Solidarity with Wisconsin, in All Corners

Around the country union members have been inspired to go to Madison and to organize solidarity actions back home. A few reports. First is from Dawn Maturen, wife of a union member in Saginaw, Michigan:

My coffee-chugging friends and I decided that having a rally in Saginaw in support of Wisconsin workers and workers in our community was a good idea. We figured worst-case scenario we would be standing alone with our signs and we were fine with that. Most of us have small children and we wanted the rally to come to us anyway.

I wasn’t terribly sure where to start so I made a quick, simple flier and started passing it around town and posting it on bulletin boards. Then I got busy sending them via email.

I spoke with the Firefighters local after finding them via Google search. They were happy to spread the word. I was told that those that didn't have to work would want to be there and that some of those that do have to work could at least drive by and lay on the horn.

The only local hall I was familiar with was UAW 699, so I went there first. They took some fliers and referred me to the regional office to seek approval. The region was quite busy organizing a bus trip to the Capitol in Lansing for the same day. They took the fliers, and offered, pending additional approvals, to distribute.

The teachers union was happy to forward all the info to their contacts and put the info on their website. We spoke with a few of our kids’ teachers. My son’s former kindergarten teacher was really happy and asked for more fliers, and a couple of his teachers from middle school last year are coming for sure.

I visited the school transportation and food services building and the bus barn. The secretary gave a thumbs-up and said she was going to get the word out through her email list and post fliers in the break rooms. The bus barn put fliers in their back rooms for the bus drivers to see.

I talked to all the police officers in cars I saw as I ran around. The first two offered to post fliers at all the FOP halls. They also gave me names and numbers to contact the various locals within the police department.

At the police stations, it was kinda funny. When I first walked up to the glass with the fliers, they looked at me like "oh crap, what's this?" Then when they read them, they all smiled and offered to take more and hang them up. The desk officer at the downtown station said, "Now this I can take." He hung them up in the break rooms. Whew! Nothing to be nervous about, after all.

I slid fliers under the doors at the Steelworkers offices, which were closed for the day. I spoke with a lady at Saginaw's SEIU office and emailed her the PDF.

I hung up fliers at a few coffee shops and bars around town; two even taped them to their counters.

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Now, the day before the rally, I’m ready to go anywhere anyone suggests, but don't know who all the public workers are or where to find them. Whether a large crowd gathers tomorrow or not, I will know I did the right thing and gave it a good, fair shot.

Joe Kahraman of AFT Local 6455 in Los Angeles (the Engineers and Architects Association) writes:

Our LA County Federation of Labor was gathering contributions and members to travel to Wisconsin and I found a few of our members who could travel on 24-hour notice. I was prouder of my board than I had ever been when they quickly agreed it was important to send people and contribute.

When I was trying to decide "Do I have the time to go to Wisconsin myself?" I kept looking at what I had to do—preparing for bargaining with the City of Los Angeles and a hundred other things that go on when a local is preparing for tougher times and tougher bargaining. All over local unions are grappling with the most difficult contract negotiations most have ever seen.

But a Martin Luther King quote kept coming back to me: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” How could I not go? I went.

Miya Williamson is financial secretary-treasurer of United Auto Workers Local 6000 in Michigan, which represents 17,000 active state employees. She and her party of 14 took vacation days to travel to Madison.

We gathered at 4 a.m. at the local in Lansing. Our mood was high and energetic—ready to take on the world in the name of democracy. We headed out to meet others across the Indiana state line (some of our members live on the west side of Michigan). We arrived in Madison at 12:39 p.m. and headed straight for the Capitol.

There it was ahead of us, white and gleaming, supporters milling around outside. We got there just in time to see the firefighters and their bagpipe corps entering the Capitol. We solemnly followed them in and I will never forget the feeling that overtook me. I was awestruck at the sound...mighty roars of democracy and a people destined to get what they came for: preservation of their rights to collectively bargain. The bagpipes were playing, people packed the rotunda, and cheers were everywhere.

All of a sudden I realized people were coming up to thank us for coming. They saw the signs we carried: "Michigan Public Workers Support Wisconsin Public Workers." They were rushing to shake our hands, high fives were everywhere, there were so many faces and so many thank yous.

They threw us into a parade that went for three floors. People were chanting "This is what democracy looks like! Whose house? Our house! This is what America looks like! The people united will never be defeated!"

I will never be the same. I will continue to fight because I owe that much to people who came before me, who fought and died for what is being attacked in Wisconsin and all over the world...collective bargaining.