Posted on 11/07/2011 5:01:00 AM PST by EBH
A ballot battle in Ohio that pits the union rights of public workers against Republican efforts to shrink government and limit organized labor's reach culminates Tuesday in a vote with political consequences from statehouses to Pennsylvania Avenue.
A question called Issue 2 asks voters to accept or reject a voluminous rewrite of Ohio's collective bargaining law that Gov. John Kasich signed in March, less than three months after his party regained power in the closely divided swing state.
Thousands descended the Statehouse in protest of the legislation known as Senate Bill 5, prompting state officials at one point to lock the doors out of concern for lawmakers' safety.
The legislation affects more than 350,000 police, firefighters, teachers, nurses and other government workers. It sets mandatory health care and pension minimums for unionized government employees, bans public worker strikes, scraps binding arbitration and prohibits basing promotions solely on seniority.
By including police and firefighters, Ohio's bill went further than Wisconsin's, which was the first in a series of union-limiting measures plugged by Republican governors this year as they faced deep budget holes and a tea party movement fed up with government excess. Democratic governors, including New York's Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut's Dannel Malloy, have also faced down their public employee unions in attempts to rein in costs.
That's why labor badly needs a win in Ohio, said Lee Adler, who teaches labor issues at Cornell University's New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
"If the governor of Ohio is able to hold the line on the legislation that was passed, then it would be a very significant setback for public sector workers and public sector unions in the U.S.," he said. "Likewise, if the other result happens, then it would certainly provide a considerable amount of hope that, ...
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I know most folks don't pay attention to politics but surely they seen what has been going on in their state capital.
I Hope.
Ohio voters favored repeal 57 percent to 32 percent, an Oct. 25 Quinnipiac University poll showed. But Mauk said the law’s backers are still cautiously optimistic they can win, and will continue through the weekend to carry the bill’s tea party-friendly message to voters.
I looked at the demographics of this poll. Not surprisingly. it very much leans one way.
26% republican
33% democrat
33% independent (didn’t say which way they lean, but I could probably guess)
The rest were “other” which I can only assume were communist and/or green party
One thing I know for sure, Ohio is more than 26% republican. This poll they keep referring to is just another piece of propaganda.
This has nothing to do with worker’s rights...it is all about union power and the associated corruption.
But this will end up like the Wisconsin recalls...it will be tough to get hard-working, family values-oriented conservatives to the polls.
Is there an estimate anywhere detailing how many state workers will have to be laid off if the legislation is repealed?
Have you see any polls on that lately, and will voters go in such different directions?
It’s hard to believe the poll could be off by that much. In Ohio it is just raining anti-5 propaganda...mail, tv, radio, calls, yard signs...it is everywhere. They are preying on people’s fears that if this passes there won’t be enough fire, police, emt personnel to respone to emergencies in a timely way.
The pro anti-5 campaign has almost been non-existent in comparison.
I actually know union workers who allow themselves to have critical, reasonable, rational self honest thoughts and views independent of the lies and propaganda they are overwhelmed with from their unions, but not many.
“if it means more money in my pocket, I’ll vote for it, the future of the state or the nation be damned.”
The public sector is no place for unions. In the private sector when the unions demand too much, they kill the goose, the private sector employer goes under, or MOVES TO ANOTHER STATE OR NATION!
Public sector unions simply collect the dues, contribute to politicians’ campaigns who then loot the tax payers to meet ever increasing union demands, no business to ruin from over demanding.
Simply vote buying in many different ways.
But this will end up like the Wisconsin recalls...it will be tough to get hard-working, family values-oriented conservatives to the polls.
I live in Ohio. I have yet to meet anyone for repeal. The people who are voting “yes” (keeping it) are very energised, but it is more of a silent revolt. The unions are not at all people friendly with respect to this issue and few are siding with them. The Plain Dealer ( so liberal we cancelled our subscription) came out against repeal. I didn’t expect that in a million years! The unions are just spinning, wait and see...
Frankly, police unions are by far one of the most dangerous ideas the left has ever perpetrated.
Hoping, even praying, that this goes the conservative way, despite the polls showing otherwise. :/
It’s hard to believe the poll could be off by that much. In Ohio it is just raining anti-5 propaganda...mail, tv, radio, calls, yard signs...it is everywhere. They are preying on people’s fears that if this passes there won’t be enough fire, police, emt personnel to respone to emergencies in a timely way.
The pro anti-5 campaign has almost been non-existent in comparison.
I’m in Ohio too (Cleveland suburbs). I have yet to meet some one who is voting for repeal (other than union workers). As in Wisconsin, I think they are trying to make it look like they are winning and hopefully the rest of us will stay home. No such luck, it just makes the rest of us have more resolve.
Thanks for your post...I am much more hopeful now. Best of luck.
What you said! This is why the People's Republic of Illinois, where I currently unfortunately live, is going to hell in a handbasket.
Do you know why there are few to no “YES” signs?
Because the bastard union thugs stole them right out of peoples yards, over 500 signs in my county alone.
I have yet to meet anyone for repeal
Have you looked at any yard signs when you’re out?
The unions are just spinning, wait and see...
I’m sorry. It’s going to get crushed. I’d happily gift you a six pack if I’m wrong.
My friend had one of those yard signs in her yard. Somehow, no one asked permission. The yard signs mean nothing. In my area most have already been taken down by the property owners who never gave their consent. Take another drive, you will see a lot less of them today.
Truth is the sky has to actually fall before some of these people get the message. Let the fools repeal it ...obviously they they have not suffered enough at the hands of the union thugs!!!
"The Silent Majority."
Let's hope they quietly go to the polls and win this thing.
The unions can intimidate people in public, but they can't do a darn thing to people once they're inside the voting booth.
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