On Sunday, Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Educational Association Council, instructed the teachers in her union to return to the classroom after many of them skipped school for three days last week. The unexpected move energized Republicans in Wisconsin, who took it as a sign that negative public reaction to the “sick-out” is making a difference.
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Or perhaps they don’t need the numbers because the unions are bringing in additional reinforcements. Madison, one of the most liberal cities in the United States, is a town always in search of a cause. So having a union protest there is like having a Rally for the Troops at Fort Benning.
But labor groups and Democratic Party organizations from outside the state have been sending people to Madison for the demonstrations. Below is an email from the Chicago Teachers Union, which is sending a bus first thing Monday for the day’s events. The CTU twitter feed posted a message Saturday evening, saying: “CTU