Ohio Petition Drive to Repeal S.B. 5 Rolling Along | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

By Mike Hall AFL/CIO
Photo credit: OCSEA

Workers, activists and other volunteers are making fast progress in collecting the 231,000 signatures needed to put the repeal of S.B. 5 on the Ohio ballot this November. S.B. 5, pushed by Gov. John Kasich (R), eliminates the rights of 350,000 public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs.

The 35,000 member Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME (OCSEA/AFSCME) set a goal of gathering 60,000 voters’ signature. In a mere two weeks, OCSEA canvassers have collected more than 20,000 signatures to “Kill the Bill.” (See photo.) Similar efforts are under way through the Buckeye State to hit the signature threshold by the June 30 deadline.

In Cleveland over the weekend, some 150 people came together at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church for an S.B. 5 repeal town hall meeting with faith and political allies, including members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and Wisconsin state Sen. Lena Taylor (D).

Taylor fought against Gov. Scott Walker’s bill that, like S.B. 5, also eliminates collective bargaining for public service workers. She told the crowd that both Walker and Kasich “have declared war” on public employees.

This is not a Wisconsin fight. This is not an Ohio fight. This is a fight for everybody.
(But just like Wisconsin, Ohio will need your support and we are in for a fight just look at this e-mail I received today and You'll see the battle we are fighting here from within...
Dear Gregory,

Now we know. There will be an effort to keep Senate Bill 5 on the books by an anti-worker group led by a corporate lobbyist aligned with Gov. John Kasich, House Speaker William Batchelder and Senate President Tom Niehaus.

They will be well-funded, but we have the numbers.

More than 10,000 volunteers are not asking where do I sign, but how do I circulate the people’s petition to exercise a citizen’s veto in November to repeal Senate Bill 5?

We Are Ohio needs your help. We want to prove that supporters like you are doing more than working tirelessly to collect signatures, you are also contributing to the campaign.

Will you contribute to We Are Ohio today and help us send a message that we are grass roots powered (Not Tea party grass either)and funded by hard working people like yourself?

Kasich, Batchelder and Niehaus are going to work with special interests to continue this unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety.(Cause thats how they roll elitist's)

Unlike their anti-worker group, We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that has come together. In just one month, with your help, we collected more than 214,399 signatures on our way to gathering roughly 500,000.

We also need your help to send another message.

Please give whatever you can to We Are Ohio today. Your contribution demonstrates that our movement is broad-based and citizen driven.

The facts aren’t going to change. Senate Bill 5 is an unfair attack on police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses and others who serve and protect our communities. The bill will be devastating to local economies in small and large towns across Ohio. It does not create one job.

If you feel strongly and want to help us defeat this anti-worker effort, then please contribute whatever you can today to We Are Ohio. Please contribute today and join our growing base of hard working Ohioans who are proving this is a broad-based grass roots effort by donating to our cause.

Thank you for all that you do,

Mike Weinman
Treasurer
We Are Ohio
Donate at link or at my site or just sign up to help , or just send us your positive energy Wisconsin you are the beginning but not the end thanks for your support and strength
http://figrd.blogspot.com