May Day in Superior: No Cuts to the UW!

This year to mark International Workers Day, workers and activists held a rally in Superior, Wisconsin.  The theme of this year's May Day protest was opposition to the proposes $300 million cuts to the University of Wisconsin system.

About three dozen people attended the event at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.  The first part of the event was a powerful rally with the following speakers: Michael Raino, Kym Young, Scott Wallace, Meghan Krausch and Joel Sipress. 

Afterwards there was a march through campus with chanting, culminating with a picket at the intersection of Belknap Street and Catlin Ave.

These proposed budget cuts are the largest that Wisconsin universities have faced in their history. The planned cuts will come as a pair of $150 million cuts in each of the next two years.  

This will inevitably lead to numerous layoffs, slashing of programs and a deterioration of our education system. Republican Governor Scott Walker's proposed cuts come on top of hundreds of millions of dollars in previous cuts he has already made, as well as those of his Democratic predecessor, Jim Doyle. 

Elsewhere, May Day protests were held across the world involving millions of workers.  In the U.S. there were a variety of protest themes from raising the minimum to $15/hour, to immigrant rights, to Black lives matter.  The Minneapolis May Day protest encompassed all three themes.  

Here is a brief youtube clip from that event: