Protest at Town Clock For Wisconsin Workers and Against House Budget Cuts

Around 80 people gathered around Santa Cruz's Town Clock Tuesday evening to support demonstrations in Wisconsin and protest the proposed Republican federal budget cuts.

The event was sponsored by MoveOn.org and the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council (MBCLC).

Union workers, union organizers, local residents and college students assembled at the clock tower at 5:30 p.m.

“It's good that people are gonna show up in support of unions, in support of our state, in support of our way of life, the middle class," said Robert Chacanaca, president of MBCLC, member of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and campus supervisor at Branciforte Middle School.

"You have all of the affiliates of the labor council—the CUTU [United Transportation Union] is there, SEIU [Service Employee International Union] is here, of course, AFT and CTA [California Teachers Union], U.S. Steel—we're all here.”

Leaflets circulated through the crowd to explain the protesters' grievances. They expressed solidarity with public employees in Wisconsin, recently divested of collective bargaining rights, and opposed budget cuts that would negatively effect health care, the Environmental Protection Agency, housing assistance programs and public education.

“What I'm seeing from signs and talking to people, it's making sure that folks understand that the economic crisis was created by Wall Street and the banks, and not by us—that it shouldn't be fixed on our backs, and we need to support public workers, because public workers support us," said Glen Schaller, political coordinator of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. 

The protesters held out against drizzle and downpour. Some wore bright red jackets; others wore purple ponchos donated by SEIU Local 521.

 “My father belonged to a union down in L.A. in the '40s, and he was fired for union activities, like in 1949,” said Santa Cruz resident Cathe Palkovic Lieb. "I think that unions help to keep people safe; I think that they help to keep people strong.” 

Cars flowed around the rally in the intersection, and horns honked so loudly and constantly that the crowd below the tower was nearly drowned out.

Representatives of SEIU, MoveOn.org, the Greater Santa Cruz Federation of Teachers (GSCFT) and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (H.E.R.E.) made speeches to the crowd.

“We're going to get a chance to watch Wisconsin remove some of these state senators, and then they get to remove the legislation, and in two years they're making sure they can recall Scott Walker and remove Scott Walker,” Glen Schaller said, referring to that state's governor.

Speakers attacked cuts to education spending and social services on the national and local level.

“Schools are falling apart,"said MoveOn.org representative Deirdre De Jardins. "Universities are reducing the number of students at the same time workers need to go back and retrain and figure how they're going to fit into the new economy. We can't do this. The recently proposed Republican budget, if enacted, would mean firing 65,000 teachers, killing 700,000 jobs and sending 10,000 veterans into homelessness.” 

The speakers encouraged union members and community members to spread information about upcoming local labor rallies and a national day of action on April 1. They also drew parallels between today's political atmosphere and recent history.

“It's similar, I think, to what we saw in 1991," said H.E.R.E Local 483 representative, Mark Weller, "when the Republicans, led by the Reagan administration, took a good shot at the private sector unions and public sector unions. And now they're gonna try it again, and we're not gonna let it happen, because we are one.” 

The most vocal speakers of the evening were teachers from Santa Cruz County.

“When principals and district administrators, either through lack of knowledge or through just wanting to ignore the law, wanted to take rights away from students with disabilities, I've never been afraid to go in and say to them, 'No, this is the way you have to do it,' because I always knew that I had my union behind me," said Casey Carlson, GSCFT political coordinator and Soquel High School teacher. "For me, as a 26-year special education teacher, my union is what has allowed me to be such a strong advocate for my students and their families.” 

Carlson pointed out that drastic cuts in public education have come at the same time that students are being asked to pass increasingly difficult tests, and districts face penalties for low test scores.

“I'm representing Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers 1936," said Jen Laskin, a teacher at Renaissance High School. "We represent 11,000 certificated employees in the Watsonville-Aptos area. We're being hit very hard by the recession and the budget cuts. We had 176-plus pink slips delivered over the past week. That's over 10 percent of our workforce.

“We have teachers that are saying, 'We are not Wisconsin,' yet, they're doing everything and more that they're asked to do. So the question is, when is enough enough?” Laskin said.

The message of the crowd was as mixed as its members, however, and many Santa Cruz residents were out to voice concern about local labor and social justice issues.

“We're down probably 30 percent of where we were when I first came on," said Santa Cruz Firefighter's Union 1716 member Dennis McDowell. "We're 100 percent union membership; we're down 30 percent personnel. We're doing way less service than we used to do. You know, it's just cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts.” 

Santa Cruz Metro bus driver Brenda Malphrus held a United Transportation Union banner with Elizabeth Woodbridge, president of UTU local 23.

“We're negotiating our contract April 1," said Malphrus. "Were concerned about cuts, increase in fares, our ridership, our salaries and insurance. We're concerned about everything. We just want to stand together united. And we will succeed."

Not everyone present in the crowd was content with the rally.

“I feel good about the rally, of just bringing people together, but I'm sitting here just thinking and dwelling on my community, African-American community,” said Santa Cruz resident Curtis Reliford, who has driven supplies cross-country to devastated communities in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“Let's take this to a different level and go to where the people are really hurting. And show them that, 'Hey, you're not left behind,'” Reliford said.

He said he was dissatisfied with the narrow scope of the protest and implied that focusing on the middle and working classes excluded people out of work and struck by poverty.

Laskin, the Pajaro teacher, expressed similar concerns as the rally ended around 7 p.m. and protesters trickled away to their parked cars and warm homes.

“I think people that are members of unions don't understand how privileged and lucky they are to be members of a union. Our power, and our energy has been eroded over time as unionists, and we've just fallen for it. We've been busted.

“Rich people aren't gonna vote their own wealth away. We're gonna have to hit the lower middle class, get those folks registered. 'Cause that's the way s---'s gonna change."