Raising a Fist

February, 22

It has been a while since our last post. We have been very busy working on the inside of the house and those photos will be coming along shortly. First, I need to give you the latest on some political activity here in our state.

Unless you live under a rock or are maybe some of our friends from India, you have been hearing about and watching the events unfolding in Madison, Wisconsin. As you know the republican party is trying to strip the rights of labor unions to ultimately weaken the democratic party and the working middle class in the US. Well, being from a union family, my dad was in the sheet metal workers union his entire working life, I was lucky to have health insurance until I finished college because of that. He retired with a good pension. Nothing fancy, but enough to provide a comfortable life for him and my mom. We had some security for our family. The American dream, right?

The standoff taking place in the Wisconsin House of Representatives is now having the ripple effect across the Midwest. I went up to our statehouse in Indianapolis on Tuesday this week to join in the protest of our republican sponsored 'Right to Work' bill. Of course the bill has nothing to do with the right to work, it basically strips away all union rights and basically destroys the unions and the middle class. Being from one of the large Auto Workers Union states, we have a number of auto factories here, the fight is HUGE. It was invigorating to be in such a large group of real working folks who are very passionate about this issue.

Here are some of the photos:

Our state capitol (file photo)

My good friend Bob, who is a retired teacher, came along with me to the state house. The teachers unions and school budgets are also being completely destroyed by a whole list of bills in the house. The republicans seem to like everyone except their very rich big business partners to be uneducated and poor. Easier to manipulate that way. Here we are standing in the very long line to get inside.

Once inside, we were very impressed by the large crowd already inside by 10am.

We followed a huge crowd to the senate chamber where their session was just starting. The republicans have a majority in the senate, and as we stood outside the chamber windows chanting and yelling it could clearly be heard inside the chamber.

The hallway just outside the chamber windows

Here is a photo of the inside of the senate chamber taken through the window

They have speakers on the wall outside of the chamber so we could hear what they were talking about. Our democratic senator, Vi Simpson (D)Bloomington, spoke passionately about the issues being debated. After she spoke, she was the only senator who came out to the crowd and spoke in support of our cause. She said they could all hear us loud and clear inside.

We worked our way through the crowd down to the House of Representative member offices. Anyone could go in and sign up to speak with their representative. The place was packed. I'm sure they were all getting an ear full.

An AFSCME union member, Tim, who works for the City of Indianapolis as a mechanic, struck up a conversation with me about the issues on the table (AFSCME represented me at UC Berkeley and also does at IU). I loved hearing how educated he is about the issues. A lesson in no matter what a person looks like, one can't assume they are uneducated. This guy was absolutely delightful and a lifetime democrat. He even rides a Harley!

A huge crowd made it's way to the house chamber as they were getting ready for their session. This was the most passionate moment yet. The labor bills were written by the republicans in the house. As they were taking roll call we noticed almost half of the chamber was empty. We suddenly thought, oh my god!, the democrats have left the state in protest. Well, that is EXACTLY what they had done. They could not vote because there was not a quorum present. The crowd went absolutely NUTS! We found out our dems also went to Illinois.

The huge crowds, well over 1000, began to move to the main atrium and began a big rally with speakers from various unions making statements.

All in all, the protests have been taking over the state house since February 18 and plan to go on until the labor bills, as written, are defeated. The collective bargaining rights are the thing they will not budge on. As I spoke to various people from different unions, they all said they are willing to make some consessions - no raises for the next couple of years, pay more for their health care benefits, etc., but they absolutely will not give up collective bargaining. Why the republicans can't compromise too is unbelievable. They have been trying to create bills and then have a vote on them with less than 2 days for public comment. How can the people possibly have time to read and understand them in that short time. It is truly evil. This is why we protest and why the democrats have left the state. The people of our state, democrat & republican constituants, are now having time to understand exactly what the bills will do if passed. This is why the crowds are getting larger every day.

I decided I would take pictures of all the different union t-shirts I could find so you all could see how many unions are being represented.

My dads union

The United Auto Workers. My favorite tee.

And, we can't forget some of the teachers.

Be prepared because this issue will be coming to your state too.

What a time in our history. We won't give up the fight!