Ohio workers protest attack on collective bargaining

Over 1,000 people packed the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday to protest against a bill currently under consideration by the Senate that would eliminate collective bargaining for 40,000 state workers and reduce the bargaining power of firefighters and teachers, among others. Protesters filled the building’s galleys and assembly rooms, with only standing room left for those attending the hearings on Senate Bill 5 (SB5).

Should Ohio’s 27-year-old collective bargaining law for state employees be overturned through the passage of SB5, after the expiration of existing contracts the government will be free to impose compensation and benefit cuts as it sees fit.
In addition, local government employees, such as teachers, firefighters, will lose all seniority-based pay increases and job security, as well as the right to negotiate over health insurance.

While their collective bargaining would not be eliminated, local governments would have the right to abrogate contracts in the event of an “emergency.” In addition, thousands of employees would be largely stripped of any ability to combat attacks on their compensation, as public employers would have the right to hire permanent replacements in the event of a strike.

The effort by Ohio’s Republican-majority government to win passage of SB5 is part of a broader, anti-democratic attack on workers’ rights being carried out, in different forms, by Republican and Democratic administrations across the US. In New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and Tennessee there are efforts underway to drastically curb employee bargaining power, while in California and New York, Democratic governors are working to impose historically unprecedented cuts in public employees’ wages and benefits, as well as reductions in social services and public education.



http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/ohio-f17.shtml

A two-pronged blitz

Fuck them all

I saw a report that said there were over EIGHT-thousand. Is there any doubt that the entirety of the Columbus media is right-wing owned?

I went to Obama rally on the Statehouse lawn the Sunday before the election and was in the largest crowd I've ever been a part of in my life (and I've been to Ohio State football games attended by over 100,000 people). When I got home, the Columbus media was estimating that around 20,000 people showed up. As the day went on, and more people criticized that number, it started going up and up until they eventually settled on "around 70,000."

with their "second chance" and all. :sarcasm: