Ohio Wages Fierce Fight on Collective Bargaining

[groovedaddy]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — “Hi, Teresa,” said Phil Hayes, a high school social studies teacher. “I’m voting no on Senate Bill 5 because it can make my class size larger and can make it harder for me to be a teacher.”

That was how Mr. Hayes plunged into yet another call as he and a dozen other union members at a labor phone bank made hundreds of calls to urge Ohioans to repeal one of Gov. John R. Kasich’s signal achievements: the enactment of Senate Bill 5, a law that weakens public employees’ bargaining rights.

The push to repeal the law, enacted by the Republican-led legislature in March, will be one of the biggest battles in the country this Election Day, with the law’s supporters and opponents expected to spend in total more than $20 million in the fight.

Supporters say the law is vital to curb labor’s power and to hold down state and local compensation costs during an era of increasing budget deficits. But opponents — who collected 1.3 million signatures to place the repeal vote on the Nov. 8 ballot — say the law unfairly scapegoats public employees, and weakens unions, a powerful ally of the Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/us/in-ohio-a-battle-over-public-employees-bargaining-rights.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

[Scuba]

1. That's a lame message. Among all the good reasons to be against SB5....

...there has to be a better message.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. The headline is wrong . . .

Ohio Kasich Wages Fierce Fight on Collective Bargaining

[sam11111]

3. 95% union..Swedish heavy industry, 90% overall (about 1980)

So it can be done. That should be our goal.

PS the Knights of Labor were wildly popular here around 1880.

[sam11111]

4. budget cuts? The real solution is to attack the Supply-side idea

"Thirty years ago

supply-side people promised it would pay off the national Debt and bring prosperity.

Look around you.

Supply-side is a flop."

Only when we destroy the supply-side idea, can we restore normal government revenues.

Then, MANY great things can be done...look at the Golden Age of the middle class (1945 - 1966).

Whatever you say in Ohio, include a jab at the single root cause of our many current woes:

supply-side.
-------------------
Which should be called parasite-side.

(Aka-- Friedman economics, Laffer curve, Reaganomics,
trickledown.)

[groovedaddy]

5. "look at the Golden Age of the middle class (1945 - 1966)" - Actually, the period of 1945

to 1950 saw the heaviest period of labor strikes in U.S. history. Why? Returning veterans found that employers had rolled back the hard won wages and benefits during their absence. These Vets were pissed and not willing to take it lying down. This period helped more than anything to propel workers into middle class income and benefits.