Madison, March 14: In the US state of Wisconsin, farmer unions have joined the thousands of demonstrators protesting anti-union measures at the Capitol Square in Madison.
Tractors circled streets in protest to Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker’s plan to strip most of the state’s three-hundred-thousand public employees of their right to bargain over health coverage, pensions, and other benefits.
The protesters are demanding for court challenges and are also recalling elections for Walker and his Republican allies who have co-signed the bill, Media reported on Saturday.
Also present in the protests, were the 14 Democrats who left the state to Illinois in a failed bid to prevent the Senate from passing the governor’s bill. Walker passed the bill despite the absence of the 14 Democrat senators.
Wisconsin Democrat State Senator, Julie Lassa told the cheering crowd, “We will take the Capitol back. We will take our rights back. And we’re going to do it together. I have never been more proud to be a Wisconsinite than I am today.
Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson also paid a visit to Madison, reminding the crowd that their struggle is part of a larger fight for social justice.
Massive protests began in the US state of Wisconsin, after Republican Governor Scott Walker proposed a two-year budget plan that would reduce the state government expenditures for schools and local governments in a move to rein in a budget deficit of $137 million, and a projected $3.6 billion budget gap over the next two years in the state.
About 8,000 workers also staged protests in the US state of Indiana in protest to Walker’s plan.
——–Agencies