The 2011 Madison Wisconsin Protests began in earnest on Tuesday, Feb. 15 when over 10,000 public employees and supporters packed the Capitol Square and the inside of the statehouse to protest Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan that amounted to an attack on state and local government workers, stripping workers of wages, benefits and collective bargaining rights. On Wednesday the numbers protesting swelled to an estimated 30,000. Madison District Schools have been shut down for 3 days with high school students and teachers walking out. The protests have spread from Wisconsin to Ohio and 40 states have budget shortfalls totaling $140 billion, which will threaten America's 14,000 school districts for the next five years according to one analyst on Thursday.

"Diamond Jim" Doyle, a Democrat, was Governor of Wisconsin from January, 2003 to January, 2011. On May 7, 2009, Doyle announced that he was laying off 700 state workers and would lay off another 400 if state employee unions did not cave in to his demand that they give up a 2% raise in June, due to them under contract. He also announced that all state employees would be furloughed for 16 days without pay over the next two years. His budget also raised property taxes by 4.2%. This activist is still protesting what Doyle did with cutbacks on public workers during his term in office before Scott Walker took office in Janary, 2011.

Protestors converging on the capitol

Yesterday the corporate media estimated their numbers at about 30,000

Walker's bill would not allow public workers to bargain benefits, only for wages and require them to pay 5.8 percent of their pension costs and double what they pay now for health care premiums. Walker's planl protects the police and firefighters who would not be limited by the bill, but firefighters turned out to support the other public workers.

Protestors gathered outside the state capitol

They entered and took over the rotunda yesterday and disrupted the legislature. At least seven legislators walked out.

Union Workers take their demands to the legislature inside the State Capitol

Wisconsin teachers at the protests.

The "Mifflin Crowd" in a protest poetry slam. They are known for their massive Mifflin Street Block Party, a celebration held annually on the first Saturday of May. In 2005, the block party attracted around 20,000 participants. The party features local and out-of-state performances by musicians playing on house porches, balconies and backyard stages. The Mifflin Street Block Party began in 1969 as a street protest, which involved dancing in protest against the Vietnam War. Its original date, May 3, was set to coincide with the one year anniversary of the French student rebellion. Anti-war sentiments had accelerated in Madison since the 1967 Dow Chemical protest in which thousands of students occupied, and were violently expelled from, Ingraham Hall. The original event arose as part of a continuing conflict between students and police in the "Miffland" area, centered on Mifflin Street. Police refused to allow permission for the street dance and when they entered the area in response to a noise complaint, a confrontation ensued that lasted three nights and spread into the surrounding student areas. Students threw stones at the police and constructed barricades to defend themselves. The police responded with tear gas and billy clubs. At the end, 70 people were injured and more than 100 arrested. - Wikipedia (edited by Axis of Logic)

Governor Scott Walker's Kent State Threat Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, announced an assault against state workers last Friday, eliminating collective bargaining rights and threatening to fire workers who go on strike. The plan would divert 5.8 percent of workers’ pay to the state pension fund, and an additional 12.6 percent of their pay to employee health care premiums. Walker’s proposal, which he said would quickly pass in the state legislature, drastically limits collective bargaining, removing the right of unions to negotiate pensions, retirement and benefits. It further bars union dues check-offs for government workers, meaning that workers will have to pay dues individually. When asked by a reporter what will happen if workers resist, Walker replied that he would call out the National Guard. He said that the National Guard is “prepared ... for whatever the governor, their commander-in-chief, might call for ... I am fully prepared for whatever may happen.” Walker’s proposal allows state authorities to arbitrarily fire workers who “participate in an organized action to stop or slow work,” or who “are absent for three days without approval of the employer,” according to the governor’s press release. - Andre Damon, WSWS