Utah rally advances 'We Are One' events supporting labor and civil rights on Monday
SALT LAKE CITY — Ralliers filled the steps of the Utah State Capitol Saturday morning, showing support for organized labor and advancing Monday's "We Are One" events across the country that will remember the April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Wisconsin continues to be a focal point to workers' rights issues because of a partisan effort to curb most state workers' collective-bargaining rights as a way of cutting wages. Similar actions followed Ohio and are on the legislative agenda in Florida as cash-strapped states look for ways to improve their bottom line.
In Utah, unions see threats from the Legislature, including the recently repealed HB 477, which would have limited the public's access to communications involving state lawmakers.
Jim Judd, president of the Utah AFL-CIO, said lawmakers are taking advantage of a down economy to attack the wages of the middle class. "The sad part is many of these administrators, governors and state legislators are looking at taking away a long-established process where they get together, discuss, meet and confer over issues and make decisions, in favor of governors being able to unilaterally impose their will on those employees."