February 16, 2011

'We won't back down,' Mason tells Capitol protestors

 Mason addressing protestors at the State Capitol Wednesday
Photo by Capitol Photographer Ting-Li Wang

Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, referenced John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill as he told protestors at the State Capitol Wednesday night, "We won't back down."

Speaking to thousands of teachers, students, public employees and other taxpayers at a rally in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's "budget repair" bill that would all-but-eliminate collective bargaining for state workers -- taking everything off the table except wages -- Mason said the governor is going too far, especially since Wisconsin was the first state, in 1959, to give public employees the right to unionize.

Here's Mason's speech:
I want to begin tonight by thanking all the people that are here to fight non-violently for workers’ rights. I have never been more proud to be a citizen of this state and this country than I am right now standing here in solidarity with all of you.

Tonight, we stand on the shoulders of previous generations who fought and died for the rights that are threatened here today.

We stand on the shoulders of the workers who were killed by the National Guard in the Bayview massacre fighting for an eight-hour work day.

We stand on the shoulders of the men and women of the AFL-CIO who fought for collective bargaining in the private sector in passing the National Labor Relations Act.

We stand on the shoulders of Eleanor Roosevelt, who worked to pass the UN charter on human rights, a document that includes the rights of workers to organize.

We stand on the shoulders of countless leaders and rank and file members who have negotiated in good faith with their employers and brought democracy to the work place.

Most importantly, we stand on the shoulders of the men and women of Wisconsin who in 1959 made Wisconsin the first state to recognize the right of public employees to unionize.

Tonight, we gather, in the winter of our discontent, to stop the most anti-worker legislation in Wisconsin history. I say again: we are here to stop the most anti-worker legislation in Wisconsin history.

Every generation is called upon to fight for the rights it inherited and improve these rights for the future. Brothers and sisters, this is the fight of our generation.

We must stand in solidarity against Governor Walker’s attack on workers because he goes too far.

When Governor Walker tries to undo 50 years of labor peace, he goes too far.

When Walker eliminates health insurance for unrepresented workers, he goes too far.

When Walker destroys the bargaining rights for health care workers and UW faculty and academic taff, he goes too far.

When Walker threatens the health and safety of public employees who literally put their lives on the line to keep us safe, he goes too far.

When a Washington Post columnist compares Walker to the deposed Egyptian dictator, he goes too far.

When Walker would rather plan to call in the National Guard instead of manning up and negotiating with the workers who serve the citizens of the state, he goes too far.

This is history in the making. Yesterday a reporter asked me if I was excited about Walker’s political misstep and what that could mean for the 2012 election. I told him I would gladly trade any electoral advantage to maintain the rights of Wisconsin workers.

Rarely are we as Legislators called upon to make decisions with so much consequence for the rights of our citizens.

And in these cynical times in which many believe the outcome of this debate is a foregone conclusion, I am calling upon the independent-minded Legislators in the Republican Party to listen to the people who are here today and communicating with you back home.

This is a profile in courage moment. It is a moment to transcend the advantage of partisan politics and November elections, and do right by the people who sent us here: our constituents.

I am asking for courageous Republicans to come forward, join us, and save us from the brink.

Because I can tell from the spirit in the crowd today and now — we won’t back down.

To paraphrase someone else once under siege: We will fight them in these streets and in the hearing rooms. We will fight them in the Capitol and in our communities. We will fight them in the smallest town to the biggest city.

Until reason holds sway over this extreme anti-worker proposal will not surrender and we won’t back down.

Until the Governor listens to the thousands of voices here and around the state, standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity, we won’t back down.

Even under the Governor’s threat of calling out the National Guard, we won’t back down.
Until we draw our last breath, we won’t back down.

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42 comments:

  1. Sigh well at least he is working for those who pay him to screw the rest of us will he tell us how we are going to pay the bill for the unions he so loves? Say goodnight Corry

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  2. Will The Post do a story about the illegal labor actions that the teachers are doing?

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  3. How does eliminating collective bargaining rights save anyone money? The unions have made concessions in the past, but Walker is afraid of even trying to negotiate, oh brave anonymous commentators on the internet.

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  4. Public employees will have the same bargaining rights the rest of us have: they can go elsewhere. You all are so convinced that you are underpaid compared to the private sector, now you're welcome to see for yourself.

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  5. It is ironic that republican­s want to take rights away from workers in this country as they speak about the need for democracy in other countries.
    Taking rights away from workers to organize is not freedom. If workers want to organize they should be allowed.

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  6. The Falacy of Unions I've seen it first hand. Everyone knows that Unions protect the lazy, and poor worker, good workers are told to produce less rather than make others look bad. It is a culture of the mediocre (that means "barely adequate" for Union members) Watch the Union"Brother" scramble and when there is a layoff, bumping each other out of jobs, taking a job away from another "Brother or Sister" All the protections for employees exist in the Laws of our Great Country. Enough is Enough. Union members...welcome to the real world, let's see if you can actually compete for your job. Novel Concept I bet.

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  7. So Cory is standing on Eleanor Roosevelt's shoulders? Is that so he can reach the podium?

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  8. The federal and state governments are broke. There is no longer the luxury of putting off fixing the financial issues. This past summer Europe had riots and protests in countries where entitlments and work rules were changed to reduce government costs. At that time some people I talked to said that wouldn't happen here when we had to change to resolve financial issues. I guess those people were wrong. The massive protests in Madison are a sign of why both parties put off dealing with the financial issues facing the state for so many years. As expected everyone affected is mad at the elected officials changing things rather than the elected officials of the past that let this all happen in the first place. I saw a video clip of Cory Mason whipping up the protesters yesterday. He is one who they should be mad at. He was trying to push new spending and fees into the last state budget at the last minute even as his own party was saying they couldn't add more programs. Government can not be everything to everyone. When people aren't working they can't pay the taxes that fund all the government jobs and benefits. This is what is being called the new normal.

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  9. "How does eliminating collective bargaining rights save anyone money?"

    Funny, this does not eliminate collective bargaining rights, but don't let the truth stand in your way.

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  10. "Funny, this does not eliminate collective bargaining rights, but don't let the truth stand in your way."

    Collective bargaining for state employees would be limited to wages. So they cannot have collective bargaining for benefits.

    Health Care, Pensions.

    Workers are being told they will no longer get a say in decisions about these things.

    They have every right to scream and yell.

    You want to balance the budget? You'll end up talking about money.

    If you're talking about collective bargaining - you're talking about power - and Gov. Walker wants an ongoing cede of power by the unions and he's pretending it's about cash.

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  11. Cory is a real embarrassment. First off the governor never threatened to call out the national guard. The governor answered a question asked if the national guard is part of a contingency plan. He said it was but that he wasn't planning to call them up. If Cory was a real leader he would have been in the capital trying to legislate rather than out with the protest. He sure doesn't represent me, even though I am in his district. He is part of the problem we have now. The Legislature, which he has been in for a number of years, has been spending instead of cutting back. Now we pay the price. Good work Cory. Many in your district blame you, the past legislature and governor not the present legislature and governor for this mess. It is time to step up and make some hard decisions rather than serving special interests.

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  12. My 84 year old Mother is better able to make hard choices then this parasite Cory.

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  13. Your 84 year old mother is one of those that will be hurt if Walker is allowed to proceed with his plan. Cory most likely cares more about her than Walker, give him some credit!

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  14. All bow down to the great garden gnome!

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  15. God bless you, Cory! Thanks!

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  16. Why do Republicans ONLY support worker rights for workers in other countries?
    Thanks Senate Dems!

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  17. fascism: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry and commerce.
    If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

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  18. Thank God someone with courage is fighting for working people. Stand up, Cory, and fight. How dare Walker decide he is going to close the budget gap - a gap created with tax cuts to the richest and handouts to corporations - on the backs of working people. I will vote for you again and work to get you elected to any office you seek. You make me proud!!

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  19. Thanks so much for this rousing speech. To those who say that public employees would have the same collective bargaining rights as the rest of that this is not the case. When I worked for a private business I could negotiate with my employer for my health insurance, I could negotiate about how many hours I would have to work, and I could negotiate for how much my salary would be (not limited by the consumer price index or with a required statewide vote). These are all things that public employees could not be able to do under this law. Instead Governor Walker is trying to dictate what the employers would even be allowed to negotiate with their employees over. That is not the working conditions that are necessarily there for private employees.

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  20. Cory, Fight! Fight! Solidarity and thank you so much!

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  21. Walker is a Koch puppet. The TPrepublicans are stabbing public employees in the back. He wants to stop collective bargaining to bust the unions because they fight for working families and they get out the vote for the Democrates. Stopping collective bargaining is to silence our voices. The stiffling of the American people is another REPUBLICAN DEATH PANEL

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  22. How can Mason say he is for unions with a straight face. Doyle, Mason and the rest of the dems never made a noise when the president's team shut down GM in Janesville, Chyrsler in Kenosha and Delphi in Oak Creek. All those jobs went out of the US and not a peep from Madison. I bet all those union folks would like to have a chance to take some benefit reductions instead of losing their jobs. Ask the smaller Delphi unions how they faired with their retirements. You will learn the smaller unions lost 75% of their pensions due to the Washington actions. Still not a peep from Mason and the dems. I can't imagine how the president, Mason or the dems are able to say that they look out for unions in Wisconsin.

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  23. Elaine Marie Kinch2/20/2011 2:07 PM

    Wonderful to hear, Cory, your speaking so eloquently for us and for democracy!
    Racine Post: My wish is that someday you only allow people who admit who they are to post a comment. If a person really means what they say, then they should stand behind what they say by telling us who they are.
    Thank you, Elaine Marie Kinch

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  24. Thanks Cory,

    I feel honored that you represent me. I've never been a union member, and I am honored. I've worked in the private sector, and I am honored. I am an elected official, and I am honored.

    The gov really messed this one up badly. So is he saying that local government should keep spending the bucks with fire and police, then take big bucks away from all the vulnerable public employees?

    Hope something rational comes out of this mess.

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  25. Walker is nothing but the anti-union Waxtrash Corporate Crime Family's political puppet. We all know which local oligarchic clan controls this state, runs this pathetic city and grinds anyone who isn't part of its cash-cadging clique into the muck. The ceraceous slickers have been planning this for generations. Down with the John-Swines!

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  26. Behind the Carnauba Court there lurk even viler dollar-sign dynasties. For starters, there are the Koch brothers, whose filthy father funded the John Birch Society. Then there are the Coors, Busch, Huntsman, Heinz and Trump clans. Billionaire boardroom bullies--NOT public employees' unions--brought us the present crisis.

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  27. Deregulatory policies implemented by the Reaganauts and other supply-siders caused the current depression. If Walker truly needs more money for the state treasury, let him visit Wind Point to shake down the worst a-thieve-rs in Wisconsin: The House of Wax!

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  28. Corporate kleptoplutocrats--not unuionized workers--are the common man's enemies.

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  29. The filthy porker-ations have been here in Ameri-KKK since its vile colonial beginning. Never forget that Jamestown (1607)was run by and for the Virginia Company of London. After the colonists failed to discover gold and further enrich the British oligarchy, they turned to growing tobacco. By 1619--a year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth--the colonists were buying Black slaves from the Dutch. Corporate corruption got in on the ground floor and has tainted AmeriKKK from its inception. It is time to bring down the capitalist system and replace it with economic democracy. The current system, which values money more than humanity, must go!

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  30. May Walker walk into well-merited oblivion together with his masters, the cash-cadging Koch brothers. (By the way, the Kochs have opened a lobbyist office in Madison. I guess they want to keep an eye on their bought-and-paid-for political puppet.)

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  31. Hey, hey! Ho,ho! Scott the Snot has got to go!

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  32. May Walker walk to prison/ from his cushy lair./They've got nice suits there for him/ and they'll even cut his hair.

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  33. Walker should go to the calaboose instead of Cali!

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  34. When we lock Weirdo Walker up, let's throw away the key.

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  35. To the slammer with that scammer!

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  36. MNemo to the Victims of Racine's Corporate Predators: When you incarcerate Walker and the Kochs, make sure that the Johnsons, the Leipolds, the Boyds and other locally-based oppressors join them in jail.

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  37. "MNemo" should read "Memo." Sorry about the typo.

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  38. Walker should kick his Koch habit. Ditto Hell-Loon Waxtrash Lipoff, Crack-the-Whip Lipoff, Risk Waxtrash, Hurt-Us Waxtrash and the Mink Coated Mega-Moolah Matriarch (I'm-Obscene Purse Waxtrash).

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  39. Anyone who thinks that honest people accumulate fortunes is either crazy or naive. It's time for American workers to wise up and rise up against The Man and his kleptoplutocratic system.

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  40. Corpocracy must go! Although Wisconsin may be open for business, it's not for sale.

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  41. Walker must resign. (Don't worry--his masters the Kochs can always use an extra butler.)

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  42. Scott will look cute in his butler suit.

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