More than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions, and the Fight for Wisconsin

7. First Protests

C lustered in twos, threes, and fours, university students marched up State Street over the noon hour. Spray-painted on a banner that led their parade was “This Is What Democracy Looks Like”— a phrase that became an anthem in the weeks and months ahead. That bright, clear February 14 they gave their demonstration a Valentine’s Day theme by chanting, “Spread the love! Stop the hate! Don’t let Walker legislate!” Most wore coats and hats, but some found it warm enough—it was unusually nice weather, in the low forties—to march in nothing heavier than a sweatshirt. “Hey, hey, ho, ho, union busting’s got to go,” they called as they made their way up the mile-long pedestrian street that connects the UW–Madison campus to the Capitol. One marcher waved a large union flag bearing the logo of the Teaching Assistants’ Association, while others carried homemade signs. When they arrived, they were greeted on the Capitol steps by Peter Rickman, an unshaven law student from Neenah and a leader of the assistants union who wore a red-and-black-checked hunting jacket. “Let’s show Governor Walker that we will stand up for our university and the people that make it work,” he told the crowd and led them, chanting, inside the Capitol. Security had been strengthened there, and oªcers refused to allow placards on sticks inside for safety reasons. The protesters planted their signs in snowbanks beside the entrances. “Worker Rights Are Human Rights!” was scrawled in marker on one of the signs. Others were professionally printed with phrases like “Solidarity” and “Care About Educators Like They Care About Your Child.” The chants of the demonstrators reached a crescendo as they entered the rotunda. Their cheers and claps reverberated o¤ the marble walls, driving 7  First Protests 71 one protester to wedge her fingers into her ears. Another held a sign drawn in marker that showed the university’s mascot, Bucky Badger, holding a placard that read “Kill This Bill.” A red helium balloon bobbed above the crowd as one protester held aloft a giant cardboard heart that read “I ♥ UW.” Many shed their coats to reveal Badger red sweatshirts and T-shirts. “Kill this bill, kill this bill,” they chanted—another phrase that would echo through the Capitol for weeks to come. The rally had been planned even before Walker unveiled his proposal on collective bargaining and had been originally meant to oppose expected budget cuts to the university. Rickman and other organizers refocused their aims after news of Walker’s plans broke, and their e¤orts bolstered the crowd to about a thousand people. The students filled the floor of the rotunda, with others on upper floors jamming up against the marble railings that overlooked the ground level. Shoulder to shoulder, they filled the broad hallway in the east wing that leads to the governor’s oªce and demanded to speak with Walker. The governor’s press secretary, Cullen Werwie, told Rickman that appointments with the governor—who had spent the morning discussing his bill with conservative radio talk show hosts around Wisconsin—had to be arranged in advance. Using his megaphone, Rickman then told the crowd Walker wouldn’t meet with them and asked them to pass forward the over- flowing boxes of valentines they had brought. Rickman and others spread the valentines across the top of the security desk outside the governor’s oªce. “I ♥ UW. Governor Walker, Don’t Break My ♥,” many read. They piled them so high they slid o¤ the desk as the crowd whooped. Rickman pulled out a red heart-shaped plastic bowl full of candy hearts and gave it to Werwie, who popped a couple of them into his mouth. “Kill the bill,” the crowd chanted. The gathering at the Capitol wasn’t the only demonstration that day. Protesters also gathered on the UW–Milwaukee campus, at a state oªce building in Milwaukee, and near the Racine home of Van Wanggaard, a newly elected GOP senator. From the beginning, unions organized feverishly to stop Walker’s bill. Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, found out about the legislation when it leaked on Thursday, February 10. She got the news on her BlackBerry in Michigan City, Indiana, where she was speaking to “Women of Steel,” a conference of female members of the United Steelworkers union. Bloomingdale stayed up most of the night making plans and calling other union leaders...