By Peter Whoriskey and Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 28, 2011; 12:10 AM
Wisconsin budget battle: Protesters rally against anti-union bill
Demonstrators at the Capitol building in Madison are protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's proposed legislation to cut public employees' benefits and eliminate most of their collective bargaining rights.
COLUMBUS, OHIO - Across Ohio last week, the legislative push to restrict the union rights of government workers was greeted again and again by noisy protests.
But in this state dotted with manufacturing plants and their locals, this may have been more striking: At least some elected officials normally sympathetic to industrial unions were questioning whether they should side with government workers.
"I believe in what unions do, but as an elected official I represent the taxpayers," said Jeff Berding, a registered Democrat on the Cincinnati City Council who ran as an independent after he opposed the party on a union issue. "I'm trying to get the best deal for them."
