On Tuesday, more than 5,000 union supporters — including teachers, police and firefighters — began gathering around the Statehouse four hours before the hearing of Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee and stayed for most of the day.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said that if Gov. John Kasich and Republican legislators rush through Senate Bill 5, a ballot challenge almost certainly will follow.
“The people of the state will gather together and we’ll put this on the ballot,” Redfern said as he joined protesters in the rotunda. “If it’s a piece of legislation, we will repeal it at the ballot box, and that will happen.”
Opponents of the bill packed the Statehouse Atrium, but the Ohio Highway Patrol limited access to about 1,200 inside the building. Extra seating was opened in a theater across the street, but thousands of demonstrators were kept outside on the Statehouse lawns.
Protesters were temporarily locked out of the Statehouse. Democrats inside staged an impromptu press conference, threatening a lawsuit to open the doors.
The doors eventually were opened, allowing more protesters to pack the capital building. Some demonstrators roamed the halls, targeting the offices of Republican senators believed to be waffling in their support of the bill including newly elected Dayton-area Sen. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City.
“Bill Beagle is on the fence,” 22-year-old Michael Overholser of Akron shouted to protesters surrounding Beagle’s closed-door office. “Let him know you do not want this passed!”
Ohio faces a projected $8 billion deficit in the upcoming two-year budget. Kasich, a Republican, supports Jones’ bill, but says he will put aspects of it in his budget if her version is weakened.
The bill affects roughly 360,000 public sector workers across Ohio represented by 3,290 collective bargaining agreements. It eliminates collective bargaining for the state’s 42,000 workers and for 19,500 employees at public colleges and universities.
At the local level, raises based on cost of living, experience or longevity would be replaced by pay increases based on merit. Managers would be allowed to hire replacement workers in the event of a strike. Employees would be required to pay at least 20 percent of their health, dental and vision expenses. They would not be permitted to negotiate health care packages.
Binding arbitration would be eliminated for police and firefighters and safety forces would still be prohibited from striking.
Local governments would be prohibited from picking up all or part of the workers’ share of the pension contribution.
Commission prefer collective bargaining Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Greg Brush told lawmakers that collective bargaining helps management solve problems.
“You may hear testimony from employers who say, ‘We don’t have the money to give raises.’ Well, just say no then. This is not a hard concept,” Brush, a Democrat, said.
The Montgomery County commissioners sent a letter opposing the elimination of collective bargaining for state workers.
Inter-University Council of Ohio President Bruce Johnson, who served as lieutenant governor in the Taft administration, said the collective bargaining system “results in higher labor costs, unnecessary duplication of personnel, a cumbersome disciplinary process, and inefficient operations because of limits on what workers can and cannot do.”
Johnson said Senate Bill 5 would help Ohio’s public colleges and universities build an environment that fosters efficiency, creativity and productivity.
Chris Littleton, president of the Ohio Liberty Council, said collective bargaining protects the highest paid and possibly the least productive workers.
“Collective bargaining has effectively institutionalized the growth of government. There is very little flexibility within a contract to make the necessary adjustments,” Littleton told lawmakers at the hearing.
Some only support parts of Senate Bill 5
State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, said he supports large parts of the bill, but does not see a need for ending collective bargaining. He also noted that if safety forces can’t go to binding arbitration, they need some sort of backstop so they aren’t forced to work under a wage freeze forever. Seitz suggested courts could be authorized to review and impose an agreement if the two sides cannot agree.
While seniority shouldn’t be the only factor in deciding who gets laid off, Seitz said there should be protections in place for workers near retirement to make sure management doesn’t cut them loose as a way to shirk pension obligations.
Seitz said he met with police and firefighters this week and told them, “Boys, don’t think you’re just going to kill this bill. Just saying ‘No’ isn’t going to be much of an answer.”
Dayton police union President Randy Beane said, “We are willing to sit down and talk about compromises to the bill.”
But the talk from other union leaders is less conciliatory. Dennis Duffey of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents 98,000 construction workers, called the effort to reform collective bargaining a political “vendetta” and “a blatant abuse of power.”
The Columbus Dispatch and The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer contributed to this report.
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