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Republicans on the Wisconsin Senate's labor committee ended a public hearing on contentious right-to-work legislation early and sent the bill on to the full Senate Tuesday, enraging dozens of people who had been waiting all day to speak and sparking a demonstration in front of the Senate chamber.

The daylong hearing began at 10 a.m. Sen. Stephen Nass, a Whitewater Republican and the committee's chairman, had planned for it to last until 7 p.m. But around 6:20 p.m. he announced he was ending the hearing due to what he called a "credible threat" that union members planned to disrupt the proceeding.

"We're not going to take a chance," Nass told the crowd.

Dozens of people who had waited hours to speak leapt to their feet, shouting profanities. Nass called a vote on the bill over the din but it was impossible to hear the roll over chants of "Shame!" Nass' office said later the vote was 3-1. Sen. Chris Larson, a Milwaukee Democrat, did not vote, instead accusing Nass of "wimping out."

Police escorted the three Republicans on the committee out of the room after the vote.

SEIU officials had planned to protest the hard stop at 7 p.m. but the effort was going to be peaceful, SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin Vice President Bruce Colburn told reporters later.

"This is just an example of them taking away workers' voice," he said. "What they did here was an act of political cowardice."

Throngs of union supporters migrated to the corridors outside the Senate chamber, chanting "Get up, get down, Madison's a union town" and "Hey-hey, ho-ho, right-to-work has got to go." They were still standing outside the chamber as the clock approached 7:30 p.m. The Senate was not in session.

The hearing breakdown marked the culmination of a tense day at the Capitol. About 2,000 construction workers, electricians, carpenters and other union members rallied against the bill on the building's steps and in the rotunda around midday.

The gathering paled in size and intensity to protests four years ago when Gov. Scott Walker pushed through his measure that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. Those rallies lasted for weeks and grew as large as 100,000 people.

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Wisconsin Republicans cut right-to-work hearing short, advance bill