‘I Am So Happy You Are Here,’ Lawmaker Tells Union Demonstrators

February 18, 2011

 

Rep. Gary Hebl (D), a strong supporter of the demonstrators, warns that Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal would be “devastating to the people of Wisconsin.”

 

Photo Credit: Greg Dixon

Madison, Wisc. — From his second-floor office at the state Capitol, Rep. Gary Hebl (D) watches thousands of public service workers, teachers and other union members marching to protest a bill designed to take away important collective bargaining rights. If he could shout down from his window, he says, he would tell the demonstrators, “I am so happy you are here. You are doing what the Founding Fathers expected whenever there’s a wrong that needs to be righted.”

To Hebl, whose office door bears a sign signifying “solidarity” with the workers, Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to rescind nearly all collective bargaining rights of most state and local public workers and teachers would be “devastating to the people of Wisconsin, and it will have a rippling affect across the country” if enacted.

“With this bill,” adds Hebl, the governor “is forcing our unions to take a step back from more than 40 years of rights that they worked so hard to acquire through blood and sweat and tears.”

In 1959, Wisconsin became the first state to enact a comprehensive bargaining law. Walker’s proposal represents a huge step backward for the state’s working families. AFSCME Pres. Gerald McEntee calls the governor’s plan a “public employees gag law, which would force the men and women who provide vital public services in the state to suffer and serve in silence.”

As the workers’ chants grow louder, Hebl offers a last thought: “I am very proud of these people here in Wisconsin who have taken a day off of work, who have given up their livelihoods, to be here because they know that their action is the right thing to do.”

Outside, cheers greet union members who addressed the protestors, urging them to fight like never before and protect their right to organize, to provide workers with a voice in the workplace so they can bargain collectively. Among those speakers is Paulette Feld, vice president of Wisconsin State Employees Union/AFSCME Council 24 (and president of Local 579 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

“We are here today to make history and to teach our legislators what our ancestors taught us. Kill the bill!”

Meanwhile, all 14 Democratic senators stymied the Republican majority from voting on the measure on Thursday by leaving the state.

At least one Democratic senator is needed to hold a vote.