Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

Primary GOTV Schedule & Locations

Help us get out the vote for working family candidates for Tuesday’s primary!  Can you volunteer to do a 3-hour shift before Tuesday?  You can bring a friend or come solo.  All locations will be running the following shifts during primary GOTV, but feel free to stop by anytime as shifts are flexible. 

•    Saturday, May 5:  9am-Noon; Noon-3pm; 3pm-6pm; 5pm-8pm
•    Sunday, May 6:  Noon-3pm; 3pm-6pm; 5pm-8pm
•    Monday, May 7:  9am-Noon; Noon-3pm; 3pm-6pm; 5pm-8pm
•    Tuesday, May 8:  9am-Noon; Noon-3pm; 3pm-6pm; 5pm-8pm

Locations

Milwaukee-area
•    Milwaukee Area Labor Council - 633 S. Hawley Road, Milwaukee, WI 53214
•    WI for Falk Office - 8431 W. Cleveland Avenue, West Allis, WI 53227
•    WI for Falk Office - 701 W. National Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53204
•    WI for Falk Office - 6918 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, WI 53223
•    WI for Falk Office - 2510 East Capitol Drive, Shorewood, WI 53211

Madison-area
•    Madison Labor Temple - 1602 S. Park Street, Madison, WI 53715
•    WI for Falk Staging Area - Liberty Park Pavilion - Mount Horeb, WI
•    WI for Falk Office - 1571 Ivory Drive, Sun Prairie, W 53590
•    WI for Falk Office - 412 S. Baldwin Street, Madison, WI 53703
•    WI for Falk Office - 122 State Street, 5th Floor, Madison, WI 53703
•    WI for Falk Office/AFT-WI - 6602 Normandy Lane, Madison, WI 53719

Northeast WI/Fox Valley
•    WI for Falk Office - 325 Towbridge Drive, Fond du Lac, WI 54937
•    WI for Falk Office - 1104 Wisconsin Avenue, Sheboygan, WI 54081
•    WI for Falk Staging Area - 1124 Washington Street, Manitowoc, WI 54220
•    Winnebago Labor Hall - 2211 Oregon Street, Oshkosh, WI 54902
•    WI for Falk Office - 2256 Main Street, Green Bay, WI 54302
•    WI for Falk Office - 614 W. College Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911

SD 13 & Waukesha
•    WI for Falk & We Are WI Office - 916 Clinton Street, Waukesha, WI 53186
•    WI for Falk & We Are WI Staging Area - 1015 Labaree Street, Watertown, WI 53098

SD 21/Racine
•    Racine Labor Temple - 1840 Sycamore Avenue, Racine, WI 53406

SD 23/Eau Claire & Chippewa Falls
•    Eau Claire WEAC Office - 2004 Highland Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54701
•    Eau Claire Labor Temple (member-to-member phones only, 3-8pm Sunday, noon-8pm Monday) - 2233 Birch Street, Eau Claire
•    WI for Falk Office - 1219 Menomonie Street, Eau Claire, WI 54703
•    We are WI Office - 1 North Bridge Street, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Menomonie
•    WI for Falk Office - 105 21st Street. N., Menomonie, WI 54751

La Crosse
•    IAMAW District 66 - 1307 Market Street, La Crosse, WI 54601

SD 29/Wausau
•    WI for Falk & We Are WI Office - 120 Clark Street, Wausau, WI 54401

North-Central WI
•    WI for Falk Staging Area - 1901 W. River Street, Rhinelander, WI 54501
•    WI for Falk Office - 1205 2nd Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481

Superior
•    WI for Falk Staging Area - 916 Hammond Avenue, Superior, WI 54880

The 99% Encourage Rep. Paul Ryan to Help Wisconsin's Jobless

Unemployment insurance, a vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Wisconsinites and the communities they live in, will expire on March 6 unless Congress acts.  In Wisconsin, there are currently 215,767 jobless workers.

“Rep. Paul Ryan needs to put politics aside do what is right for hundreds of thousands of jobless Wisconsinites and extend unemployment insurance,” said Maria Morales, a jobless worker from Racine.  “Everyday, I get up and look for work.  While I am job searching unemployment insurance provides a lifeline that helps me feed my family, put a roof over my head and keep the heat on.  These proposals aren’t about saving money, but blaming the 99% for the jobs shipped off by the 1% and CEOs.”   

House Republicans are proposing costly and burdensome barriers, like drug testing, that would make it even harder for jobless Americans to look for work.  States such as Indiana, Florida and Texas have proven that drug testing the unemployed costs the state exponentionally more than it saves.  Unless Congress acts soon to fully renew unemployment insurance for 2012 with no cuts and no barriers – Wisconsin’s jobless families and local economies are at risk.

On Saturday, February 11 working families stood together to “Roll out the Red Carpet” for the 1% at the Eclipse Center in Beloit.  Jobless workers and community members came together to encourage Rep. Paul Ryan, a special guest at the event, to extend unemployment insurance for Wisconsin’s jobless.

“We need to spur the economy and keep it growing. Maintaining the unemployment insurance program does that,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.   “Jobless benefits go straight back into the economy—they support local businesses, help create jobs, reduce the demand for public services and cost taxpayers less in the long run.    Congress has to put politics aside and do what’s right for Americans who’ve lost their jobs and are struggling to survive.  We must protect the communities that depend on the economic boost unemployment insurance provides.” 

Fast Facts about Unemployment Insurance

•    Fourteen million people are unemployed in the United States, many in the job search of their lives.  According to the December 2011 Department of Labor jobs report, there are nearly 5.6 million people in the U.S. who have been jobless for six months or more—that’s more than 40 percent of all jobless Americans.

•    The average duration of joblessness — 41 weeks — is higher than at any time in 60 years.  At the same time, there are at least four jobless workers for job vacancy.

•    2.8 million Americans would lose unemployment insurance benefits under the House Republican proposal currently being considered. 

•    Based on the December 2011 jobs report, the cost of mandated drug tests for the 13.1 million jobless employees would be between $327,500,000 and $982,500,000 -- a cost that cash-strapped states simply can’t afford.

 

Media Coverage, WKOW - Madison: Protesters Gather Outside of GOP Fundraiser

For more photos of the event click here.

Protesting Walker at the Ritz

Working families in South West Florida are standing in solidarity with Wisconsin workers today and protesting Gov. Walker’s visit to Naples. 

Gov. Walker is speaking at the Ritz Carlton resort in Naples, Florida as part of the James Madison Institute think-tank luncheon. 

Protesters in the Sunshine State are shining a light on Gov. Walker’s attacks on middle class families. 

WZVN, a local news station, is reporting that:
 

Protestors are lined up to express their disapproval of the embattled governor… at Vanderbilt Beach and Airport Pulling. They say Walker is in town trying to raise money to defeat the recall election he faces in Wisconsin.

The timing, Wally Ilczyszyn, president of Florida’s Painters & Allied Trades, is perfect.

“Walker’s at the Ritz-Carlton for a $500-a-plate luncheon because he can’t find enough money in his home state to fight against his recall. So he has to come here."

Brendan Fonock, a Cape Coral Fire Fighter, Local 2424 explained: 

“We’re here standing with our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin.  Their fight there has recharged unions across the country and we’re letting those (in power) know that we’re looking out for the middle class and that we will not be silent to take away our rights to collectively bargain.”

With six straight months of job loss and an unfulfilled promise to create 250,000 new jobs for the state, Gov. Walker has plenty of work to do right here in Wisconsin. 

 

This week alone the Governor will be in Florida and in Washington D.C.  These trips provide Gov. Walker an opportunity to fundraise with deep-pocketed, out-of-state individuals in an attempt to drown out the voices of the people of Wisconsin in the upcoming recall election.  

 

Local News Coverage

• News-Press, 200 protest Naples fundraiser visit by embattled Wisconsin governor

 

• Video from WZVN, ABC

 

• More photos from Continuing Change Blog

Save the Date: Reclaim Wisconsin March

Join us as we mark the one year anniversary of the passage of Gov. Walker’s draconian union-busting bill. 

 

March 9 is the night that Senate Republicans rammed through the bill in the dead of the night in an illegal session.  Friday, March 9 will be marked with candlelight vigils around the state and on Saturday, March 10 we will return to the Capitol to let Gov. Walker know we will never forget his attacks on worker rights, our democracy and fairness! 

 

When:  Saturday, March 10

Where:  State Capitol, Madison

What:  Reclaim Wisconsin March

Texans Protest Scott Walker’s Visit

Earlier today, January 12, over 125 Texans greeted Scott Walker on his fundraising trip to Austin, TX. Gov. Walker was the keynote speaker at the right-wing Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual policy orientation for Texas legislators.

Occupy Austin, the Texas AFL-CIO and the Austin community held a rally to support Wisconsin workers and to protest Gov. Walker’s anti-worker agenda. Since taking office over a year ago Gov. Walker has staged an all out war on the middle class by stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights, raising taxes on the poor, slashing education and health care funding all while giving millions of dollars in tax breaks to corporate allies and the mega-rich.

Becky Moeller, the President of the Texas AFL-CIO explains:

“we believe in welcoming all comers to Texas, and we won’t break with that tradition today. But we must protest the anti-union zealotry, if not the presence, of Wisconsin Gov. Walker. Walker has played the partisan labor-bashing game since his election, doing the bidding of the Koch Brothers and other money player who want to tamp down worker rights, who can’t stand the idea that health care has become available to more America and who would love to shave percentage points off democratic election participation.”

Thousands Stand in Solidarity with Machinists at Manitowoc Cranes

The Municipal Baseball Field on Grand Avenue in Manitowoc was filled with thousands of Wisconsinites today, but there was no game in sight.  Instead an estimated 3,500 Wisconsinites stood in solidarity with the Fighting Machinists of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (I.A.M.A.W) Local Lodge 516 who are on strike at Manitowoc Cranes.

Teachers, snow plow drivers, fire fighters, steelworkers, boilermakers, operating engineers, laborers, letter carriers, truck drivers, custodians, nurses, bricklayers, electricians, painters, community members, faith leaders and workers from both the public and private sector stood in solidarity with the striking members of the I.A.M.A.W Local Lodge 516. 

“This is not about wages or benefits,” said Ben Elizondo of the Machinists Union.  “This is about management wanting total power.  It’s a sad thing when the company pushes you out at a time of the year when people are suppose to be coming together.”

A life-long union machinist at Manitowoc Cranes, J.C. Schultz has been a Machinist for over forty years.

"I’m a journeyman machinist. I started my apprenticeship when I was 17-years-old with the union, and I celebrated my 61st birthday this week on the picket line.  They are not going to break the union, not in the great state of Wisconsin," says Schultz.  "This fight is about our children and our children's children and the kind of society we want to live in.  A society where workers have the right to union representation.”

Nearly 200 men and women have been on strike at Manitowoc Cranes since November 15.  At issue, is non-economic contract language which would have zero impact on productivity and instead bust the worker’s union.  The language, which the worker’s have voted overwhelming to reject, would backhandedly destroy the union and the worker’s ability to have a voice on the job.

On Saturday, December 10, thousands braved the cold and gathered on a chilly Saturday afternoon for a solidarity rally.  After the rally, thousands marched to the Manitowoc Cranes plant gates to join the picket line. 

The Gunderson Brothers made the journey from Madison to show their support.  Members of AFSCME Local 60 and Teamsters Local 695 the Gundersons’ are second generation union.  “We are here to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Machinists union.  This sort of attack affects us all.  It’s no surprise that Gov. Walker’s union-busting is moving to the private sector.  We need to support the Machinists here and recall Walker.” 

Reverend Neil Piepenburg opened the rally with a prayer for the workers and for the community.  “This is not just a political issue.  This is a moral issue and a faith issue.  When the voice and the rights of one are sacrificed for the voice of another, there is no justice,” said Rev. Piepenburg.   

“This is what having a union is all about,” explained Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.  “Having a union is about having the strength of your co-workers.  It’s about working people supporting each other and standing together in solidarity.  Having a union is about having a voice at work and having the strength to improve your workplace.  Manitowoc Cranes has no right to try to cripple the worker’s union and we are here to stand with them in their fight for justice.”

“Today working people from Manitowoc and from across Wisconsin chose to come together to say:  an injury to one is an injury to all.  We are here to stand together to support the strikers at Manitowoc Cranes.  We hope that management and the workers can sit down together and continue negotiations so we can get back to work and get back to making a first-rate product that is exporting worldwide,”  said Russell Krings, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District 10. 

Media Coverage

• Fox 11 Green Bay:  Manitowoc Crane Strikers Hold Rally

• WBAY, Manitowoc Cranes Rallying Together

•  NBC 26, Rally for Manitowoc Crane Workers

• Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Hundreds Rally Behind Striking Machinsits

• Photo Collection from the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
  

Jobless Workers, Faith Leaders Hold Flower Prayer Vigil at Rep. Paul Ryan's Office

Unless Congress acts, 31,500 Wisconsinites will lose unemployment aid.  If Congress fails to act, the impact on families, communities and our economy will be devastating. 

In Wisconsin, the average weekly benefit is $275.21.  This money is immediately pumped back into the economy as families use it for food at local groceries, gas at the corner station and rent to the neighborhood landlord.  Nationwide, the economy grows by $2 for every $1 spent in unemployment aid.

Today, jobless Wisconsinites, clergy members and community members visited Rep. Paul Ryan’s Kenosha office to hold a flower prayer vigil for jobs and the jobless. 

“As a jobless American, I pray every night for a job and then hit the pavement every morning looking for one. If Congress doesn’t extend unemployment insurance, I’ll lose the last lifeline I have for myself and my family as we struggle to get through the biggest challenge of our lifetime,” said Mary Houf of Racine. 

Reverend Georgette Wonders of the Unitarian Universalist Church lead the group in a prayer as white carnations, each representing a testimony from a jobless worker, were hand-delivered to Rep. Paul Ryan’s office. 

Unfortunately, Rep. Ryan was not in his office and was unable to meet with constituents. To the side is a photo, taken December 8, of the door to Rep. Ryan’s Washington D.C. office.  A number of jobless Wisconsinites traveled to D.C. to talk to their Congressman about jobs and the economy.  Unfortunately, Rep. Ryan was available by appointment only today. 

In Milwaukee, jobless workers and community members met with Rep. Gwen Moore’s office to discuss issues facing the joblessness and community solutions. 

Five Things To Help Manitowoc Cranes Workers

This Saturday, December 10 at the Municipal Baseball Field, 2200 Grand Ave, Manitowoc, WI 54220 there will be a solidarity rally to support striking workers at Manitowoc Cranes.

What:    Solidarity Rally with Striking Machinists
When:    Saturday, December 10 at 1:00 pm
Where:    Municipal Baseball Field, 2200 Grand Ave, Manitowoc, WI, 54220

Below are five things you can do to support our brothers and sisters on strike at Manitowoc Cranes:

1.    Attend the Solidarity Rally this Saturday, December 10.

2.    Sign the petition in support of the striking workers.

3.    Give a gift to the Strike Assistance Fund:  MCI Strike Fund c/o Machinists Local 516, P.O. Box 222, Manitowoc, WI, 54221-0222

4.    Send food and toy donations to IAMAW District Lodge 10, 1650 S. 38th St., Milwaukee, WI, 53215

5.  Share this blog post on your Face Book page, Twitter page or email to five of your friends. 
 

Executives at Manitowoc Cranes have taken a page from Scott Walker’s Union-Busting Hand Book.  At the last minute, the company slipped union-busting language into the contract proposal.  Proudly, the workers at Manitowoc Cranes stood together and voted overwhelming (180-2) to reject this attack on their union rights. 

Now is the time for all of Wisconsin to stand together and support these men and women who have made the brave and difficult decision to go on strike.  These workers are standing up for all working people and the middle class.  Anything you can do to show solidarity is appreciated.   

Buy Union This Holiday Season

"Black Friday" marks the start of the holiday season.  As you head to the stores in order to take advantage of the great deals, we encourage you to continue to shop union.

 

November 25 – December 2 is also “Buy Union” week.  Given the volatile state of the economy—marked by huge job losses, declines in take-home pay and increased costs—it makes more sense than ever to focus the purchasing power of union families on the goods and services that those families create. Supporting union made products helps keep good jobs in the community.

Look for the union label as you shop this holiday season.  Stand with Wisconsin gear is 100% union-made in the U.S.A. You can purchase T-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball caps, and more at http://www.standwisconsin.org/.

 

 

 

Simply click on the “Shop Our Store” button on the bottom left-hand area of the http://www.standwisconsin.org/  page for a list of great union-made holiday gifts and apparel. 

Brand new items include posters and greeting cards by local artist Susan Simensky Bietila.  Simensky Bietila is a Milwaukee Public School Nurse and MTEA union member.   With scratchboard and watercolor she captures the Rotunda at the height of the protests. 

30,000 Rally in Madison; 105,000 Signatures Collected Statewide

The streets surrounding the Capitol were filled Saturday with Wisconsinites old and young as an estimated crowd of 30,000+ took to the streets to stand up for our Wisconsin.

The rally marked the beginning of the recall effort of Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four other Republican State Senators.

Recall petitions circulated the crowd as working families continue to reclaim their state from a Governor who relentlessly puts corporate special interests above the people.  Recall organizers announced that in the first four days of signature collection they have collected 105,000 signatures.  This number does not include any signatures gathered at the weekend rally.

Barb Weisenberger, an Eau Claire resident and mother of two, explained why she signed a recall petition.

At 51 I proudly put myself through college and graduated magna cum laude from UW-Eau Claire.  I  quickly found a job at Community Health Partnership, an organization which empowers people with long-term care needs to stay out of nursing homes, live independently and maintain their quality of life.  I was never going to get rich but I could support my family doing a job I found fulfilling.  Then along came Walker.  Gov. Walker capped Managed Care Organizations, like Community Health Partnership and cost me my livelihood.  The man who campaigned on jobs, jobs, jobs is responsible for me losing mine.  My family is not alone; nearly 50 of my former co-workers lost their jobs as well along with our contractors and suppliers.  And many of our members – the elderly and disabled – are left to their own devices.” 

One reason for signing recall petitions was clear:  Wisconsin cannot wait.  We cannot take three more years of Gov. Walker’s reckless policies.   

Jennifer Jagloswki, has worked in the same factory for 25 years making aluminum cans.  Now, thanks to Gov. Walker’s cuts to Badgercare, her children may lose their health care.

“Despite the fact that both my husband and I work, we don’t make a lot of money.  Because adding my children and I to my husband’s insurance plan would cost us over half of our income, we are currently on Badgercare.  Scott Walker is significantly lowering the threshold for eligibility for Badgercare, and we would just miss the new cutoff.  Like so many other low-income working families, Badgercare has truly been a lifeline for us.  It has meant my kids have had access to health care when they’ve needed it.  Health and well-being should not be luxuries for the rich.”

Petitions were not just signed in Madison on Saturday but in all seventy-two counties of the state.

To download a recall petition which you can print out and have your friends and family sign, click here. 

Mail in the completed petition to the address listed or drop by at a trusted recall office ASAP.