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| Charlene Winchell, president of UE Local 1121 in La Crosse, WI |
As of Monday, November 28 more than 300,000 voters across Wisconsin - including UE members and retirees - had signed petitions to recall anti-union Governor Scott Walker (R), in just the first 12 days of the petition drive. This unprecedented level of grassroots activism is being led by organized labor, United Wisconsin and We are Wisconsin. It is a pretty clear indication that the corporate-sponsored attack on public workers' bargaining rights has massively backfired on Walker and his allies, just as it blew up on Ohio Gov. John Kasich earlier in November.
The recall petition drive began on November 15 and includes efforts to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, also a Republican and several additional Republican state senators who also participated in Walker's legislative attack on workers' rights. The petition period is 60 days, and the statewide effort will require more than 540,000 to force Walker and Kleefisch into a recall election in which the voters can remove them from office.
"It's going really well," says Charlene Winchell, a worker at Aramark industrial laundry in La Crosse, president of UE Local 1121 and member of the UE General Executive Board. "Our members' response has been very positive. 'Give me that paperwork, let me take it home and have my family sign it.'" Winchell says the enthusiastic support for the recall effort includes all the members of her local, including the significant number of Hmong immigrant workers.
The importance of the recall was reinforced for Winchell over Thanksgiving when she saw her sister-in-law, a special education teacher. "She said, 'I'm just drained.' She's at school at seven in the morning and not getting home until six at night, because they're being threatened. You don't do it, you're going to get fired."
UE Western Region President Carl Rosen thanked Wisconsin UE members for jumping in early to help the recall petition campaign. "Thanks to those UE members and retirees who have been working hard on this, and I encourage those who have not gotten involved to do so. The entire labor movement is in motion." Rosen encouraged members to visit the websites of United Wisconsin and We are Wisconsin., where they can download petitions and learn how to start collecting signatures.