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US union boss: Wisconsin bill 'corruption of democracy'
Police removed protesters from the capitol on Thursday, the day after the bill passed the Senate A key US union leader has attacked a "corruption of democracy" after the Wisconsin senate approved a plan to strip public-sector unions of most of their collective bargaining rights.
Senate Republicans used a procedural move to pass the bill on Wednesday.
AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka hit out as Republicans readied for a final vote on Governor Scott Walker's plan.
Police have been ejecting demonstrators from the state capitol building after weeks of mass protests.
Governor Walker and Republicans say the bill is necessary to help the state balance its budget deficit.
"This is about protecting the middle class and doing it in a way that avoids massive tax increases and massive lay-offs," Governor Walker said on Thursday, adding the bill would give local governments the "tools" they needed to balance their own budgets.
But the plan has prompted weeks of protests in support of public workers.
Protesters flood capitolThe US state's 14 Democratic senators had sought to prevent the bill moving forward by fleeing the state, leaving the chamber short of the number needed for a vote.
But Republicans used a procedural move to allow them to vote on the measure in committee instead on Wednesday evening.
Crowds of protesters swamped the state capitol in Madison following the vote.
But Gov Walker predicted the state House - the lower legislative chamber - would approve the bill on Thursday and he said he would sign it as quickly as he was able.
The state faces a $3.6bn (£2.23bn) budget deficit in the coming two-year period. The bill on labour unions would affect rubbish collectors, teachers, nurses, prison guards and other public workers.
Democrats, labour unions and their supporters, who disparage the bill as an attack on labour unions and on the middle class, spent three weeks protesting at the state capitol building.
On Thursday, Mr Trumka, head of one of the largest labour union coalitions in the US, told reporters the Republican move had engendered solidarity among union supporters.
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Posted on: Thursday, March 10, 2011 11:41 PM
Author: BBC News - Home
Subject: Unions hit out at Wisconsin vote
| A key US union leader attacks a "corruption of democracy" after the Wisconsin senate approves a plan to strip public unions of most collective bargaining rights. |
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