Scarcely 12 hours after 18 Wisconsin state senators voted to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers, protesters massed in front of the Douglas County Courthouse today to voice their outrage.
About 200 people showed up to protest at 7 a.m., carrying placards bearing slogans such as "Workers not Walker" and chanting: "What's disgusting? Union busting."
Mike Swanson joined the throng before heading off to work as a seventh-grade math teacher at the Superior Middle School.
"Why are we bearing the brunt of this?" he asked, quickly noting that public workers were "an easy target."
While Swanson was eager to make his feelings known, he said he would not be missing any work. "I've got to be there for the kids," he said.
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Jim Mattson, staff representative for AFSCME Council 40, said word of the protest spread quickly via e-mails and phone trees.
"People are very upset," he said. "This is just the beginning of things. We're not going to go away. A recall is our number one priority right now."
Mattson said he's not resigned to accept the actions of the Wisconsin Senate on Wednesday, explaining that questions remain as to whether the state's open-meeting law had been violated.
"I think this will be murky for some time."
