In just 12 days, more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters have signed petitions to hold a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker.  The 60-day window to gather 540,000 signatures to qualify for an election ends Jan. 17.

Cincinnati Fire Fighters (IAFF) member Doug Stern says yesterday’s overwhelming rejection of Gov. John Kasich’s (R) attempt to eliminate collective bargaining rights of workers like firefighters, nurses, teachers, bridge inspectors and others shows:

[T]he citizens of Ohio spoke and they made it loud and clear that the focus of government should be on creating sustainable middle class jobs, rather than pushing a partisan political agenda.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) won a second term Tuesday, burying “a Scott Walker wannabe” under one of the largest landslides in recent Bluegrass State history.

Right-wing dollars are showering Ohio’s airwaves and the coffers of anti-labor politicians as Election Day nears for a Nov. 8 referendum on Senate Bill 5/Issue 2. Voting “No” on Issue 2 will revoke S.B. 5, the anti-worker bill supported by Gov. John Kasich and passed by the state legislature earlier this year that effectively eliminates collective bargaining for public employees.

AFL-CIO Field Communications Coordinator Andrew Richards files this report on the fight in Ohio to defeat Issue 2.

From small towns like Portsmouth on the banks of the Ohio River in the south to big cities like Cleveland bordering Lake Michigan in the north and all around the Buckeye State, union members are hitting the doors and the phone banks to make sure working families cast a “No” vote on Issue 2 Nov. 8.

Marlene Quinn wants an apology. The fiery, pro-worker Ohio great-grandmother had her image and words hijacked then doctored by the extremist groups who are fighting a citizen veto of a new law that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of 350,000 public employees.

When Marlene Quinn first saw an ad from an anti-labor group pop up on her TV screen, she was astonished—and enraged. Quinn, whose great-granddaughter, Zoey, was rescued by firefighters who responded to a house fire, is an ardent opponent of Issue 2, the ballot measure that would essentially ratify Ohio’s anti-labor bill, S.B. 5, ravaging the collective bargaining rights of the state’s public employees. If the ballot measure fails to pass on Nov. 8, S.B. 5 is dead.

The nation’s ailing economy needs a prescription powerful enough to heal the jobs crisis and America’s working families need an independent political voice that’s not beholden to parties or politicians, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Wisconsin voters yesterday easily turned back a Republican/tea party attempt to recall two strong pro-worker state senators who battled Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on workers’ rights, health care, education and working families.

Today, Wisconsin working families are going to the polls to defend two state senators who stood up to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) attack on workers. Democratic state Sens. Jim Holperin and Bob Wirch face recall elections financed by Republican tea party money.