More than 4,300 union members, supporters and activists turned out for a Solidarity/Anti-corporate-greed rally in St. Louis on Friday [March 11]. In conservative Missouri, 4,000 liberal activists in one place is a very big deal.
The demonstrators filled downtown St. Louis' Kiener Plaza, more typically the site for rallies supporting the St. Louis baseball Cardinals and football Rams. This time, though, the demonstrators were rallying against a slew of anti-worker, anti-union bills making their way through the Missouri legislature. Example A: a bill that would roll back the cost-of-living adjustment to Missouri's minimum wage [currently a whopping $7.25/hr]--something that was approved by voter referendum in 2006 by 76% of Missouri voters. Example B: A union-busting right-to-work bill. Example C: a bill that would gut Missouri's child-labor laws, sponsored by a state legislator who thinks that the state should not come between parents and their children to decide when a child is old enough to work!
For the St. Louis progressive community, the rally was an energizing event that is sure to spark more action. [Too bad the primary mainstream-media newspaper, the once-vaunted St. Louis Post-Dispatch, gave the event almost zero coverage. Fortunately, other local media outlets, like the St. Louis Beacon, get it.]
I've made a little video recap of scenes from the rally. Here it is. Thanks, Wisconsin.