Ohio Law More Anti-Union Than Wisconsin’s
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Wisconsin’s labor battle gained national attention after nearly 100,000 people, including educators, rallied in the capital to protest a bill to curb public-sector collective bargaining. This week, a judge again halted the law. Meanwhile, with far less fanfare, Ohio’s legislature has enacted a bill perhaps even tougher on unions, the New York Times reported. Gov. John R. Kasich signed the collective bargaining bill into law March 31.
Both laws prohibit any bargaining over health coverage and pensions — but Ohio’s version largely eliminates bargaining for police and firefighters, two groups whose rights remain untouched in Wisconsin. Ohio’s law also gives city councils and school boards a free hand to unilaterally impose their side’s final contract offer when management and union fail to reach a settlement.
State Senator Shannon Jones, a Republican and chief sponsor of the Ohio law, said curbing collective bargaining made sense when so many states, cities, counties, and school districts faced daunting budget deficits. She said the law would help public employers hold down compensation costs, especially soaring health and pension costs, as a way to minimize any layoffs and reductions in public services, whether police patrols or garbage collections. Many Democrats and labor leaders said the law was an effort to balance state and local budgets on the backs of Ohio’s 360,000 public employees and argue that the driving force behind the law was ideological and political.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
Tags: Public Policy, Teachers
