Local Rally Held For Wisconsin Workers

Utica, NY (WIBX) - While no one attended Utica's public hearing on the budget Tuesday, more than two dozen people were rallying in Utica against the state of Wisconsin's budget.

The event was organized by Kevin Nugent, a regional coordinator with MoveOn.org.

He says the group is upset about what's happening to public workers in Wisconsin, while at the same time corporations are getting tax breaks and public programs are being eliminated.

"I think the thing that's offensive about it is that it's happening at the same time. The proposed Republican budget would cut $1.3 billion from comunity health centers. And, that money is essentially going to a tax cut for a big corporation. So it's like the redistribution of weatlth, but from the poor to the rich. It's backward," Nugent said.

Nugent says members of the New Hartford Teachers Association were on hand, along with other union members and their children.

"The American Dream really is to live a middle class life. The middle class was built by unionists, people who organized and fought for fare wages and affordable health care. To undo 40 or 50 years of hard work by labor unions, really undoes the American Dream," said Jamie McNair, president of the New Hartford Teachers Association.