UW-Madison Teaching Assistants and Madison teachers and students joined protesters in and around the Capitol rotunda throughout the day Wednesday.
Madison schools were shut down after more than 40 percent of the district's teachers called in sick, giving teachers and students a day off, which many of them spent protesting Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.
Members of the Teaching Assistant Association said they felt positive about the protests, which they could hear going on in the nearby rotunda.
"We're very heartened right now seeing all of the support outside," Sociology graduate student and TAA member Adrienne Pagac said. "We think that more and more of the community is coming out to support not only us but all of the public sector workers that are threatened by the budget repair bill."
Like many unions at the protests, the TAs said they were concerned about how the legislation would affect their rights to collective bargaining. Under the proposed law, unions would only be able to bargain for wages.
"The most heinous parts for me are the elimination of collective bargaining rights for public sector workers," Pagac said. "We demand a voice in our working conditions, our benefits and other things."
Some TAs said they will seek work away from UW-Madison should the legislation become law.
"If this bill passes I will be looking for other work," English TA Kim Moreland said.
Until that happens, they plan to do what they can to make sure the legislators hear them. UW-Madison students created a Facebook event entitled "Sleep With Your TA," which asked students to spend the night in the Capitol in support of TAs.
The TAA also took a vote Wednesday afternoon and declared a "teach-out" for Thursday morning.
"This is an unprecedented attack we're seeing on members of the UW community, which includes faculty and staff and graduate assistants and students," TAA member Peter Rickman said. "So we're going to call on people to stand shoulder to shoulder starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. and make sure that our voices are heard."
Protests are expected to continue tomorrow as schools in Madison and other districts across the state will be closed once again.
