In announcing the proposed legislation, Walker said the Wisconsin National Guard and other state agencies were prepared to prevent disruptions in state services. He later explained that police and firefighters were excluded from the changes because he would not jeopardize public safety. Walker stated that the bill was necessary to avoid laying off thousands of state employees and that no one should be surprised by its provisions. Union leaders and Democratic legislators immediately criticized the bill, claiming Walker had never campaigned on doing away with collective bargaining rights. In a media interview a week later, Walker said he was not trying to break the public sector unions, noting that Wisconsin government employees would retain the protections of civil service laws. He said that asking employees to pay half the national average for health care benefits was a modest request. Demonstrators began protesting the proposed bill on February 14, 2011. During the sixth day of the protests, leaders of the two largest unions said publicly they were prepared to accept the financial concessions in the bill, but would not agree to the limitations of collective bargaining rights.