Over 150 people converged on the Capitol Square Saturday afternoon for the Working People’s Day of Action, a rally organized by the Madison wing of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
Protesters crowded the steps of the Capitol building overlooking State Street, many holding signs from local unions with slogans like “Stop the War on Workers” and “Unrig the System.” Some held banners for other progressive groups like the International Socialist Organization and the Poor People’s Campaign.
The event was organized in response to Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, a legal case which will be argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. The case centers on the legality of “agency shop” clauses, a provision that allows employers to hire non-union workers.
Before the event officially began, a crowd of people stood at the podium, leading the crowd in a series of songs which had been rewritten for the occasion. Most of the songs were aimed at Gov. Scott Walker, who has been criticized for his anti-union policies and support of “Right to Work” legislature.
Paul Spink, president of AFSCME Wisconsin, aimed several attacks at Wisconsin Republicans for undermining unions and defunding education programs.
“The rest of the country faces a future where budgets are drafted by Paul Ryan,” he said, which was met with a chorus of boos. He encouraged the crowd to make their voices heard at the ballot box, especially with the upcoming State Supreme Court election.
Ted Higgins, a Madison firefighter and union member, highlighted a connection between the union members of Wisconsin and the public school teachers in West Virginia who are on strike this week protesting low wages.
“We are public servants. We serve with pride, and we deserve respect.” Higgins said. “We are going to make Right to Work irrelevant.”
The labor movement was not the only focus of the rally, which saw several speakers talk about racial injustice and immigrant rights.
“There is nothing that anyone can tell me today to convince me I am not American,” said Emmanuel, a Dane County employee who acknowledged his status as a DREAMer. “Why bring more pain to this world when it needs healing?”
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de La Frontera, a Milwaukee-based immigrant rights organization, as well as 16-year-old Chelsea Maldonado, spoke about the current government’s attitude toward immigration.
“The government wasn’t trying to help my parents, they just wanted to take them away from me,” Maldonado said. “Don’t let our representatives rip my family apart.”
Neumann-Ortiz added that the “fascist wing within the Republican Party has come to power” with President Donald Trump and Paul Ryan.
To close out the event, State Senator LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, shared her family’s benefits from her grandfather’s union jobs and her support of union activity in the state.
“I am a union member and I will be until the day I die,” she said. “Inside that Capitol, we get it. We get it because we’ve lived it.”
