Thursday, May 26, 2011

Drive-through petition signings in OH

Ohio's SB5 bill, which strips government workers of their collective bargaining rights, was the result of a vast, coordinated conspiracy to turn America's middle-class workers into starving peasants. CEOs and Wall Street billionaires funneled millions of dollars to groups like FreedomWorks, which spent it on lying television ads to attack unions.

Our side may not have billions of dollars, but we have millions of people. And we have trucks, empty lots, clipboards and a passion for what is right and what is fair. That's one reason volunteers are well on their way to collecting enough signatures to put SB5 on the November ballot.

Mark Cleland, an Ohio Turnpike worker and member of Teamster Local 436, had the brilliant idea of setting up a drive-through petition venue at a former high-school in the Youngstown area. He got a permit for the land, had the sign made up and put it on the back of his pick-up truck. Last Saturday, he had volunteers bring the petitions on clipboards for drivers to sign. The drivers didn't have to leave the comfort of their cars. Cleland collected 700 signatures in one day.

Our Ohio sources tell us that all Teamster locals are pitching in to collect signatures. Local 507 in particular is knocking it out of the park. There are so many signatures, in fact, that the umbrella group, We Are Ohio, is looking for volunteers to sort through hundreds of thousands of signatures in Columbus. If you're in the area, find out more here.