Overpass Protesters Target Palermo’s

About 100 people stood on a freeway overpass for an hour Monday night in Milwaukee, as a labor protest continued against a pizza making company.

As darkness fell, members of the overpass light brigade stood on a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 43. They carried lighted letters that spelled out “Palermo’s Negotiate!” Occasionally drivers whizzing underneath at 50 miles per hour honked a horn in support.

The Palermo’s company has been battling with dozens of striking workers who want to form a union. The company says it wants to discuss the matter with the AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Meanwhile, the light brigade’s Joe Brusky says the act of holding signs over a freeway is a tactic to tell the strikers’ point of view. “For us it’s a way to get messages out that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to get out to people. And going over the freeway we get a lot of people that see our messages who otherwise wouldn’t be able to see them.”

One of Monday night’s protestors was Rosemarie Molina, a United Steelworkers organizer from Los Angeles. She is trying to get more stores to boycott Palermo’s products during the labor dispute. Molina says the freeway protest helps the strikers. “Education first, read up on the issue. And, then hopefully this going to push consumers and Palermo’s to get what we want.”

Last week, a deputy sheriff from Milwaukee County briefly took away Molina’s camera phone while trying to break up another overpass protest. Molina has filed a complaint against the county. Last night, there was no obvious law enforcement presence until the light brigade came off the pedestrian bridge.