Ohio Unions Deliver Stunning Defeat to Republicans
By Dan La Botz
November 9, 2011
Ohio’s unions won a tremendous victory on Tuesday when their efforts succeeded in turning out voters who by a 61 to 39 margin defeated Issue 2, thus overturning anti-union Senate Bill 5.
The unions’ victory was an equally devastating defeat for Republican Governor John Kasich, who personally led the campaign for Issue 2, despite his 36 percent approval rating in recent polls.
Senate Bill 5 was voted up soon after Kasich took office in January. Legislators passed it in March, despite demonstrations by thousands of public employees and private sector workers at the capitol in Columbus. SB5 affected about 400,000 public employees, limiting their ability to bargain collectively, collect dues, and strike. The law also established “pay for performance” and required workers to pay 15 percent of their health care. Workers were furious.
The We Are Ohio coalition spent $30 million, including big investments from national unions, on a campaign that involved thousands of members from AFSCME, teachers unions, firefighters, and many other public and private sector unions who canvassed neighborhoods and phoned voters. Teachers unions in Ohio levied additional dues to help pay for the campaign.
Read the full article at:
http://labornotes.org/2011/11/ohio-unions-deliver-stunning-defeat-republicans