Last week we wrote, “We are all Wisconsin.” Over the weekend, thousands upon thousands of people took to their state capitols and proved it.  All fifty state capitols, plus dozens of other cities have rallied in support of union rights, workers rights and good jobs since Gov. Walker declared war on collective bargaining in Wisconsin. 

The 99ers joined these efforts across the country in solidarity, and President Obama told the nation’s governors at a White House conference: “I don’t think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified or when their rights are infringed upon.”  This is on top of his previous statement that the budget “repair” bill in Wisconsin seems like an “assault on unions.”

On Saturday, February 26th, every state in the union participated in supporting Wisconsin’s public sector unions. These rallies, and those coming in the near future, has united people all over the country to protect collective bargaining.

At the heart of it in Madison, 100,000 rallied – the largest crowd yet. More stories from around the country are pouring in. People’s World has reports from Montana, Washington, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Connecticut, Texas and more. People’s World and Political Affairs have been providing news and analysis daily from ground zero war on workers: Madison, Wisc. to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, the Midwest and nationwide.

If they didn’t already know it, Walker and his tea party co-horts will soon realize they have bitten off far more than they can chew when they decided to take on organized labor and its allies – even the Capitol Police have balked at Walker’s attempt to close the Capitol building to protesters. 

H.R.589, the bill to extend unemployment benefits by 14 weeks – including to the 99ers – was also a rallying cry at a number of rallies over the weekend. To see if your U.S. Representative is a co-sponsor (and to contact them to do so if they are not), visit thomas.loc.gov here.  

Finally, last week President Obama met with the 14 Democratic governors from around to the country to talk about ideas for jobs creation, as unemployment is now a top priority for the administration. AFL-CIO President Trumka participated in this event that highlights the need for a massive jobs creation effort.

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