As I stand here at zero degrees temperature in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, thousands of union members have filled the state capitol to capacity and thousands more circle and rally outside. This protest, which was originally to be a press conference, has become the first battle in the war against Governor Corbett and the Koch brothers in Pennsylvania.
Corbett and the Koch boys are trying to destroy Pennsylvania’s labor movement beginning with legislation to outlaw public employees dues deduction, and to break the public employee unions.
At this moment, union members from all over Pennsylvania lead by 300 from 1199, but including building trades, service employees, Steelworkers, and every union in the state, have come to Harrisburg to say YOU’RE NOT BREAKING OUR MOVEMENT.
Workers are chanting “HEY HEY HO HO TOM CORBETT’S GOT TO GO!” and “WE ARE CITIZENS, LET US IN!”
The capitol police have locked all the doors to the state capitol.
Stuck in the cold, thousands of union members are demonstrating their determination to save their movement. Union members are braving the arctic cold, and many are still unloading from buses coming from all over Pennsylvania.
The entire labor movement is united in this determination to defeat Tom Corbett and the Koch brothers, whose agenda it is to break Pennsylvania’s unions so no Democrat can ever capture the White House. As many of the readers know, Pennsylvania and Ohio are the two states that usually determine who wins the Presidency. This is a fight for democracy, this is a fight for the labor movement, this is a fight for the middle class, and Pennsylvania union members are determined to win it!
Photo source: Richard Hurd on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)