Thursday, May 26, 2005

Labor takes it to Arnold's doorstep

rallysignarnoldbusin#251834
On May 25, over 10,000 nurses, teachers, firefighters, other state workers, families and friends rallied at the Capitol in Sacramento to let the Governator know that he can't balance the budget out of their earnings. In the interests of his Wall Street contributors, Arnold wants to "reform" state government in ways that undercut the working people whose work makes the state a good place to live. He threatens to call a $70 million special election this fall to push initiatives that would change legislative districting in mid-decade, weaken teacher tenure and empower the Governor to override the Legislature on budget matters.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that protesters charged "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policy agenda shortchanges schoolchildren and undermines the fabric of California's poor and middle class. . . At the Capitol on Wednesday, firefighters, teachers, nurses and others -- many wearing the insignias of their professions -- stood under a sweltering late- afternoon sun and, in the most charged and personal rhetoric yet, fired back."

I was privileged to work with the California Nurses Association on building the rally and captured some of the spirit of the event in pictures.

rallysignteacherforsmall

rallysignCHPmedic!
This California Highway Patrol medic seemed to enjoy being with other workers speaking up for his pension rights!


rallysignmeritpay
One of Arnold's proposals would give bonus to some teachers, opening the way for favoritism and cronyism.


rallysignkindergartenterm
Last year the Governor "borrowed" $2 billion from mandated education funds and promised to pay it back this year. Now he has broken his promise!


rallysignfuerher

nursesatrally!

rallysignbadactor

rallysigncopafeel

rallysignpatientsinterest

rallysignpubliced

rallysignscream

capitolhorsecopfemale!
The Capitol Police and their horses enjoyed the day as well.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome job. Followed the link from dkos. Thank you!

faboo mama said...

Good job, Jan. Loved the pics!

Anonymous said...

Got this link from dkos. Great photos, uplifting message.

An eighth circle of hell belongs to me because I (I'm an Independent who votes 99.9% democrat) voted for Herr Governator. Perhaps I was feverish, but having crossed paths with him professionally and knowing him as a good businessman, I thought, "What the hell, he's more likely than anyone else to get CA out of its fiscal mess."

Yeah yeah yeah, I should have listened to all of you. But truly, WHO KNEW he's turn on teachers, cops & firefighters? Smart businessman? I certainly don't think so anymore. Narcissistic sociopathic dictator-wanna-be? Yeah, that sounds more like it!

I'm all about getting him out - no longer a CA resident, but on all of your sides!

Keep the protests coming!

And mea culpa, please forgive me.

Anonymous said...

Got this link from dkos. Great photos, uplifting message.

An eighth circle of hell belongs to me because I (I'm an Independent who votes 99.9% democrat) voted for Herr Governator. Perhaps I was feverish, but having crossed paths with him professionally and knowing him as a good businessman, I thought, "What the hell, he's more likely than anyone else to get CA out of its fiscal mess."

Yeah yeah yeah, I should have listened to all of you. But truly, WHO KNEW he's turn on teachers, cops & firefighters? Smart businessman? I certainly don't think so anymore. Narcissistic sociopathic dictator-wanna-be? Yeah, that sounds more like it!

I'm all about getting him out - no longer a CA resident, but on all of your sides!

Keep the protests coming!

And mea culpa, please forgive me.

teh l4m3 said...

Great entry. So much better than mine...My pics are still getting developed. Grrr!

I was there with the CSEA (go classifieds!)

I'm sure you caught the firefighter's flag being flown out that front window...Pretty frickin' awesome!

NYC Educator said...

Great story, great pictures.

I always knew Ah-nold was a stooge for the Bushies. It's good to see California is catching on.

Thanks for sharing CA labor's POV!!