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Union Protests Of Conservative Group Summit In Columbus

Union protesters outside the Americans for Prosperity summit in Columbus. (Statehouse Bureau)

The conservative Americans for Prosperity summit is in Columbus this weekend. The group is the flagship organization for billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, and was set to feature five GOP presidential candidates.  Some union groups came out to protest.  Statehouse reporter Jo Ingles has more.

More than 3000 union workers - teachers, nurses, skilled trades workers - from all over Ohio and other states rallied near the Columbus Convention Center, where five Republican candidates were set to speak Friday and Saturday. AFL-CIO President Tim Burga threw red meat to the crowd...

"Their plan is more tax breaks for the rich (crowd yells no), golden parachutes for Wall Street (crowd yells no), offshoring of our jobs (crowd yells no). They want to take away collective bargaining, they want to take away prevailing wage. Does this sound like the American dream to you? (crowd chants no)."

A parade of protesters, including a giant puppet of candidate Scott Walker, marched toward the event, forcing the street to close.

The crowd dispersed about an hour later.