Union Sponsored 'Jobs Creation' Meeting Served As Political Kindling For Walker Recall Election

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Ron Thomas, Secretary of Racine County AFL/CIO Labor Council, rattled off a series of percentages that perplexed a room full of people attending a "jobs hearing" held at the Monday night.

The numbers, he said, are the percentage of children in poverty in 17 Racine Unified Schools. A few people in the room let out a gasp.

"We need to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough,'" Thomas said.

Members of pro-labor groups and area citizens attended the meeting to discuss their concerns with state Democratic Legislators: Sen. Bob Wirch, of Kenosha, Rep. Peter Barca, of Kenosha, Rep. Corey Mason, of Racine, and Rep. Rob Turner. But the event seemed to serve more as political kindling to the upcoming efforts to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

Earlier this month, United Wisconsin announced it would begin collecting signatures Nov. 15 to force a The group, which is collaborating with grassroots organizations throughout the state, is confident it will reach its goal of 700,000 signatures — roughly 160,000 more than the 540,206 needed to force a recall election.

Once the calendar hits Nov. 15, the group will have 60 days to collect the needed signatures, according to state law.

As 39 speakers blasted the decisions made by Republican lawmakers, the political rhetoric fueled the need for recall elections.

Diana Kovacs, of Racine, explained to the four state Democratic Legislators how she cared for a man, who told her that he went to a hotel room to lance his own infected knee because they had nice bathtubs.

"When I hear this man's story and then hear about cuts to BadgerCare, Medicaid and Medicare, I think -- we should be ashamed of ourselves," Kovacs said.

Allen Levie, a social studies teacher at Horlick High School and member of the Racine Education Association, explained that his 9-year-old son knew that the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam was being used to privatize schools.

"We know what the score is," Levie said. "You know what the score is. Now, we have a situation where there's a warfare going on and it's been a cold war launched by the mult-national corporations against the people of the world."

Levie called on the Democrats to "stand up and say what they stand for."

But the group appeared to be preaching to the choir as Wirch called for an increase in the minimum wage, Mason called for a 1 percent tax on Wisconsin's wealthiest people to fund education, Turner asked for the group to get involved with recall efforts and Barca pointed to Walker's cuts in education.

One speaker asked all four Legislators to sign a document he called "The People's Blueprint for Good Jobs."

"It's a no brainer," Turner said.

The man turned to the crowd, "Turner said 'It's a no brainer!'" The man said. "Let's give him a round of applause."