Credit: @cruiskeen Wisconsin workers are marching on the capital today to protest Governor Scott Walker's effort to crush their bargaining rights through the back door. Their newest ally? The Green Bay Packers, past and present, who signed a
February 15, 2011

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Credit: @cruiskeen
Wisconsin workers are marching on the capital today to protest Governor Scott Walker's effort to crush their bargaining rights through the back door. Their newest ally? The Green Bay Packers, past and present, who signed a letter in support of the workers.

The statement reads:

"We know that it is teamwork on and off the field that makes the Packers and Wisconsin great. As a publicly owned team we wouldn't have been able to win the Super Bowl without the support of our fans.

"It is the same dedication of our public workers every day that makes Wisconsin run. They are the teachers, nurses and child care workers who take care of us and our families. But now in an unprecedented political attack Governor Walker is trying to take away their right to have a voice and bargain at work.

"The right to negotiate wages and benefits is a fundamental underpinning of our middle class. When workers join together it serves as a check on corporate power and helps ALL workers by raising community standards. Wisconsin's long standing tradition of allowing public sector workers to have a voice on the job has worked for the state since the 1930s. It has created greater consistency in the relationship between labor and management and a shared approach to public work.

"These public workers are Wisconsin's champions every single day and we urge the Governor and the State Legislature to not take away their rights."

Excuse me while I go pull our cheeseheads out of the garage and wear them in solidarity with the Packers and the Wisconsin workers.

Update: Wisconsin police and firefighers have joined the protest in solidarity, despite being exempt under Walker's proposal. Also, 400 students walked out of class today to protest suppression of their teachers' bargaining rights. Private sector unions have also offered support.

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