Thousands of ordinary citizens, workers, students and union members swarmed the state capitol in Olympia Washington yesterday, the culmination of a week of peaceful protests and uprisings that have been taking place in the city. The massive demonstration was partly in response to the proposed five billion dollars in spending cuts that Washington legislators are considering for the budget’s next two-year cycle.
We Are One
Local labor organizations and all manner of of unions were present in large numbers on Friday. Ironworker Henry Daquip stood on the Capitol steps with members of the Ironworkers Local 86 of Seattle, which brought about fifty of their union members to the rally. Daquip explained why he had joined the protest:
“We’re here to support the working families — showing solidarity. We’re also here to support collective bargaining. We’re really worried about the future as construction workers.”
Workers United across the Nation
The crowd yesterday was filled with a very diverse group of people, from war veterans, firefighters and boilermaker workers, to young teenagers, disabled retirees, parents and carpenters. At the lively rally there were also many people showing their support for collective bargaining rights and for the oppressed union workers in Wisconsin, as well as ending our nation’s wars and raising taxes on the wealthy.
There were scores of clever banners expressing solidarity with teachers, labor rights, unions and disenfranchised groups. My favorite hand made sign that I encountered read:
“My Community College Teacher Pays More Tax than General Electric“
Local labor group leaders estimated that the number of demonstrators in attendance was between ten and twelve thousand. Protesters said they hoped the large rally would help to remind their state legislators just who all of the individuals are who will be directly impacted by their proposed budget cuts.
About Rhonda Winter
Dirt Bag Unions Just Don’t get it!! “We The People”, means just that, All The People not just all the unions! Sanity folks, Balance your state budget and do it by not killing the Taxpayer!!! How about thinking of your children’s future and not your paychecks.
Sanity would be returning the tax rates on the very wealthiest citizens back to the modest and sensible rates that were in effect under President Clinton, so that the billionaires contribute at least the same percentage of their income that the rest of the country’s workers are required to pay.
http://ecolocalizer.com/2011/04/02/top-five-percent-in-u-s-own-nearly-23-of-everything/
http://blogs.forbes.com/janetnovack/2010/09/23/the-very-rich-are-different-they-pay-a-lower-tax-rate/
“Dirt Bag Unions”? Really? You sound like an out-of-state troll (“…your state budget…). But in case you’re just ignorant; how do you propose we pay for our children’s future or our taxes if our paychecks are cut or our jobs are eliminated? The problem lies in “We The People” all paying our fair share to provide for services that most of us believe are essential: police, fire, education, roads, government itself, and a host of other programs that help and protect us. The upper class and corporations with all their tax loopholes do not pay as high of a percentage of taxes as I do. Record profits and bonuses have been posted by the banking and oil industries along with Wall Street who created this finacial disaster in the first place. And WE’RE the dirt-bags? I suppose you think the captains of industry will trickle-down a vibrant economy if only we’d capitulate to all their demands.
Wake up and read your history, brother. We “dirt-bags” do more for you and our economy than the “geniuses” you churp along with who drove this economy into the ditch.
You raise some very salient points Jake.
So many of us do not appreciate the multitude of our government services that are essential to the health and safety of our daily lives; in this country we often take for granted things as basic as having safe clean water to drink, mail delivery or access to education.
Also, digressing to juvenile name-calling, such as referring to union members as “dirt bags”, does nothing to strengthen the validity of one’s argument.