LABOR SUPPORTERS PROTEST ANTI-UNION WISCONSIN GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER OKLA. CITY VISIT

OKLAHOMA CITY - The dreary commute to the Oklahoma City metro area was once again interrupted several times this week by the “freeway bloggers” (as they are locally known). The “bloggers” broadcast a statement from the ad hoc “Scott Walker Welcoming Committee,” a radical group reportedly operating within the larger labor movement to revive Oklahoma’s historic Working Class Union.  The WCU’s Welcoming Committee message was clear – that Oklahomans stand in solidarity with the workers of Wisconsin – and across the nation. The banners, which appeared in three cities across the state along with a colorful poster depicting Walker. The banners were a clear reference to the latest insult from Republican and Democrat legislators in the “Sooner State” to Oklahoma’s union workers. The slight came from the State House where lawmakers abolished the previous Oklahoma State motto, “Labor Omnia Vincit” (Labor Conquers All) and replaced it with the neo-Theocrats “In God We Trust.”

Oklahoma’s organized labor community, which has endured a steady onslaught of neo-Conservative anti-union legislation from state law makers on the corporate “take” geared-up for Walker’s arrival weeks in advance. According to representatives from the Oklahoma Central Labor Council, hundreds of hotels rooms were booked, and thousands of labor supporters committed to participating in a protest of Walker’s presence.

Members of the regional “Occupy” groups, which had lost considerable popular support due to infighting between extreme anarchist and libertarian factions, also appeared to have gained a second wind through uniting with the labor activists at the rally. As organizers and supporters of the protest, both union members and non-union members alike have indicated to OWM that the demonstration against Walker was intended as a signal of a new spirit of solidarity in defense of Oklahoma’s struggling work force and a more forceful sense of focus intent on encouraging everyone concerned with issues of democratic accountability, dignity for workers and rights for the largely impoverished Oklahoma population.