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Milwaukee protest slams Governor Walker’s attempt to destroy unions

By staff

March 24 protest in Milwaukee

Milwaukee, WI – Anger over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attempts to destroy public workers’ unions continues, as was seen in Milwaukee, March 24, when 300 people protested the arrival of Gov. Walker at an elite Milwaukee club.

Gov. Walker was in town to help raise funds for Milwaukee County Executive candidate Jeff Stone, who working people strongly reject because of his support for anti-union legislation.

Walker and Stone's moneyed supporters, arriving in their Lexus cars and BMWs, had the option of inching through the crowd of protesters or parking blocks away and sneaking via side entrances to the club.

“Shame!” yelled the protesters as they passed by. Chants of “How do you solve the deficit? Tax, tax, tax, the rich!” rang out.

Dawn Tefft, co-president of the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association, the union for teacher assistants at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was one of the protesters in the crowd. “I'm here to protest Scott Walker and put pressure on his financial backers. We need to rescind this anti-union legislation,” she asserted.

Walker's legislation, which attempts to severely limit collective bargaining rights of public employee unions in Wisconsin, was passed by the majority-Republican legislature on March 10, but has since been put on hold after Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order barring the law from going into effect. Judge Sumi issued the restraining order because the Republican legislature likely violated open meeting laws while attempting to pass the bill.

When the Republican legislators rammed through the legislation, tens of thousands of protesters were locked outside the state Capitol, while dozens more were inside and eventually dragged out by heavily-armed police.

Picketing Governor Walker in Milwaukee

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