Posted on 02/21/2011 6:07:40 PM PST by mdittmar
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Union members, students, parents and even former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich rallied in Olympia on Monday, taking advantage of the holiday to lobby against budget cuts and to show solidarity with Wisconsin's embattled union for state employees.
The Washington State Patrol estimated that 2,000 people rallied under the Capitol Dome, said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Senior Political reporter Essex Porter.
Washington state employees chanted, sang songs and waved signs in the Capitol Rotunda in a rally supporting unions and state employees in Wisconsin. Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich addressed the group wearing a union T-shirt from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Several other groups took advantage of the Presidents Day holiday to demonstrate -- college students urging funding for higher education and the Washington State PTA asking legislators to protect students from budget cuts.
Last week, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker targeted public employees in a massive budget cut proposal, calling for cuts to their benefits and limiting their ability to collectively bargain on wage issues. Walker has said his proposal is about cutting state and local spending for years to come, but acknowledges that if approved, it could cripple unions.
Kucinich said he hoped the rally in Olympia would ripple across the country to show solidarity to union workers in Wisconsin.
"You cannot have a democracy if you don't have people in a position to be able to negotiate for their wages and to have decent benefits," Kucinich said, lauding Washington as being a "bastion for workers' rights," where people have the capacity to push back.
Washington is one of the most unionized states in the country, according to a January U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, reminded the crowd that collective bargaining ended child labor and created the 40-hour work week.
"Collective bargaining is not the problem," she said.
Most state employees have Monday off and Tuesday is an unpaid furlough day.
Students? Students know nothing about life or how things really work. Wait until they have a mortgage and 2.5 kids and then maybe they might understand or at least then they might have proved themselves enough to have a voice.
Thanks for the ping - I was going to go, but could not put it together... Comcast was out, and I had to wait all day for the cable guy.
The dems are scared!
I understand your sentiment, but with me it’s disgust, not shame. I remember when life was good here and when the Seattlunatics were only a little insane.
Now I live here just to spite my lefty neighbors ;-)
You cannot have a democracy if you don’t have people in a position to be able to negotiate for their wages and to have decent benefits,” Kucinich said
We are a REPUBLIC a##hat Kusinich
Dennis should remember Ohio will loose two seats due the census redistricting.
There’s no real democracy in this country, in the sense that the people set the policy. There’s rule by Democratic liberals and leftists, which is not the same thing.
Well, the talking points are out. democracy/negotiate is all I've been hearing all day on the news channels.
AGAIN, like the stolen election(s) the lib dems are trying to circumvent the democratic process because they didnt get their ways.
I hope ALL these unions get broken. We can't afford them and the only useful purpose they serve is to blackmail and parasitize the host company they work for, for an ever increasing spiral of salary and benefits.
KILL THE UNIONS!
Hey...Unionistas! The handwriting is on the wall. You are going down, you commie losers. The public trough gets no more slop for you pigs. Squeal all you want. There is no more slop.
These days, she resembles the Geiko moles that live under the rocks (the moles are actually Gov'ner Gargoyle's very own Flying Monkeys, Adam and Lisa Smith, twins wed at birth, rabies shots at 6 months) next to (under?) the I-5 corrider.
...and the Civil War ended slavery, but that doesn't mean we should still be fighting it. Labor unions have served their purpose, but they are as obsolete today as would be Federal troops surrounding Vicksburg every summer.
The “Looters” are out of control. When are we going to “shrug?”
Oldplayer
;>)
What is Ohioan Dennis Kucinich doing meddling in other State’s affairs?
Shouldn’t he be protesting the cuts in Ohio?
Hmmm... no American flag, no state flag, therefore: must be a RAT.
Obviously uses the same DeWalt airbrush as First Ladies (used loosely) Hillary and Michelle.
Kucinich had to go all the way to WA to get noticed?
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Kucinich had to go all the way to WA to get noticed?
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