Ohio state Senate passes bill to curtail collective bargaining

[Skip_In_Boulder]

Source: CNN.com

(CNN) -- The Ohio state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would curb the collective bargaining rights of public workers and strip away their power to strike.

Lawmakers passed the measure by a count of 17 to 16, with six Republicans voting in opposition.
The bill, known as Senate Bill 5, is supported by Republican Governor John Kasich. It would curb a 1983 Ohio state law that affords collective bargaining rights to public employees.

The near-500-page proposal was modified Tuesday with Republican-supported amendments cobbled into a single omnibus package.
Modifications include new measures to settle workplace arbitration, limits on worker vacation and an end to their ability to negotiate health care and automatic pay raises based on seniority.

The amended version would also restore collective bargaining rights on wages but ban strikes by all public-sector workers, imposing fines and terminating employment contracts for those who defy the ban.

Democratic lawmakers described the proposal as union-busting, while their GOP counterparts argued that it's needed to tackle an overreach of union influence they regard as an impediment to fiscal reform.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/02/ohio.budget/index.html?hpt=T2

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Republican position: 1 down, 49 to go.

[Divine Discontent]

1. they're asking for a shellacking at the polls next year. people are going to be more encouraged to

vote out GOPers more than ever.

[IamK]

13. It will depend on the economy... Ohio (like others) was and is in the crapper economically..

If the economy gets better for any reason, (unlikely soon) they will be re-elected, if not, they won't... There was not much push back on this bill outside of Cleveland and a few demonstrations in Columbus...

[Psephos]

18. The same analysis is true for the 2012 presidential election, too. n/t

[ananda]

2. This is so painful.

nt

[Iliyah]

3. HEIL HITLER

Its in the constitution the right to assemble.

[Moonwalk]

4. It'll go straight to the courts. Can they outlaw strikes? I rather doubt it....

But the courts may put the law on hold while it's challenged. And if the workers are very smart, they'll strike en masse. I'm not saying it will be easy or that there won't be casualties, but they need to go Civil Rights movement on this. Boycott and strike at large. They have to do this or else every other state will pass the same laws. Show them what they'll get if they do.

[IamK]

14. I believe strikes can be outlawed (some states do for teachers) but people can get "sick"...

[Plucketeer]

5. Oh BABY!

It's TIME! :grr:

[Deep13]

6. Attention Republicans...

YOU

SHALL

PAY.


Don't fuck with the union.

[Doremus]

7. Kasich is going to be in Cleveland tomorrow. So will a lot of pissed off people. nt

[Snoutport]

8. i feel sick

go to the streets ohio!

[Skip_In_Boulder]

9. Yep, if we have any hope at all

Democrats are going to have to learn how to do politics from the trenches, something that seems to have been lost on them.

[guruoo]

10. Police and fire unions say they will make Ohio Republicans pay

Police and fire unions say they will make Ohio Republicans pay
for proposal limiting collective bargaining

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Police and fire unions upset over a bill in the Ohio Statehouse that would sharply restrict collective bargaining say they will make sure Republicans supporting the proposal pay at the ballot box next year and beyond.

But the Ohio Republican Party head says GOP lawmakers need not worry because most voters agree that public union workers have taxpayer-funded salaries and benefit packages that are far too generous and support changes to the bargaining system.

While labor groups such as the Ohio AFL-CIO and the Ohio Education Association almost always support Democratic candidates and causes, public safety forces, especially at local levels, are as open to supporting Democrats as they are Republicans. Until now.

"I think what is going to end up happening is you are going to make a lot of conservative-leaning safety forces liberal-leaning. It is going to make a lot of Democrats out of Republicans," said Cleveland police union president Stephen Loomis, who said 70 percent of the officers in his membership are conservatives.


http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/police_and_fire_unions_say_the.html

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. Good, they need to.

They need to wake up and realize exactly who and what they've been voting for.

I'm sick to my core of watching people vote against their own better interest until crap like this happens.

I really hope the Republicans/Teabaggers have awakened the sleeping lion. It's time to roar!

[blackspade]

11. GOP hatred for the American worker.

Scumbags.
These tools have no morals at all.

[muntrv]

12. I this piece of crap bill becomes law, I say general strike.

[Divine Discontent]

19. yep!

[bloomington-lib]

15. What kind of health care and retirement are these politicians getting.

"They already get the joke that in many instances the Cadillac health care programs, the gold-plated retirements, those are things that are outside the norm of the private sector," he said. He being Dewine.

[quakerboy]

17. So what are Ohio's laws on recalling politicians?

Waiting for the next election cycle is not a great plan in my opinion. You have to get started before it all fades down the memory hole.