical legislative changes now being imposed on working families in Wisconsin will almost certainly happen here.

Teamsters from Local 324 in Salem, Ore., brought "Collective Bargaining Is a Right" signs to a Capitol rally where hundreds of workers showed up.

Two thousand workers, including Teamsters from Local 631, came to a rally in Las Vegas today to show solidarity with Wisconsin workers. Teamsters joined another 300 in Carson City. (Photos to come.)

Many of our Ohio brothers and sisters will join a massive Wisconsin-like rally at Ohio’s statehouse in Columbus Tuesday to protest Senate Bill 5, which would abolish collective bargaining rights of state employees. According to the Dayton Business Journal

The mobilization is expected to be much larger than last Thursday’s turnout, where an estimated 4,000 people filled the statehouse atrium, rotunda and West Lawn to oppose the measure, according to a news release from the AFL-CIO. Among its other provisions, Senate Bill 5 requires workers to pay more toward health insurance premiums and switch to a merit-based pay system.

And finally, our favorite tweet of the day (about Wisconsin Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker:

@BrianKeljore   So Egyptians, the Packers, NFL Player's union, teamsters, firefighters, police, and Obama are against him and he still is being a child.

Today's Teamster News 02.20.11

Scott Walker has already created jobs...too bad they’re in India  Blogging Blue   ...The Department of Health Services last month signed a new contract with Deloitte Consulting...
Tea Party lies and distorts at Wisconsin Capitol rally  The Isthmus   ...While the anti-Walker demonstrators were mostly guilty of overstating the governor’s fiendishness (no, he’s probably not as bad as Hitler), the Tea Party folks often distorted the issues...
Day Six of Protests in Madison  WHBL News   ...Madison police estimate the crowd converging on the Wisconsin state Capitol approached 70 thousand Saturday...
Ohio: Statehouse mobilization against SB 5 and Kasich's anti-worker agenda  Monthly Review   ...Thousands of workers and community members will pack the Statehouse again to tell lawmakers to reject the attack on Ohio's middle class and vote NO on Senate Bill 5, a bill that would gut workers' voice on the job in the hopes of dismantling unions in Ohio entirely...
Union members hope to make voices heard  indystar.com   ...Indiana union members plan to swarm the Statehouse this week to protest a slew of Republican-sponsored bills they say would weaken their membership...
As G20 Leaders Set Deal, Geithner Criticizes China  New York Times   ...financial leaders from the Group of 20 agreed on a set of guidelines to identify when economic and financial developments in some countries would create problems for the rest of the world...
Oil Flows, but High Prices Jangle Nerves  New York Times   ...The turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East has helped drive oil prices up to more than $102 a barrel for an important benchmark crude...
Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?  Rolling Stone   ...Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them...

Saturday: Teamsters protest like Egyptians

Teamsters from all over the country drove to Madison to hold the line in the war against the middle class on Saturday. It was the biggest protest yet. Brother Steven Nelson from Local 200 said the crowd is estimated at 70,000, of which only about a thousand were from the Tea Party.

We understand the Tea Partiers didn't try to provoke the Teamsters. According to a twitterer, @SAndrewDKos:

You shoulda seen the tea buggers shut up & look inconspicuous whenever teamsters or pipe-fitters walked by.

UPDATE: Local 344 posted a short video of the protest inside the Rotunda on its Facebook page. Amid the din, one of our brothers tells the camera:

You're now seeing the most sacred of all rights in a democracty: dissesnt. Isn't it a beautiful thing? The working people of this state are coming back to life again. It's high time. It's happeneing and it's happening now.

Our brothers and sisters vow to carry on until lawmakers kill the bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights, even as rallies and vigils are being planned in nearly every state in the country for Monday and Tuesday. As our favorite sign in Madison said, "Just Practicing."

These Teamsters drove from Missouri.

Union member parades into the Rotunda were led by firefighters, who were exempt from Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker's bill. (UPATE: Watch this incredible video of the parade here.) Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin said,

When firefighters see an emergency, one thing we do is respond. And we see an emergency in the house of labor, so that's why we're here.

Here's a great first-person account from The Nation

Day after day, I saw the crowds swell as people arrived on buses from across the state and even across the country. I saw feeder marches of 5,000 high school students chanting with an unguarded, proud fury you’d never know today’s teenagers possessed. I saw people dressed like King Tut with a banner saying they would “protest like Egyptians.” I spoke to nurses choking with rage that they would have to take second jobs or go onto food stamps if business as usual took place in the Capitol Building. I saw thousands sing the Wisconsin Badger football fight song, ending with “Fight Fight Fight and We’ll WIN THE DAY!” and they weren’t talking about football.

The Wisconsin 14 -- Democratic state senators who left the state rather than vote on the bill -- stayed away.  One of them, Dave Hansen, is a former Teamster from Local 662. His old local was out in force:



Here are a few more photos, thanks to Locals 344 and 200. You can see more on the "Stop the War on Workers" web page.

Teamsters hold the line in Madison

  
 

@marthaq took this picture of Teamsters heading to the parade.



Members of every Wisconsin Teamster local as well as some from Chicago joined the biggest day of protests yet in Madison. Teamsters came from every corner of Wisconsin, from Racine, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Eau Claire, Mosinee, Duluth and beyond.  

Crowd estimates range from 50,000 to 100,000, with Tea Partiers estimated at between 200 and 5,000 (we suspect the 5,000 number is from a Tea Partier). According to Blue Cheddar's online broadcast, the protesters are saying "We're not going anywhere. We're staying until we kill this bill." 

The Tea Partiers brought their provocateurs, including Andrew Breitbart (the jerk who tried to smear USDA employee Shirley Sherrod with a heavily edited video that made her sound racist).  Their intent was to bait the protesters into doing something that would look ugly on Fox News. We're quite confident our Teamster brothers kept their cool during this debate with Tea Partiers (see photo).

One twitterer pointed out the irony of Tea Partiers wearing their Green Bay Packer gear. The Packers, of course, belong to a union and seven of them issued a statement opposing Gov. Scott Walker's bill to eliminate nearly all collective bargaining rights for government workers.


Many in the crowd tweeted their gratitude for the support from the Teamsters and other private sector unions. Local businesses showed their support by posting signs in their windows. Union cab drivers staged a yellow cab parade down the street. And one Manitowoc alderman gave a ride to protesters. Tweeted Matt Kadow,

Transported 2 city Teamsters, 1 City AFSCME, & my fiancee. This Alderman supports worker rights!

 The Cap Times reports the crowd is civil and peaceful:

Ten people have been ticketed for disorderly conduct, according to Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney. That's nine fewer citations than were written at the last Badger home game against Northwestern.
"It's a very upbeat crowd, very friendly," Mahoney said. "There are a lot of children and families up here. That helps keep it civil as well."

A makeshift drum circle has been a near constant for the past several days in the center of the capital rotunda and many protesters Friday were moved to tears when Democratic activist Jesse Jackson arrived, joining with the crowd to sing "We Shall Overcome."

But in a building that is used to accommodating a few hundred workers on a normal day, the swell to upwards of 45,000 is visible. Trash cans on the grounds and inside the building were overflowing with trash. And the appearance of some bathrooms was less than ideal.

Micah Uetricht (@micahuetricht), a reporter for @gapersblock and @campusprogress, is reporting via twitter in Madison today. He spoke to an AFSCME respiratory therapist who said the only reason she gets eight hours off after working 16 is because they won it through collective bargaining.

Uetricht also quoted a great line from a Capitol rally speaker that summarizes Madison in one sentence:

Wisconsin is in the middle of a class war, and we will hold the line.

Below are two awesome signs from two awesome revolutions: one in Egypt (it's being tweeted around Madison and looks authentic) and one from behind the cheese curtain:

Kochs heart Wisco gov

Gov. Scott Walker isn't Wisconsin's only paid stooge for the union-busting billionaire Koch brothers. Mother Jones is reporting that 16 Republican state senators received $6,500 from the Koch Industries political action committee. (You'll recall that Walker received $43,000 from the Kochs, in addition to $5 million from the Republican Governor's Association, which received $1 million from the brothers.)

That the Kochs want to destroy unions isn't in doubt. Reports Mother Jones, 

Koch-backed groups like Americans for Prosperity, the Cato Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Reason Foundation have long taken a very antagonistic view toward public-sector unions. Several of these groups have urged the eradication of these unions. The Kochs also invited (PDF) Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, an anti-union outfit, to a June 2010 confab in Aspen, Colorado; Mix said in a recent interview that he supports Governor Walker's collective-bargaining bill.

It was Walker's union-busting budget proposal that set into motion the massive protests in Madison. Now the billionaire Koch brothers are coming to his rescue, busing in Tea Partiers for a counterdemonstration today.

ThinkProgress has more on the Kochs' presence in Wisconsin:

Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. While Koch controls much of the infrastructure in the state, they have laid off workers to boost profits. At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, Koch slashed jobs at their Green Bay plant:

Officials at Georgia-Pacific said the company is laying off 158 workers at its Day Street plant because out-of-date equipment at the facility is being replaced with newer, more-efficient equipment. The company said much of the new, papermaking equipment will be automated. [...] Malach tells FOX 11 that the layoffs are not because of a drop in demand. In fact, Malach said demand is high for the bath tissue and napkins manufactured at the plant...

(We hear there are two Koch plants in Green Bay; one union, one non-union. If that's true, we can guess which one is laying off workers.)

And ThinkProgress offers another example of Walker paying back his corporate overlords:

According to the EPA, Koch businesses are huge polluters, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants. As soon as he got into office Walker started cutting environmental regulations and appointed a Republican known for her disregard for environmental regulations to lead the Department of Natural Resources. In addition, Walker has stated his opposition to clean energy jobs policies that might draw workers away from Koch-owned interests.

The Kochs, by the way, call themselves "libertarians" but they're really corporate predators. They don't stand for smaller government, they stand for a government they can control for their own purposes. The Observer posted a great slide show recently that shows the Kochs in their true light of corporate welfare queens. Georgia-Pacific, for example, logs on federally owned lands. As the Observer points out:

Not only can companies like Georgia-Pacific, which is the world's leading manufacturer of paper products, exploit a publicly-shared resource without sharing the profits, but the U.S. Forestry Service subsidizes them to do it by forcing taxpayers to fund the construction of new logging roads that provide loggers with access to virgin growth—a nice welfare arrangement for the industry that costs taxpayers over $1 billion a year.

Lovely, isn't it?

Day 4 of protest in Wisco

The tremendous protests continued in Madison today, as our former Teamster brother Sen. Dave Hansen and the other Democratic senators stayed away from the Capitol. Yup, Hansen is a state senator and former member of Local 662  (needless to say, the Joint Council endorsed him). Hansen worked as a truck driver since 1981 for Green Bay's Department of Public Works until shortly after being elected State Senator.

About the protests, we have this report from The Guardian,

Tens of thousands of demonstrators staged a fourth successive day of protests in Wisconsin against the most sustained "union-bashing" measures proposed in the US for decades.

Wisconsin has become a test-bed for Republicans planning similar anti-labour moves elsewhere as they seek to remove union rights and cut benefits in states facing huge holes in their budgets.

Unions, backed by Barack Obama, have responded by mobilising workers throughout the country in support of Wisconsin workers.

Reuters tell us:

Police estimated that 35,000 protesters converged on the Capitol grounds in Madison on Friday, with another 5,000 demonstrators packed inside the building itself, said Carla Vigue, a spokeswoman with the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

And we hear from Associated Press that Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca vowed to fight to the bitter end

...in a speech delivered on the Assembly floor after Republicans had turned off the microphones and left.

"This is wrong!" Barca shouted to wild applause from the packed gallery. "Desperately wrong and we will not stand for it!"

Meanwhile, we pass along this message from Teamsters Local 344:

ATTENTION ALL LOCAL 344 MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES!!! Drop what you are doing and go to the Capitol tomorrow (Feb. 19th) at 10:30am. All Teamsters please converge on the intersection of State St. and Capitol Square (across from the Veterans Museum). We must defeat Govenor Walker's budget bill!! This is urgent!!! Your future is at stake!!!

Teamsters arrived in force in Madison today, carrying banners, flags and homemade signs. One said "Our only dispute is with Gov. Scott Walker." Another had a photo of (Republican) President Eisenhower next to his quote: "Only a fool would deprive working men and women of their right to join a union."

Demonstrations are spreading to dozens of states next week.

This isn't just about Wisconsin or Ohio or Indiana. And it isn't just about unions, government or otherwise. This is about middle-class Americans rising up because they're sick to death of working harder and harder while earning less as politicians ignore their economic needs in favor of their corporate backers who just want to ship more jobs overseas. As Teamsters President Hoffa wrote today,

In Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, New Hampshire and Minnesota, people are flooding statehouses to say “no" to declining wages, “no” to economic instability that threatens their families, “no” to greedy CEOs and predatory corporations that try to suck every last penny from their wallets, “no” to the politicians who campaign for the middle class and then dance to the tune of the super-wealthy after they're sworn in.

For decades, politicians have distracted Americans with cultural issues like guns and religion while they've done nothing to solve the real economic problems that are wrecking the middle class.

What they're trying to do in Wisconsin and Ohio and New Hampshire and Michigan and Indiana and elsewhere is to silence unions. They know that unions make it harder for corporations to pass laws that weaken protections for middle-class families -- protections like Social Security and pensions, food and product safety laws, collective bargaining rights and minimum wage requirements. Can you believe that in Missouri they want to get rid of child labor laws, and there's a Tea Party U.S. Senator who agrees?

Now is the time to make your voice heard. Now is the time for the media elite to finally notice there's something in America called “middle-class workers.” Now is the time to gather your family, grab a sign and take to the streets to deliver a message to the big corporations and their political puppets. Now is the time to tell them what they’re telling them in Wisconsin, "We're not gonna take it anymore." 

More huge protests in Wisco, Dems flee to avoid vote

The enormous protest in Wisconsin remained peaceful as Democratic senators left the capital so Republicans couldn't vote on the bill without a quorum. Reports the Huffington Post:

The move produced a frantic political drama, as state troopers were reportedly sent out to find the fleeing lawmakers and Walker hinted that the National Guard would be called in to fill the void left by protesting union workers.

One Democratic senator told the Milwaukee-WIsconsin Journal Sentinel that most of the members of his caucus had already crossed state lines.

Their flight further heightened the drama that has surrounded the Wisconsin statehouse this week. On Wednesday there were an estimated 30,000 peacefully rallying in front of the state capitol building, and on Thursday that number is expected to be even higher.

The Washington Post reported that the Democrats are in it for the long haul and the police officers told them they were with them. Writes Greg Sargent,

Speaking to me by cell phone from an undisclosed location, Larson said he and his fellow Democrats would not return until the GOP takes its assault on organizing rights "off the table."


"Each of us is in a secure location," he told me, confirming that they were not all together but were monitoring events on the Web and on Twitter. Larson refused to say whether he and his fellow Dems had left the state, as some have speculated.

"We're going to be staying away until we hear that they are taking the right to organize seriously," Larson continued, referring to Republicans. "They're going after 50 years of history in one week. Until they take that off the table, it's a non-starter."

Larson said Dems are not worried about law enforcement pursuing them and dragging them back to the capitol. Though the current proposal exempts state police, he said that individual officers had privately expressed solidarity with the Dems' and public employees' cause.

"They understand the importance of workers banded together to protect workers rights," Larson said, characterizing his conversations with officers. "They understand why we're here."

Dems will not return, Larson vowed, "until the Republicans are prepared to listen to the effects of this bill on workers and what it will do to our state." 

Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said the protests are inspiring and the Democratic senators courageous. In a statement, he said

Governor Walker is trying to make an end run around democracy. Democratic senators took a stand for Wisconsin workers who won’t be denied a voice in the process. They stood up in the face of injustice.

"

@BenedictatLarge made this offer to the Democrats:

To: WI Dem Senators - You can stay at my home in Florida. Nice and warm. Easy to stay a long time. #NotMyWI #wiunion #killthisbill

 
Capitol officials say there are 5,000 protesters inside the building, and our sources tell us there have been only 9 arrests. We're also told police officers are getting along well with protesters: 

@MelissaRyan  How Madison does it! RT @sjbarlament: Confirming this report. RT @madisonfood: report: Cops are handing out brats to protesters #wiunion

Here's a Facebook page with a great photo gallery

And some more tweets: 

@annvosspeterson  WI rally was huge again today. It took over the entire capitol square and State Street. National media is here now. #notmyWI

@milbot  UW students on move up State in huge #s, girl just hugged cop blocking traffic for them. #wiunion #notmywi

@inkydragon  Please bring water to sitters! Cases at Wisconsin entrance, lower level! retweet! <3 #wiunion #notmywi #killthebill #wisolidarity

@WEAC  RT @edvotes: There are thousands of inspiring stories at the rally in Wisconsin.Teacher Anthony Cao's is one. http://bit.ly/i8n5QF #solidarityWI #wiunion

@smBMSUBronco  RT @edvotes: There are thousands of inspiring stories at the rally in Wisconsin.Teacher Anthony Cao's is one. http://bit.ly/i8n5QF #solidarityWI #wiunion

@LeeCamp  Count me in. We are all cheeseheads now.

@havoctive  Someone suggested no-water washcloth packs for those at the Capitol... can anyone bring some down? #wiunion #killthebill #solidaritywi

@wbadger5  RT @OFA_WI: Madison isn't the only ones rallying. All across #Wisconsin people have organized worker protests. #solidaritywi

President Obama did a radio interview in Milwaukee and said "some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like an assault on unions." He added that "it's important not to vilify" public workers.