Ohio governor signs Senate Bill 5 into law
CLEVELAND - Ohio's governor on Thursday signed into law a limit on the collective bargaining rights of 350,000 public workers, defying Democrats and other opponents of the measure who have promised to push for repeal.
Gov. John Kasich's signature came a day after the measure was approved by the state House and Senate, which are led by his fellow Republicans.
Opponents have vowed to put the issue on the November ballot, giving voters a chance to strike down the law. Unions plan to hit the streets and help gather signatures.
The measure prompted weeks of pro-labor protests by thousands of people amid a U.S. debate over union rights.
Contentious debates over restricting collective bargaining have exploded in statehouses across the U.S., most notably in Wisconsin, where the governor signed into law this month a bill eliminating most of state workers' collective bargaining rights and cutting their pay.
On Thursday, a judge halted the Wisconsin law, at least temporarily, from taking effect.
Wisconsin's Republicans pushed through passage of the law last month despite three weeks of massive protests that topped 70,000 people at the state Capitol and a boycott by Democratic state senators. Opponents immediately filed a series of lawsuits that resulted in further chaos that might not end until Wisconsin's Supreme Court weighs in.
The anti-union bills have become a key test for Republicans who made huge gains in November elections by promising to slash government spending at the national and state level.
Conservatives argue that such measures are needed to balance budgets and pare down deficits. But opponents say it's union-busting.
The Ohio bill drew thousands of demonstrators, prompted a visit from civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and packed hearing rooms in the weeks before the Senate passed an earlier version of the measure.
The Ohio bill prevents unions from negotiating wages but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. It also eliminates automatic pay increases and bans strikes. It applies to teachers, nurses and many other government workers, including police and firefighters, who were exempt in the Wisconsin measure.
Kasich has said his $55.5 billion, two-year state budget counts on unspecified savings from lifting union protections to fill an $8 billion hole. He defended the new law Thursday night.
"This bill ... does not cut anybody's salary ... does not take away anybody's pension ... does not destroy anybody's health care," Kasich said. "And anybody who's been out there saying that is just factually wrong."
The bill signing comes two days after a House labor committee added Republican-backed revisions that make it more difficult for unions to collect membership fees.
Under the Ohio plan, police and firefighters won't be able to bargain with cities over the number of people required to be on duty. That means they can't negotiate the number of staff in fire trucks or police cars, for instance.
Supporters of the bargaining limits say decisions on how to equip police and fire departments should be in the hands of city officials, not union members.
One of the biggest worries is one-man patrol cars, said Steve Loomis, president of Cleveland's local police union. Under the current contract, Cleveland police officers are required to have at least two officers in a patrol car when driving through certain neighborhoods, Loomis said.
As Cleveland's population has declined in the past decade, so have its ranks of police officers. Two rounds of layoffs have left the police force more than 300 officers smaller since 2004.
The street crimes unit, which used to investigate prostitution and gambling, is no more. The auto theft unit was also disbanded. And a city that stretches 22 miles along Lake Erie no longer has a single police boat to patrol its own waters; that job is now left to the Coast Guard, Loomis said.
State lawmakers did make last-minute changes to the measure that allow police and fire officials to bargain for vests, shields and other safety gear.
Mike Norman, secretary for Cleveland's local firefighters union, said that's a cold comfort compared with what he called an "all-out assault" on the union.
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The real Republicon agenda is Redistribution of Wealth from the working class to their wealthy masters, which they worship as gods, as they rob from the poor to give to the rich. They want to make you pay through the nose to support the government while their deadbeat corporations pay nothing. Giving money to the wealthy is throwing it down a rat hole.
The wealthy cannot improve an economy where the working class does not have the money to purchase their goods and services, Taking money out of the pockets of the working class is economic suicide. Fortunately many working class Republicans will stop drinking the koolaid now that their leaders are sacrificing THEM to their deadbeat wealthy exploiters.
FYI: If this bill is placed on the Ohio ballot in November Ohio state statutes forbid any portion to go into effect until after the vote. A proposition to allow the voters to recall governors and legislators will also be placed on the ballot. This is the beginning of the end of Republicon delusions. Nutcases always defeat themselves in the end.
GREED is at the heart of the republican agenda,and the middle class not only does not fit into republican plans, republican FASCISTS are going full throttle to destroy what is left of the way of life of working Americans
It also means that a huge number of Christians must abandon the hypocritical notion that the golden rule does not apply to the marketplace. We must also accept that there is no such thing as a fair and just deal which isn't fair and just to every party to that deal, and we must stop believing in our own infallibility. Relative to the sum total of all knowledge, all that can be known, we are all hopelessly ignorant. We must all understand that fairness and justice ARE important considerations when determining prices and wages, and we must accept that failing to do so results in suffering for all.
Now union leaders and rank and file members pay attention! The question of whether or not the unions actually ARE exploiting their employers is not nearly so important as the question of whether or not your employers BELIEVE they are being exploited. If the employers believe they are being exploited they will rise up and try to make you pay for that in one way or the other. Forget about your ivory tower theories and be pragmatic. They can outspend you at least $10,000,000 to 1. If they want to take you down they have an excellent chance of succeeding(right or wrong).
In the east capitalist exploitation resulted in Communism (a gross over-reaction). In the west it resulted in Unions and Fair Labor laws. In the east capitalist exploiters were executed and all their property was confiscated (nationalized). In the west they were required to provide safe working conditions and a reasonable living wage, AND they got to keep all their property and just pay some taxes (this made the peasants believe they were being treated fairly so they never felt the need to execute exploiters). If you are a wealthy business owner or landlord who subscribes to current wingnut "free market" theory, unions are probably the only reason you are still alive. You should be grateful for this rather than whining about it. But now the wealthy believe the unions are treating them unfairly, and they have decided it's time to destroy their union exploiters.