Pete Seeger added his voice, banjo, guitar, and boundless energy to a union workers' gathering in Rock Tavern on a bitter cold afternoon three years ago. The rally was organized by the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation in support of public workers in Wisconsin. We went as part of the teachers union. I shot video and my wife, Denise, took pictures.
It was March 3, 2011, and protests like this were organized all over the country in response to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s proposal, two weeks earlier, for a “budget repair bill” that would fix a $137 million gap in the state budget by erasing the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers. The bitterly fought bill was voted on, signed, and rushed into law by March 11. Scott Walker’s 2010 election campaign and his assault on unions had been heavily bankrolled and promoted by the secretive billionaire Koch brothers.
Pete Seeger exercised civic courage throughout his life, fighting for social justice, human dignity, and the environment, almost always with a grin on his face. He will be especially missed here in the Hudson Valley.
It was March 3, 2011, and protests like this were organized all over the country in response to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s proposal, two weeks earlier, for a “budget repair bill” that would fix a $137 million gap in the state budget by erasing the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers. The bitterly fought bill was voted on, signed, and rushed into law by March 11. Scott Walker’s 2010 election campaign and his assault on unions had been heavily bankrolled and promoted by the secretive billionaire Koch brothers.
Pete Seeger exercised civic courage throughout his life, fighting for social justice, human dignity, and the environment, almost always with a grin on his face. He will be especially missed here in the Hudson Valley.
| Solidarity Forever (new lyrics by Jerry Ebert) The Governor of Wisconsin, must have been imagining, He’d eliminate the unions, and collective bargaining, Instead he’s stirred a bees’ nest, and we’ve just begun to sting, The union makes us strong. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh say we’re just a bunch of bums, With our contracts that protect us from the bad republicans, Since Glenn and Rush have contracts, they won’t be the only ones, Our contracts make us strong. The Koch Brothers will spend as many millions as they can On the Tea Party fanatics and the freaking Republicans, They'll piss away their fortune in a fight they cannot win, The union makes us strong. Solidarity forever, solidarity forever, solidarity forever, The union makes us strong. |  |
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