RTW referendum petition signatures must be collected on the official printed petitions or they won’t count

Volunteers must be trained before collecting signatures

Union members and volunteers eager to help in the collection of signatures on a referendum petition to stop “right-to-work” in Missouri need to be trained first and wait to receive official petitions.

The Missouri AFL-CIO received the approval on the petition on Wednesday. As soon as petitions are printed and trainings are set around the state the signature gathering process will begin.

Some union members, eager to help in the process, have been going to the Missouri Secretary of State’s website to print the petition and begin collecting signatures. THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL PETITION. Signatures collected in this manner WILL NOT COUNT and could actually HURT the effort to bring “right-to-work” to a public vote.

Merri Berry, political director for the Missouri AFL-CIO, said, “The official petitions will be printed and distributed for the collection of signatures in the near future.”

The Missouri AFL-CIO will provide training for signature gatherers. Dates and locations for training will be provided once they are set.

In the meantime, those wishing to help should sign-up to Count Me In! with the Missouri AFL-CIO at http://moaflcio.org/count-me-in/ to volunteer to take action on the petition drive, or send your name address, cell phone number and email address to nortw@ufcw655.org or text nortw to 738-674.

Training sessions will be held before the signature gathering campaign begins. You will be contacted once the dates for the training sessions across the state are set.

“We need people to be patient,” Berry said. “If they want to help at this point they need to volunteer through Count Me In! so we can keep them updated or send their contact information to nortw@ufcw655.org. ”

For more information, contact Berry at 314-420-8095.