AFSCME Retirees Send a Powerful Message

AFSCME Chapter 31 retirees sent a very direct message to legislators as part of the Responsible Budget Coalition rally on April 21.  Retirees packed the House gallery, where observers are permitted to watch the proceedings when the House of Representatives is in session.  And just as they can watch what’s happening on the House floor, they are in plain view of the legislators who are down on the floor.

More than 80 AFSCME retirees took the opportunity to give the legislators something to see.  As legislators plowed through their deliberations, the retirees stood up as a group and unfurled signs saying “Put People before Politics” and “Responsible Budget Now”.  Apparently that wasn’t a message legislators wanted to hear, because the retirees were then ejected from the gallery by the Capitol security!

They then headed downstairs to join the RBC rally in the Capitol rotunda—where they were greeted with thunderous applause.