A million signatures were turned in today to begin the formal process of forcing a recall election for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The petitions delivered to the Government Accountability Board arrived on a truck and weighed over 3000 pounds. The signatures collected and submitted were 460,000 more signatures than required to force a recall. In addition to the Governor, Wisconsinites also turned in the required signatures to recall the Lieutenant Governor and three state Senators.
Retirees in Wisconsin, including WI Alliance members, were active in circulating hundreds of petitions to recall the Governor and the Lt. Governor. In addition to circulating petitions, Wisconsin retirees from all walks of life volunteered time to data entry and validating the signed petitions.
Wisconsin Alliance leaders spoke to many retiree clubs to organize their membership around the recall efforts. Wisconsin Alliance members also organized and participated in many recall events around the state, including this one at the Milwaukee Airport featured in the New York Times yesterday.
[Photo at right: Justin Geiger/wisaflcio on Flickr]
The number of signatures and support for the recall that culminated by the time of delivery today far exceeds many Wisconsinites' expectations.
On Wisconsin!
You can not get blood out of a stone. Your union officials are not negotiating in good faith. The officials should be working with the state to work out a program that will benifit both partys. Demanding what can not be given, will get you no ware. Todays unions could be of great help if they would stop thinking of themselfs. Unions officials are not looking out for the worker, only themself's. Look at what they are doing. Trying to force unionism on all workers, they have pulled strings to minipulate the NLRB to prevent companies from setting up new plants in other states, trying to force unionism on companies by cuting the time they have to prepare for the vote. You have collected many signitures, but do they realise how much they will be paying just to keep the teachers happy? What about the students? Teacher can not teach if the schools can't provide the materials that they need.It's no wounder that our acadmic standarts have fallen. It's bad enough the governments cut educational funding,but to demand higher wages and more benifits at the same time!!! Our country is hurting, and all you can think of is yourself's.
Posted by: Emil (S.F.C. Ret.) | 01/18/2012 at 08:27 AM
Emil, with all due respect, there are a few things that should be pointed out-
1. "Union officials," individuals who were active in their union and subsequently elected by their fellow members to leadership positions, in Wisconsin agreed to extreme concessions laid forth by Governor Walker but wanted to retain their right to collectively bargain and were therefore turned down by the Governor. [The extreme wage and benefit concessions that the elected leaders of the unions eventually agreed to even went against what members of the public and private sector thought reasonable.]
2. Teachers and public employees did not cause the budget crisis that many states, in this case Wisconsin, find themselves in and are consistently scapegoated for. In fact, it wasn't clear that Wisconsin had a "budget crisis" until Governor Walker within months of taking office started doling out $140 million tax breaks to the largest, wealthiest, multinational corporations that do business in Wisconsin, including but not limited to WalMart. bit.ly/AduZUU It's time to look at the real causes of the budget crises and realize the important choices that lead to our social and financial health or illness.
...The teachers I know are very dedicated and not just thinking about themselves. In some cases they are thinking about how limiting collective bargaining will negatively impact future generations, including their students. Many educators and others in the public sector have accepted years of no pay increases and paying more and more for their benefits to the point where they are making less than they were years before when you take into account inflation and the cost of living. But they go on. In this case in Pennsylvania, the teachers plan to keep teaching and working even though the school district ran out of money and may not be able to pay them. bit.ly/AduZUU. Instead of demonizing our teachers and public employees for being greedy and selfish, why not acknowledge that they are working professionals who deserve to earn a decent living and deserve the respect of their communities for their daily battles.
Lastly, public servants in Wisconsin (and surely in other states) are compensated at a lower rate than their private sector counterparts. EPI study and explanation here http://bit.ly/xpSvsd.
Posted by: Laura | 01/18/2012 at 09:58 AM