EPIC

Wisconsin Protests Reach New Heights

100,000 turn out after union-busting bill is signed.

In the first weekend since Governor Scott Walker signed into law a bill that will eliminate most bargaining rights for the state’s union workers, a crowd of up to 100,000 people showed up in Madison to show their contempt. That number is greater than the largest protests in Madison during the Vietnam War. Indeed, Wisconsin Republicans' fight against union workers could be the biggest confrontation with laborers in almost 30 years, when President Reagan fired striking air-traffic controllers. Protesters cheered for the Democratic state senators who recently returned to Wisconsin after fleeing to Illinois to try to prevent the bill from being passed. "Our fight to protect union rights has become a fight to protect all our rights,” said Mark Miller, the Dems' leader.