ICYMI: Local Candidates and Union Leaders Hold Press Conference in Green Bay Highlighting Democrats’ Fight for Labor Rights in Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. — Today, State Senate candidate Jamie Wall and State Assembly candidate Christy Welch were joined by local union leaders for a press conference in Green Bay to highlight Democrats’ long-standing commitment to unions and workers, as well as their plans to restore union rights and enhance family-supporting benefits for Wisconsinites state-wide.
Speakers highlighted that for over a decade, Wisconsin Republicans have attacked workers and the unions that represent them, while Democrats have stood up for workers and unions. From passing Scott Walker’s Act 10 and the anti-union ‘Right to Work’ law, to their refusal to pass worker-first bills such as Paid Family Medical Leave, Wisconsin Republicans are happy to leave workers behind. But while Republicans attack workers’ rights, Wisconsin Democrats are leading the way to support working Wisconsinites. Wisconsin Democrats are fighting to retake majorities in the State Legislature to roll back Scott Walker’s anti-union policies, restore workers’ voice in the workplace, and give power back to the people.
Watch the press conference here and see what speakers had to say, in part, below:
Greater Green Bay Labor Council President Steve McFarlane: “We have no productivity from our [Republican-controlled] State Legislature at all […] and we need to change that. We need to have candidates that are in there who respond to the constituents, that do things for the constituents—and helping labor helps working families from top to bottom. […] We’re all workers.”
Secretary for AFSCME State Council 32 Fluffy Aerts: “We were cut off at the knees to bargain—to sit at the table with our employers for hours, wages, and working conditions. […] We would like to get back to negotiating with our employers fairly at the table. […] We have to overturn Act 10, and that’s where the Democrats come in. They are for this. Republicans don’t like unions at all. We’ve talked to them. They don’t believe in unions.”
State Assembly Candidate Christy Welch: “If there’s any confusion about which party is on the side of working people, Democrats are always voting in favor of assisting them so they can get good wages and be able to support their families in a way that allows them to thrive. While Republicans waged a decade-long attack on labor and unions, Democrats fought to the end to support unions and the workers they represent—we know that unions built the middle class and unions built Wisconsin. Thanks to our new fair maps, voters across Wisconsin this November will have a real choice up and down the ballot to support pro-union, pro-worker, and pro-family candidates who will fight to rebuild the middle class, restore workers’ rights, and move Wisconsin forward.”
State Senate Candidate Jamie Wall: “There are some people today in the Republican Party who like to talk about how they’re tribunes [of] the middle class and the working class, but when the rubber actually meets the road, where it actually counts—which is doing things and not talking about them—we’ve seen consistently that one party, my party, has stood on the side of regular people, of working families, and the other party, the Republican Party, has chosen not to. They have a different set of priorities and a different vision of what this country should look like. And it’s not a vision that works for regular people here in the Green Bay area or across the state of Wisconsin.”
###