Hundreds+Attend+Pittsburgh+Rally+to+Support+Labor,+Protest+Gas+Drilling

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As many as 500 protesters filled Downtown sidewalks and, briefly, office lobbies and streets, Monday afternoon for a "We Are One" labor rally.
==The Downtown event seeking support for a number of causes was timed to mark the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who was killed in Memphis while supporting a sanitation workers strike there.== == ==

==Monday's demonstration was among hundreds of such "We Are One" rallies that were held in all 50 states. The rallies and 175 teach-ins were organized largely to protest the Republican-led efforts in Wisconsin and Ohio to curb bargaining for public employees.== ==The issues energizing demonstrators in Pittsburgh covered a lot of ground, from a call for a state severance tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production, to restoration of cuts to Port Authority transit service, opposition to education cuts in Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed budget, and, ultimately, to the "war" being waged against unions and workers that started in Wisconsin.== ==As disparate as it seemed, 10 speakers who ranged from labor leaders, to a University of Pittsburgh student, to an environmentalist, tried to tie them together, arguing that it all came down to government favoring corporate interests ahead of regular working people.== =="They started this war -- the corporations, the Republicans," Jack Shea, Allegheny County Labor Council president, told the crowd, which roared in approval when he added: "We will not turn the other cheek."== ==The event began in front of EQT Plaza in the 600 block of Liberty Avenue, a location chosen because it's the headquarters for EQT Corp., one of the state's most active Marcellus Shale natural gas drillers.==

Rally organizers wanted to make the point that natural gas drillers still don't pay a state severance tax, despite a boom in natural gas production in the state.
=="We're asking them to pay a tax and start contributing to a solution for the [state's] budget crisis," said Gabe Morgan, Pennsylvania director for building service union 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union.==

In an admittedly theatrical point that rally organizers have used before in other locations, after the speeches, Mr. Morgan tried to enter the building and deliver a "PAST DUE" notice to EQT.
==The three-foot tall oversized bill symbolically asked the company and other drillers to pay $117 million that collectively would have paid last year if there was even a minimal, industry-friendly tax in place.==

But building security refused to admit Mr. Morgan or take the bill.
==EQT spokesman Kevin West later said the company would have been happy to meet with rally organizers if they had called in advance, but, meeting in the lobby during a rally "probably wasn't the best forum."== ==Last year, former EQT chief executive officer and president Murry Gerber said EQT supported a severance tax on natural gas production, as has the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group which represents EQT and most of the state's largest drillers.== ==But Mr. Corbett has said he will not support a severance tax, though he is open to a fee on drillers that would send some revenue to communities where drilling is occurring -- something Mr. West said EQT supports.==

After the rally, Mr. Morgan said EQT could do more.
=="I understand that they can hide behind the governor" and say they can't get a severance tax, Mr. Morgan said. "But they should use their status and power and influence to push for a tax. All across the state people are paying their taxes and all we're trying to do is get [natural gas companies] to pay their fair share."== ==Led by a police escort, demonstrators, some carrying signs that read "Stop Taking From My Kids - Tax the Gas," traveled down Liberty Avenue to Fifth Avenue and then marched east to Piatt Place at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street where Mr. Corbett has his Pittsburgh office.==

Neal Bisno, president of the SEIU's Healthcare Pennsylvania unit said: "This is the beginning of a nation moving to stand up for the middle class and hold corporate America accountable."
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=Battleground Pittsburgh=

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