MADISON, Wis. — Tens of thousands of protesters held rallies across the country Saturday to support thousands of pro-labor demonstrators at the Wisconsin Capitol in their fight against Republican-backed legislation aimed at weakening unions.
Union backers organized rallies from New York to Los Angeles in a show of solidarity as the protest in Madison entered its 12th day and attracted its largest crowd yet, more than 70,000 people.
Protesters see the proposals as an effort to weaken the labor movement.
Other states considering similar proposals include Ohio, Tennessee, Idaho, Iowa, and Kansas.
Several thousand protesters gathered in New York City and Los Angeles, about 1,000 turned out in Lansing, Mich., Chicago, and Denver, and several hundred in Austin.
Large crowds of teachers, firefighters, and public workers also gathered for rallies — holding U.S. flags and signs — in other capitals including Topeka, Harrisburg, Pa., and Olympia, Wash. In Los Angeles, public-sector workers and others held signs that read "We are all Wisconsin."
At the Wisconsin state Capitol, thousands of protesters chanted underneath Republican Gov. Scott Walker's office window: "Hey hey, ho ho, Scott Walker has got to go."
"Union busting is wrong," said Joe Soto, 56, a steamfitter from Reedsburg, Wis.
Wisconsin's state Assembly on Friday approved Mr. Walker's proposal to strip public-sector unions of most collective bargaining rights.
The plan needs state Senate approval, but Senate Democrats have fled Wisconsin to prevent a vote.
Wisconsin Republicans' effort to balance the state budget by rewriting labor laws has become a standoff with Republicans and business interests on one side and Democrats and unions on the other.
In Columbus, protests expanded to include private-sector unions and environmentalists, while Republicans considering changes to the Ohio bill said opponents put forth no ideas for improving the measure.
A crowd of several thousand that rallied at the Statehouse was peppered with signs for United Steel Workers, the Sierra Club, and other groups beyond public-employee unions as state and national labor and Democratic groups sought to turn up the heat against Senate Bill 5.
GOP Senate leaders were working on changes to the bill to satisfy enough of their members to get the bill out of committee Tuesday and through a successful floor vote that could occur as early as Thursday.
Senate President Tom Niehaus accused Senate Democrats of abandoning the legislative process. They announced Friday they would submit no amendments to the bill because they want it scrapped.
"As I sat down today to review the amendments submitted by Friday's deadline, I expected to see their constructive ideas on how to address the concerns they've expressed, but they refused to submit a single change," Mr. Niehaus said. "Much like their counterparts in Wisconsin, they apparently would rather grandstand in defense of the status quo."
Diane Boeckman, 60, a retired child-care provider from Wapakoneta, said she was at the Statehouse rally because she believes rights for unions are good for everyone.
"They're just eating people up, chewing 'em up and spitting 'em out," she said. "People have a right to have a decent life, and then to be able to live when they retire."
The Ohio measure appeared on Feb. 1, shortly after Republicans recaptured the state legislature and the governor's office.
Its sponsor, GOP state Sen. Shannon Jones of Springboro, said she had been working on it for a year. It was initially aimed at abolishing most collective bargaining rights, but a compromise announced last week would allow unions to negotiate on wages only and add a prohibition on public employee strikes.
Republican Gov. John Kasich wants the bill to pass and he may support even more dramatic union limits in his upcoming budget.
He says he is not anti-union but that Ohio needs a shake-up at every level to address a looming budget gap of $8 billion, or about 16 percent of total spending, and to bring the ailing manufacturing state back to life.
First Published February 27, 2011, 6:28 a.m.
