Push to Repeal Ohio Law on Public Workers Gains Ground

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

An effort in Ohio to repeal a law reducing the power of public workers to bargain collectively moved forward this week, with the group leading the effort saying it had enough signatures to put it on the ballot and could deliver them to the state on Wednesday.

Volunteers from We Are Ohio, a coalition of public and private sector workers, collected 714,137 signatures over about two months, said Melissa Fazekas, a spokeswoman for the group. Some will probably be declared invalid by county officials, but the number is still far more than the approximately 230,000 required to get the measure on the ballot in November, she said.

The law, Senate Bill 5, was introduced this spring by a Republican member of Ohio’s Senate. Similar to legislation in Wisconsin, it sought to limit the bargaining power of public workers in order to give local governments more control over their costs. Its passage struck a nerve, and Democrats promised to put it on the ballot this fall, arguing that it dealt a blow to an already weakened middle class.

The bill would reverse decades of practice in labor disputes, by making it illegal to strike, and allowing public employees to bargain only if their employer chose to do so. Unlike Wisconsin’s law, Ohio’s also applied to the police and firefighters.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/us/29ohio.html

[Bill McBlueState]

1. Pro-union coalition delivers 1.3 million signatures for SB 5 referendum

Source: Columbus Dispatch

The coalition leading the effort to repeal Senate Bill 5 will deliver nearly 1.3 million signatures to the secretary of state today to place Ohio's new collective bargaining law on the November ballot.

...

Secretary of State Jon Husted has a staff of 60 ready to work on the signatures. Meeting the threshold also would stop the law from taking effect until the November election.

As of last week, the group had collected about 714,000 signatures. The previous record for a statewide petition effort: 812,978 for the 2008 measure putting a proposed casino for Clinton County on the ballot. That proposed constitutional amendment was trounced by voters.

Read more: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/06/29/sb-5-referendum-coalition-to-deliver-more-than-a-million-signatures.html?sid=101

---

About 12% of all Ohioans signed the petition! Pretty sure the repeal is going to work.

[canoeist52]

2. This is important to watch -even if you're not an Ohioan.

This is a test case for all states.

[murielm99]

3. It is indeed.

I am so glad that Ohio is fighting back. Now they need to GOTV on this measure. Unions are usually good at organizing those types of efforts.

We are all pulling for you, Ohio.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. I am a dislocated Ohioan...

and am proud to see my state trying to fight back.