Student Speaker at Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Rally

Run time: 03:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUWgEJYmfno   Posted on YouTube: February 17, 2011 By YouTube Member: UnitedCouncil1 Views on YouTube: 98   Posted on DU: February 18, 2011 By DU Member: Joanne98 Views on DU: 692

 
UW-Eau Claire student body President Dylan Jambrek speaks to a crowd of thousands outside Wisconsin's Capitol King St. entrance on 2/17/2011. Protesters have been rallying at the Capitol for four days (starting with a much smaller student rally on Valentine's day) about the budget repair bill introduced last Friday that would affect all public employees, including our professors and university employees, by giving them a huge cut to their take-home pay to cover more pension plans and healthcare costs. More importantly, it would remove their rights to collective bargaining for salary and other benefits. If the right to collective bargaining is taken away, the University of Wisconsin System would see more and more of its highly qualified employees leave to teach or work at other universities that can offer them more desirable compensation packages. UW-Eau Claire faculty voted last academic year to begin collective bargaining, making Dylan's speech particularly profound.

I hope this is only the beginning.