Check out the below message from the USAS affiliate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who have been organizing on the front lines of the most important and inspiring fight by workers and students in years! Beth writes:
I am asking my fellow USASers to take action to stand in solidarity with Wisconsin students and workers, who are fighting tirelessly against this union-busting legislation. We call on all USASers and students who care about workers in this country and around the world to participate in the National Day of Action to Take Back Our Economy. On March 2, we must come together to resist the state-by-state corporate-sponsored movement for privatization and cuts to public services.
Here’s the full message:
Subject: [USAS Announce] WI USASers call for National Day of Action on March 2 to take back our economy
From: Beth Huang
To: email hidden; JavaScript is required
Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 12:05 AM
Hey USASers,
This is Beth from the Student Labor Action Coalition, USAS’s affiliate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The first battle against legislative union-busting is currently being waged in my home state of Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker has not only proposed detrimental cuts to public workers’ health benefits and pension plans but has called for the elimination of collective bargaining rights. If you live in Ohio or Indiana, copycat union-busting legislation is moving through your state houses too. This concerted nationwide assault on collective bargaining rights comes as one part of a right-wing onslaught of “austerity measures” motivated by corporate greed. Rather than closing corporate tax loopholes, our newly elected Republican governor and legislature have chosen to cut vital services that have historically taken care of Wisconsin’s people.
As a Wisconsinite, I am proud of my home state’s progressive labor history. Exactly one-hundred years ago, Wisconsin passed the first workers’ compensation law. Social Security was first implemented under the leadership of UW-Madison Professor Edwin Witte. The nation’s first graduate student union was formed at UW-Madison in 1969. AFSCME Local 1 still represents state workers in Wisconsin’s State Capitol. Governor Walker’s proposal to eliminate collective bargaining rights wages war against Wisconsin’s amazing history.
In response to these draconian measures, workers and students have mounted a statewide mobilization to protect our unions and to defend our state’s strong tradition of supporting workers’ rights. Thousands of students statewide have walked out. Teachers have gone on strike. Firefighters, some of the few public workers whose rights have been left untouched, have marched through the Capitol in solidarity. Capitol Police have brought bottled water along with brats and cheese, Wisconsin favorites, to protesters. Over 100,000 workers, students, and retirees have rallied at our Capitol since Valentines’ Day. Hundreds of Wisconsinites have slept at the Capitol every night since February 15 to claim the statehouse as the people’s house.
The Student Labor Action Coalition at UW-Madison has taken the lead organizing and educating undergraduates attending our university and other colleges across the state. On behalf of SLAC, I am asking my fellow USASers to take action to stand in solidarity with Wisconsin students and workers, who are fighting tirelessly against this union-busting legislation. We call on all USASers and students who care about workers in this country and around the world to participate in the National Day of Action to Take Back Our Economy. On March 2, we must come together to resist the state-by-state corporate-sponsored movement for privatization and cuts to public services.
Be on the lookout for a USAS conference call this weekend to coordinate our actions on March 2.
Remember, when we fight, WE WIN!
In solidarity,
Beth Huang
The Student Labor Action Coalition