The budget-repair bill, which would strip most collective-bargaining rights from 175,000 public-sector workers while imposing immediate benefits concessions, prompted rapid mobilization on the part of unions. Before Walker unveiled his budget-repair bill on Feb. 11, the Teaching Assistants? Association at UW-Madison, along with campus student groups Student Labor Action Coalition and Multicultural Student Coalition, had planned a noon march from the Memorial Union to the Capitol to deliver “I Heart UW” valentines to Walker and urge him not to cut education funding. They were hoping to draw a couple hundred. The budget bill changed everything. More than 1,000 people joined the march and rally, screaming “Spread the love, Stop the hate, Don?t let Walker legislate.” That night, TAA leaders went back to campus and sent their 2,800 UW-Madison members an e-mail urging them to return to the Capitol on Tuesday and testify at the Legislature?s powerful Joint Finance Committee, which had scheduled a hearing on the bill at 10 a.m.
Office of Strategic Communication