ec's blog

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Walker is cutting $1.25 billion from state and local government. The budget gets rid of 17,418 jobs from the University of Wisconsin. It cuts $749.9 million from public primary and secondary education. And women are at the center of the crisis.

• Women make up 56% of state government workers
• Women make up 58% of municipal workers
• Women in government jobs tend to work as teachers, social workers, administrative assistants and secretaries.
• Wisconsin is one of the lowest ranked states in the number of women in managerial and professional positions
• The median wage of Black and Latina women is significantly lower than that of white women in Wisconsin
• 25% of women headed households are poor

Walker has proposed $1.25 billion in cuts from schools and local government in Wisconsin, and the greater budget will be balanced by cutting our “social services” such as healthcare, education, disability access and transportation.

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We’ve occupied the capitol for more than two weeks and our presence—as workers and as members of this community—has delayed the vote in the Assembly and stopped the vote in the Senate. Without us, legislation would have already passed to crush public sector unions and allow our schools and community services to deteriorate.

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Wisconsin! in one week, tens of thousands of workers and their families have made history. In the face of the most aggressive anti-worker bill in modern history, teachers, janitors, clerks, plumbers, steelworkers, teamsters and many more have stood together above party lines and pushed union leaders and politicians where they weren’t willing to go. Rank-and-file workers, students and grassroots activists have led the way and the establishment has only moved because we fought to get here. With a vote on the bill coming soon, we have to stick to our guns and keep our eyes on the prize!

The budget crisis is a fraud. As the Cap Times points out, Walker took a $121.4 million surplus and turned it into a deficit with “$140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes the ‘crisis’ would not exist.”

We know that when cities and states come up short its because Wall Street banks stole our money, we’re in two trillion-dollar wars and because the wealthy don’t pay their share. Two-thirds of Wisconsin corporations pay zero taxes!