Madison, WI – Feb. 17, 12:30 p.m.: The State Capitol Building here is the second largest in the country and it is packed full today. Tens of thousands are protesting inside and out. The energy is intense and not a corner of the Capitol is quiet. 2000 students from UW-Madison marched to the capitol at 11:00 a.m. and 500 high school students just rushed up State Street to join the protest. Firefighter, police, sheet metal, iron workers, airplane pilot unions and more are all present.

All Out to Support Unions and Save Our Education!

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) on the massive struggle in Wisconsin against attacks on public workers.

LaCrosse, WI – On Feb. 15 over 400 workers, community members and their supporters mobilized in less than six hours to say no to Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin as he showed up to speak at local plant. The governor had just proposed a ‘budget fix’ bill that would radically alter the political landscape in Wisconsin.

Resistance in the U.S. to attacks on the public sector is growing.  Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is unleashing a major assault, seeking to take away collective bargaining rights from state and possibly all public sector workers, including threatening to call out the National Guard against worker resistance.

_Huge protests in Madison _

Madison, WI – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has proposed to take away union collective bargaining rights for more than 175,000 public employees. Walker has made his state the center of a vicious, far-reaching union busting move. But the people of Wisconsin are rising up. They are fighting back.

Madison, WI – On Feb.15, students and workers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee traveled to Madison to join the tens of thousands of others protesting to demand an end to Governor Scott Walker's attack on Wisconsin employees. On Feb. 11, Walker proposed his 'budget repair bill' which would eliminate collective bargaining for nearly 175,000 public-sector union members to fill a $136.7 million budget deficit. In response, over 10,000 workers and supporters stormed the capitol in Madison.

Milwaukee, WI – More attacks on students and workers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are underway, this time from newly-elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is planning to cripple state workers with new legislation that will virtually eliminate collective bargaining rights for public sector unions. Claiming that he has the votes in the state house and senate, Gov. Walker's budget bill will be voted on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Major rallies in Milwaukee, Madison this week

On behalf of the banks, corporations and the Pentagon, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has declared all-out war on unions and their allies in the badger state. Walker’s “budget repair bill” proposal that he unveiled at a state capitol press conference Feb. 11 proposes to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for approximately 175,000 public-sector union members. Walker has submitted his proposal to the Wisconsin legislature with the directive that he wants his bill passed in the Assembly and the Senate by Feb. 17.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement adopted by the General Executive Board of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. In part the statement deals with a 2009 incident at Rock Island, Illinois. The FBI attempted to disrupt the struggle that was being waged by workers at Quad City Die Casting, by slandering trade unionists who were mobilizing support for their effort.

Detroit, MI – For the third consecutive year, rank-and-file autoworkers picketed the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Jan. 9. Workers maintained a spirited picket line in sub-freezing temperatures, chanting “A job is a right, we’re gonna fight, fight, fight” and “Say it loud and clear, no two-tier.”