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Day six of the Walkerville tent city protest has seen overwhelming support from Wisconsin workers, students and community members. Over the course of the week, thousands of Wisconsinites have gathered on the cement blocks lining the Capitol Square in order to call attention to Gov. Walker and his legislative allies' destructive budget proposals -- proposals which will cripple Wisconsin's schools, health care system and communities.

Many have said that they are surrounding the Capitol to bear witness to their elected officials' decisions and to let their Representatives know that the people of Wisconsin are preparing to take back their government back this summer.

"Walkerville is a way to focus the spotlight on Gov. Walker and Sen. Alberta Darling's budget that will devastate higher education, public education and Wisconsin as we know it," explained Michael Rosen, President of AFT Local 212, and professor at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. Rosen traveled to Walkerville on Wednesday to spend the night.

About 150 tents have sprung up around the Capitol since Saturday June 4, when Walkerville tent city was erected.

Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, brought her son, Nicholas to Walkerville. "We are here to tell Scott Walker that his attack on Wisconsin's unions, middle class, and communities will not stand. The people are coming together here in Walkerville to fight for a just budget and for an economy that works for all."

Each day in Walkerville has had a theme, complete with educational programs to inform citizens on the budget and how it will impact their everyday life. Public services, health care, education and higher education have all been a theme of the day. Many local musicians have taken to the stage on State Street to show their support for the protestors and entertain the family-friendly crowd.

"As Wisconsinites, we cannot standby in silence while our friends, family and neighbors suffer at the hand of Governor Walker's bad choices for our state," explained Dian Palmer, President of SEIU Health Care Wisconsin and a public health nurse from Milwaukee who has been spending multiple nights in Walkerville. "I am here because what I have heard from Governor Walker does not represent the Wisconsin that I believe in or that my fellow Wisconsinites believe in. And I am here to bear witness and ensure that our leaders do right by education, healthcare and programs for senior citizens."

On Health Care Day, nurses and home care patients took on a mock Scott Walker in the fight for quality health care in a play boxing match. Candice Owley, President of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, took to the ring in order to ensure quality care for all of Wisconsin. Read more about the boxing match here.

On Public Services Day, state and county employees held a mock town-hall listening session with characters of Gov. Walker, David Koch, Sen. Glen Grothman and Sara Palin. On Sunday, Wisconsin teachers held a citizen speak-out on why funding for public education is essential to quality education for our children.

Last Monday, fire fighters, farmers and cops lead a march of thousands to call for a fair and just budget. Read more about it here. For video of the march click here.

As the winds blew in last night Walkerville residence took refuge by patronizing local businesses as they waited out the storm. After the storm, Walkerville citizens returned to their tents, tucked-in for the night and continued to raise awareness of Gov. Walker's bad budget choices. Walkerville survived the storm, but can Wisconsin survive Walker's dangerous budget proposals?

AFL-CIO, Thurs Jun 9 2011

Now that the state budget has received a stamp of approval from the Joint Finance Committee, the war of words is heating up once again.

This time in the form of rallies across the state.

We are Wisconsin, made up of union members, teachers, nurses, even a former representative is making some noise.

"Change some of those most dramatic and drastic cuts to some of the most important programs in the state of Wisconsin," says former state Representative Jim Soletski.

They're fighting against spending cuts to school districts, local governments and public services.

"Yeah, there's going to be a lot of tough days ahead," says Republican state Representative John Nygren of Marinette.

Rep. Nygren, who sits on the Joint Finance Committee, points to the ballooning budget deficit, saying that dollar amount speaks for itself.

"When we were elected into office into leadership this time around, we had a $3.6 billion budget deficit that we needed to fix, so tough choices had to be made," says Rep. Nygren.

It's an argument not everyone at the Green Bay rally is buying.

"They can say that all they want but you know there comes a time when you need to educate kids," says Jonah Lenss, a volunteer with We Are Wisconsin.

"Cutting from Medicaid, cutting from Badger Care, Senior Care, how is that helping those people that need it?" asks Suzanne Haines, a nurse.

Rep. Nygren argues hundreds of changes were made to the budget. Some to education, and Senior Care. He's convinced after the budget passes, better days are ahead.

"The only way for us to get out of it, is to make those tough decisions without raising taxes, that's what we did," says Rep. Nygren.

wbay.com, Wed Jun 7 2011

It's the 10th anniversary of the Bush tax cut for millionaires, and some millionaires say enough is enough. They've bought enough boats, added enough wings to their mansions and put enough of their extra millions in the bank. It's time to "Tax me" they say.

A new video from the Patriotic Millionaires, the group of software designers, movie makers, financial gurus and entrepreneurs, urges Republican House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other lawmakers to end the Bush tax cuts and raise their taxes.

Ten years ago you made a mistake. You decided our country needed less money, and millionaires like me needed more...Less money for roads to transport our products, for high speed Internet to build our technology companies, or science research, education, for universities, and research to spark our innovation... Rich people are not the cause of a robust economy they're the result of a robust economy...Fix the mistake you made. Tax me, because my country, our country, means more than my money.

On a conference call with reporters yesterday, several of the millionaires featured in the video told reporters what they did with those extra millions. Dennis Mehiel, CEO of U.S. Corrugated, Inc. said his extras didn't create any jobs–in the United States.

I got a bigger boat than I used to have. The problem is it was built in Italy.

Paul Egerman said the Bush tax cuts put a more than $10 million in his big piggy bank and he kept most of it and it's more than likely the rest of the nation's nearly 400,000 millionaires did the same with their personal windfalls. The tax cuts didn't create jobs and just added to the deficit.

One way to solve our [deficit] problem right now is to increase the revenues. One way is to eliminate the ridiculous Bush tax cuts on wealthy people like me.... If our country is really broke, then we can't afford to give tax cuts to people like me

afl-cio now blog, Wed June 7 2011

Egyptian workers take to the streets, defying the controversial anti-strike law, as they call for better working conditions but the police use force to cut out their voice

Late afternoon on Wednesday, after a day of renewed labour protests, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's interim government released a statement announcing their decision to begin applying the anti-strike law criminalising any form of action that disrupts work and production. Soon after, snatch-vans belonging to the notorious Central Security Forces (CSF), police forces and plain-clothed police officers descended on Maglis El-Shaab Street where protesters had gathered in front of the Cabinet offices, arresting at least seven tenant farmers and using force to disperse others.

Workers from several economic sectors went on strike Wednesday after weeks of relative calm. Some gathered in front of the Cabinet offices while others filled surrounding streets and buildings. Employees of Nasr Car Company along with tenant farmers, graduates of Al-Azhar University and staff members from the ministry of state for antiquities (MSA) gathered to make their demands known, arguing that now is the time for action not idleness.

Nasr Car Company employees called on the company's management to rehabilitate workers forced to take early retirement. Next to the Nasr Car protesters sat top graduates of Al-Azhar University. The graduates had already constructed a tent and were huddled beneath the shade of a tree, hoping to avoid the unforgiving sun as they began their first day of a collective hunger strike. This move was inspired by Ahmed Hussein, a graduate who graduated at the top of his class in philosophy, who began his hunger strike days ago. By noon on Wednesday, Hussein had reached a critical state and was taken to hospital.

The recent graduates, who had already been protesting for two weeks according to their spokesperson, Mohammed Magdy, were demanding employment within the university.

A street over, tenant farmers were protesting against the government, whom they blame for depriving them of land. Angry farmers demanded that all other dispossessed farmers join their strike.

Further down Kasr El-Eini Street stood employees of the newly formed MSA – the ministry of culture had previously overseen Egypt's antiquities. Staff members who had worked for the government anywhere from five to thirty years were demanding permanent contracts and decent working conditions. They also sought the removal of Zahi Hawass, minister of state for antiquities, and of Safwat El-Nahhas, president of the Central Agency for Organisation and Management and chairperson of the Complaints Committee for the High Council of Wages, whom they blame for the lack of government action.

Waleed Sami, speaking on behalf of the protesting MSA staff, announced that starting today employees would begin an open-ended strike, spanning the length of Egypt from Alexandria to Aswan. He also added that on 15 June, they would begin an open-ended sit-in in front of the Egyptian Museum. The strikers are debating when to close down all tourist sites in Egypt, which they will soon announce. Security staff from the Pyramid site in Giza, however, announced that starting 15 June, the iconic pyramid complex would be shut down.

Ahramonline.beta, Wed Jun 8 2011

Devon Whitman of the AFL-CIO Field Department reports on a huge victory for domestic workers at the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

Last night, following a week of intense negotiations, governments, employers and workers from across the globe reached agreement on the 19 articles which will make up the first international convention on domestic work at the 100th annual conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO). While the final vote of the ILO's general body will take place on June 16, the victory last night marked a major achievement on the road to winning a strong international convention setting out the rights of domestic workers the world over.

An ILO "convention" sets an international labor standard. Governments must ratify the convention for it to become the law in that nation.

Juana Flores, of Mujeres Unidas y Activas (Women United and Active) of San Francisco, said:

So many women throughout the world have never been recognized for their labor. With this convention the world is recognizing, for the first time, that domestic workers are workers like any other and deserve the same treatment. I feel incredibly proud to have been able to represent the domestic workers of the United States in this process.

The agreed upon convention opens with the recognition of the following inalienable rights of domestic workers, which include:

•Freedom of association and collective bargaining.

•Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor.

•Effective abolition of child labor.

•Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

The proposed convention also provides protections for migrant domestic workers, including the obligation that national laws and regulations require that such workers receive a written job offer or contract of employment that is enforceable in the country in which the work is performed stipulating specific terms and conditions of employment.

It also requires that countries take measures toward ensuring that domestic workers enjoy equal treatment with workers generally in relation to working hours, overtime compensation and rest periods and minimum wage protections.

When the agreement on the convention was reached, the South African delegation of domestic workers led domestic workers from across the globe in a song:

My mother was a kitchen girl, my father was a garden boy, that's why I'm a trade unionist, that's why I'm a trade unionist!

afl-cio now blog, Wed Jun 8 2011

Translator's note: On May 24, a massive explosion and fire at a newly inaugurated oil refinery in Abadan led to the deaths and injuries of an unknown number of workers. The explosion, caused by technical problems, occurred during a facility inauguration ceremony that had prompted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to boast of Iran's growing capacity to refine oil. According to Hamid Reza Katouzian, head of the Energy Commission of the Majles, Iran's parliament, "experts had forewarned that the Abadan refinery was not ready to be inaugurated."

The explosion underscored once again the lack of safe working conditions in Iran's oil and petrochemical industry. In addition, recent labor strikes have challenged the industry's reliance on temporary contracts for its labor force. In March, 1,800 contract workers at the Tabriz Petrochemical Complex demanded that they be hired directly in order to receive the benefits and job security provisions to which permanent employees are entitled. In April, 1,500 striking workers at the Imam Khomeini Port Petrochemical Complex located in Khuzestan near the Gulf made similar demands.

Most recently, factional conflicts within the Majles over control of the income generated from oil production have led to leadership changes in the Oil Ministry. First, Ahmadinejad dismissed the oil minister and appointed himself "caretaker for the Oil Ministry." When parliament deputies and the Guardian Council called this act illegal, he appointed one of his allies, Mohammad Ali Abadi, as the new temporary "caretaker." Below are excerpts from a recent interview with Iranian economist Mohammad Maljoo in which he addresses the state of labor in the oil industry. It was published in the May 2011 issue of the Tehran-based journal Mehrnameh. This translation was originally published by Tehran Bureau on June 5, 2011. http://to.pbs.org/iqcYcl

Iranian voices in translation, Tues Jun 7 2011

More than 1,000 Wisconsin firefighters, nurses, farmers and community members marched through Madison today to the Capitol Square to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) extreme and anti-middle class budget.

The march came as the activists in the tent city “Walkerville” entered their third day of protest against the Walker budget that slashes funding for education actions, health care, seniors’ programs and critical services like first responder.

During today’s march, protesters engaged in civil disobedience and blocked streets around the Capitol Square. According to news reports, some arrests were made. Damon Terrell was one of those arrested and as fellow protesters cheered and thanked him for his action, he said:

This is nothing to be thanked for; this just has to be done sometimes.

Marchers carried signs calling upon lawmakers to focus on Wisconsin working families and not the wealthy and large corporation that Walker’s budget favors.

Recall elections for six Republican state senators who voted for Walker’s bill that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of public employees are just a month away. Working families across the state are mobilized to hold them accountable for their assault on workers’ rights and support of walker’s budget.

Follow the events in Madison via Twitter with the hashtags #wiunion and #notmywi and stop back here for updates.

afl-cio news blog, Mon Jun 6 2011

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) apparently doesn't want to be reminded of the people who will feel the sting of his budget cuts.

It was revealed last week that Walker, who is proposing budget cuts in education and vital social services—many to low-income family programs—ordered removed from the governor's mansion a painting of three Milwaukee children that the artist says he meant to remind governors how their policies impact children around the state.

In an e-mail to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Daniel Bice, artist David Lenz says:

I guess that was a conversation Gov. Walker did not want to have.

This is the second time this year a governor has removed art from a public building. In March, Maine Gov. Paul LaPage (R) ordered a labor history mural taken down.

The foundation that runs the Wisconsin governor's mansion commissioned Lenz and other Wisconsin artists for work to place in the mansion that would remind state leaders of the people they represent. Bice writes:

Lenz said he carefully selected the three children portrayed in "Wishes in the Wind." The African American girl, featured in a Journal Sentinel column on homelessness, spent three months at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission with her mother. The Hispanic girl is a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. And the boy's father and brother were killed by a drunken driver in 2009.

"The homeless, central city children and victims of drunk drivers normally do not have a voice in politics," Lenz explained in an email. "This painting was an opportunity for future governors to look these three children in the eye, and I hope, contemplate how their public policies might affect them and other children like them."

When the story broke, Walker's office released a statement that said the first family was simply redecorating the floor.

The Walker administration says it is working out an arrangement with the Milwaukee Public library to display the painting. John Gurda, vice chairman of the library's Board of Trustees, told Bice that Walker should have realized the reaction removal of the painting would draw.

This is indicative of that tone-deafness. My point of view is this is not the Walkers' house, this is Wisconsin's house. This was commissioned by an organization that was there long before Scott Walker came in and will be there long after he is gone.

afl-cio now blog, Mon Jun 6 2011