Detroit:
A group of local ministers, community leaders, citizens and rank-and-file workers from across metro Detroit — a crowd several hundred strong — marched through downtown Detroit to Hart Plaza this evening for a rally promoted as a way to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but that also focused on worker rights.
West Bloomfield:
About 250 teachers and other union workers from around Metro Detroit stood arm-in-arm Monday during a candlelight vigil at West Bloomfield High School in remembrance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and to support collective bargaining in good faith.
Saginaw:
Union members and blue-collar workers showed up in numbers for the ‘We Are One’ campaign — part of a larger state-wide event to protest legislation to limit collective-bargaining rights of public workers in Wisconsin and Ohio.
There were 150 people at any given time taking part in the demonstration that was held at Borchard Park near the intersection of N. Michigan and Court in Saginaw Monday evening.
Muskegon:
More than 500 residents participated in a "We Are One" event in downtown Muskegon Monday afternoon, part of a series of national events organized to support the rights of working families on the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968.
Ann Arbor:
The cuts to public education in Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget continue to meet loud, boisterous opposition, this time at a rally on the University of Michigan campus on Monday.
Several hundred union members and supporters gathered on Ingalls Mall to mark the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. with activism of their own. With chants of “That’s not right” and “No budget cuts to education,” protesters made their opposition to Snyder’s plans loud and clear.
Escanaba:
Michigan faces an estimated 1.4 billion dollar shortfall. But the governor's solution to scale back that number is meeting resistance among labor groups.
Not a lot of detail out of Escanaba, but that's OK - the real action was right here in my little Leningrad on the Grand:
A group of young socialists from Grand Valley State University chanting “What’s disgusting? Union Busting!” were among a crowd of protesters picketing the State of Michigan building on 350 Ottawa Ave NW on Monday.
About 200 automotive workers, firefighters, film makers, teachers, postal workers and unemployed people, each with their own set of grievances, attended the protest.
See? Socialists! Real ones! Right here! Front and center!
Move over Ann Arbor, it appears there's a new commie pinko lefty capital in this state. Who would've guessed?
All in all, very nice turnout everywhere for a Monday in April. Good job folks, and keep it up - it's a long way 'til November of '12.