Workers Defend Their Rights in Wisconsin and Ohio (VIDEO)

[steve2470]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chase-whiteside/workers-defend-their-righ_b_830007.html

Chase Whiteside
Documentary filmmaker with New Left Media
Posted: March 2, 2011 04:20 PM

Over the last two weeks, tens of thousands of workers and their supporters have flooded the Wisconsin and Ohio state capitols, pushing back on their newly-elected Republican Governors' attempts to revoke collective bargaining rights for public workers.

Other than the flashes of anger Ohio crowds showed when they were curiously shut out of their statehouse, the protests have been entirely peaceful, even jovial, with the Wisconsin capitol having an atmosphere similar to a pep rally.

WI Gov. Scott Walker and OH Gov. John Kasich have claimed budget crisis as the impetus for their efforts, but their accounting is spurious, and unions have already agreed to reductions in pay and benefits. Wisconsin public workers have yielded to all of Walker's fiscal requests, making Gov. Walker's insistence that he must cut collective bargaining rights to cut the deficit even more dubious.

Many of those we interviewed, including union leaders, did not believe that the revocation of their rights was necessary to balance budgets, but was rather part of a coordinated effort to dismantle unions and reduce their large financial and organizational contributions to progressive politics.

[Doremus]

1. Great video, thanks for the link. nt

[Skip_In_Boulder]

2. Bad News, Ohio just lost.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/02/ohio.budget/index.html?hpt=T2

But fortunately they were able to maintain a peaceful protest.

[walldude]

3. K&R... great video!

Man the media needs to be taken out back and buried. This shit should be the top story every night till it's over. Everyone needs to see that "Spending Chart" at 4:40 that shows the top ten political spending by outside groups. 7 of the ten are Conservative Groups, the other 3 are public employee unions.

This goes back to the cookie joke. Repugs have 7 of the top ten donors, now they want the rest.