National College Players Association - United Steelworkers

Thanks to thousands of volunteeractivists who collected a record1.3 million petition signatures,Ohio voters will decide in Novemberwhether to repeal a new law thatslashed the collective-bargaining rightsof 360,000 public employees.Steelworker rank-and-file activistsjoined community groups and otherpublic and private sector unions in thesuccessful campaign to collect enoughsignatures to force a ballot measure onSenate Bill 5, enacted in March by aRepublican-controlled state legislature.“We have to be engaged. We can’tsit back and say it doesn’t matter,’’said Elva Flowers Martes, a municipalemployee and member of Local 6621in Lorain, Ohio, who circulated petitions,made telephone calls and set up aFacebook page for leadership communicationsas part of the effort.“People don’t realize how much itmeans, how important it is to send ane-mail or write a letter to their politicians,’’said Martes, who attended theUSW Public Sector conference, held inPittsburgh from May 16 to May 19. “Everyonehas to stand up and do their part.”The Ohio campaign is an example ofthe activism that public sector employees30 USW@Work • Fall 2011and unions must embrace to survive theunprecedented assaults they are facingon the state and local levels nationwide.Maximize our power“We are witnessing an unprecedentedattack, and must learn to maximize ourpower,’’ International Vice PresidentFred Redmond told some 100 memberswho attended the conference for publicsector workers. “Every state in the nationis running into a deficit, every state.And their position is we have to balancebudgets on the backs of workers.”We are Ohio, a citizen-driven, community-basedbipartisan coalition that includedSteelworkers, on June 29 paradedthrough Columbus, Ohio, to deliver thesignatures to Secretary of State Jon Husted,who validated more than 915,000 ofthe submitted signatures, well over the231,000 required.Bill Crooks, president of USW Local7 and the Tri-County Regional LaborCouncil in Akron, Ohio, participated inthe voter petition drive to protect goodjobs.“Being politically active gives youthe opportunity to be part of the process,”Crooks said. “And you can’t effectchange if you’re not in the process.”It is impossible to precisely measurethe USW’s impact. But Donnie Blatt,the Rapid Response coordinator in Ohio,estimated members circulated more than500 petitions and gathered some 20,000signatures to help the effort.“It was the biggest referendum in thehistory of Ohio,” Blatt said. “A lot ofpeople put a lot of work into it.’’Public Sector conferenceBlatt’s instruction on petition driveswas one of the numerous workshopsavailable to the 100-plus delegates whoattended this year’s Public Sector conference.Rapid Response Director Kim Millerencouraged locals attending the conferenceto utilize the Rapid Response program,a non-partisan way of educatingand delivering relevant information tomembers on workers’ rights and issues.Rapid Response “Action Calls” alertmembers to current worker issues andprompt them to make their concernsknown to local legislators through phonecalls, letters and demonstrations.A strong Rapid Response programbenefits individual local unions andhelps to build bargaining strength, Millersaid.“The more engaged we get in RapidResponse programs, the more it helps us,