Standoff In Wisconsin square

"It was really cool, I took a call from Cairo in Pennsylvania, put the phone down and immediately took one from Cairo, Egypt!" The words of a server at Ian's Pizza restaurant here on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin. The restaurant tweeted that they'd accept donations from people who might be prepared and willing to feed the thousands of protesters camped out in and around the state's Capitol building located just up the hill.

 

To Ian's surprise they began receiving pledges to pay for water, soda and pizza from all over the world. The names of more than 30 countries are chalked up on the black board behind the counter, including Morocco, Turkey and even - and I love this bit - Egypt. Yes, you've got to believe that protesters from Tahrir Square are now buying deep-pan pies for people pushing back at the budget plans of Wisconsin's new Republican governor Scott Walker.

 

And there are thousands of them - hundreds camped out inside the Capitol itself - and 10 times more outside in noisy protest depending on the time of day.

 

It's a bitter battle between the right-of-centre governor who says the state is facing $3.6bn budget hole and the left-of-centre public employee union members who suspect he's exaggerating the problem to break their movement.

 

The workers have already offered to pay more towards their pension and benefit costs to help close the gap but they refuse to give ground on a clause in the Budget Repair Bill that would end unions' rights to collective bargaining - where a union official negotiates pay, benefits and health and safety issues on behalf of members.

 

The governor thinks such discussions take too long and tie his hands when it comes to spending state cash.The protesters feel he's trying to remove the one thing that gives them some clout against powerful political and corporate interests.

 

The standoff continues.

 

Meanwhile, 14 Democratic senators who left Wisconsin for a neighbouring state to avoid being dragged into a vote on the Budget Repair Bill have yet to return. 

 

The governor, however, has a plan to get them back. He's thinking about passing a law that would require the Democrats to collect their paychecks in person rather than receive them in the mail or via direct bank transfer. He's hoping that'll encourage them to return to the Capitol where state law means they're mandated to take part in the vote. Their presence would form a quorum and the Republican majority would guarantee the bill passes.

 

We know the governor's thinking about this because - whoops! - he was "prank called" by a blogger based in New York called The Buffalo Beast. The blogger published the call online and it quickly gained traction throughout the US media.

 

In the fake phone call governor Walker revealed the paycheck plan and other strategy measures in a conversation he thought he was having with conservative billionaire businessman David Koch who, along with his brother, gives cash to Republican groups that have a history of attacking trade union rights.

 

Among other things the governor joked about taking a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders and said it would be "outstanding" to be flown by Koch to California for a good time when all this is over and said he expects the anti-union movement to spread throughout the country.

 

Out on the streets of Madison the teachers, nurses, snow-plough drivers and technical staff keep coming. One woman told me her husband has been a devoted teacher in Wisconsin's state school system for 24 years but makes just $58,000 a year - a small amount in this country for a senior employee. She says he doesn't begrudge paying more for his pension and benefits - even though his take-home pay will drop to $52,000 - but the collective bargaining rights are non-negotiable.