In Politics

I attended a protest for the first time today. With a sign, and everything (thank you, Emily).
KILL THE BILL
SAVE OUR RIGHTS
I placed it in my car window tonight.

At the beginning of the week, I admit, I was out of it--the loop, that is. It was Valentine's Day, and I was singles, so my roommate and I threw a singles party, and I got a bit tipsy, and therefore became neglectful of current events. What I didn't know, was that amidst my hangover on Tuesday was a movement by Wisconsin's Governor Walker to cut the rights of state employees to unionize and to negotiate their benefits upon employment.

Basically, to me, this is Walker's way of oppressing the people, using money as a cover-up. This will help the state deficit, the supporters of this bill claim.

I, personally, would like to know how. Point one being that once you make cuts to salaries and benefits, there will be even less money put into the economy, and you will shoot yourself in the foot, especially since the cuts proposed in this bill will be the same across the board, and will therefore greatly affect lower incomes. The custodians at my University will be making less than minimum wage with the benefit and salary cuts if this bill goes through. So if they vacate their position, who will want to take it? This would basically revert to times in history in which people worked for close to nothing in order to scrape by, and that undermines everything unions and any workers, for that matter, have worked for for all of this time.

Point two has to do with the education system. Many professors come to Wisconsin universities because of the benefits packages. The opposition of Walker's bill claims that it is only fair that these employees pay into their own health insurance, etc, but the fact is that their salaries are lower because the benefits are higher. So, either the salaries should be increased to meet the private sectors (if we're going to cut benefits), or the benefits should remain what they are if the employees are expected to take salary cuts. Reiterating point one-- who will want to take jobs as professors in Wisconsin with these ridiculous expectations? Put up with over-sized classes and take less pay AND less benefits. I think if any one of us was in their shoes, we would be fighting for fair treatment, too.

Point number three is that currently, Wisconsin has a leading education system in the United States. We have a high quality of education. So why should we cut funding from the education system? I.E. the professors? Why wouldn't we be pouring money into education? Knowledge is power, folks, and if we cut from knowledge, we suppress people.

Lastly, on the suppression note, the United Nations recognizes the right to organize as a fundamental human right. Taking away union rights is oppressing people, and we should work to keep oppression of any group-- including state employees who work to serve us daily in plowing roads, teaching our children, and cleaning up our garbage-- out of our country. No one deserves to be deprived of rights as a human being. Our professors, our snow plowers, our football players, for that matter, deserve a say in their contracts and salaries. They are not mules working for food, but mentors and people--humans, who deserve to be treated justly--who make a huge difference in our lives. They are not to blame for our deficit, and therefore should not be punished for it.

I thought of all these things as I rallied with fellow students, my professors, and the general public. Our signs remained high even in the rain, in hopes that things will change in this state.

Democrat voters have left the state in order to delay the vote. Please help support this cause in any way possible, whether it is simply a Facebook post, or holding up a sign at a rally at our capitol building. Any support for those who help us on a daily basis is vital and appreciated.

For video footage of UW-Green Bay's Rally yesterday, check out this link:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-557534

For more information on the issue, look at:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/17/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=Sbin

If you'd like to see a poem I wrote about this, check out Verse Wisconsin's webpage; it's called "Ambidextrous":

http://versewisconsin.org/