Ohio Voters Could Decide Fate of Law Restricting Collective-Bargaining Rights

June 17, 2011, 5:42 pm

A coalition of union supporters called We Are Ohio says it has gathered more than three times the number of signatures needed to get placed on the November ballot a referendum to repeal a recently passed state law denying collective-bargaining rights to most public-college professors, The Columbus Dispatch reports. The law the campaign seeks to repeal scales back the collective-bargaining rights of all state employees and effectively prevents many faculty members from engaging in collective bargaining at all, by classifying them as managers, exempt from union representation, if they engage in any of several activities traditionally associated with their jobs. The law will go into effect if the repeal campaign fails.

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ssaulvolk

WooHoo! Yes, Ohio!
dale1

In my mind this poses a significant and thorny issue. Will Ohio’s faculty and staff actively campaign to repeal the law? If so, doesn’t that provide fodder for Gov. Kasich and his ilk that indicates that the faculty and staff are spoiled and undeserving of such protections? Tread carefully, and perhaps quietly, Ohio faculty and staff.
jffoster

Those signatures are not surprising. They may however comprise the great majority of people who favor repeal of SB 5. So don’t be too surprised if you “Woo hoo” turns into “Waahaa” the day after the election. I for one will vote against the repeal.
ssaulvolk

You are free to vote however you wish, jffoster. But here are the three facts I’ll be using in campaigning to repeal SB5: (1) The workers’ share of national income has fallen to the lowest level since World War II and is approaching 19th century levels; (2) unionization and collective bargaining correlated positively with wages: as unionization has fallen, so have wages; (3) if you reduce public sector unionization, it will reduce private sector unionization even further. My local cop, my kids teachers, the EMS folks at the local hospital are not to blame for Ohio’s crisis nor for the national financial meltdown. Don’t blame them.
jffoster

I don’t, not necessarily. But collective bargaining with government is quite different from collective bargaining with private enterprises. And I think union shops are evil and antidemocratic whether in public or private amployment.
ssaulvolk

Evil? As for anti-democratic, you might take a look at the current Republican administration in the state. As the Cleveland Plain-Dealer recently reported: “If you wanted to talk
with Ohio’s treasurer [Josh Mandel], you’d have to buy a ticket — $500 to $2,500 was
the advertised price — and do your business in private.” See you at the polls in November (unless, of course, the Ohio legislature continues to devise ways to prevent voters from voting).
jffoster

Not germane. Some other evil does not make the kind we were talking about OK.
grizzlyinohio

Foster is wrong on several counts. Most faculty unions are not “union shops.” You don’t have to join though at many you have to pay “fair share” fees for the services you are provided and for the work the union does for you. Member or not, the union works for you. The faculty unions were created by democratic votes and they operate democratically. As such, they are perfect institutions at the university for giving voice to faculty concerns. More importantly, without the faculty unions, faculty senates would have no teeth. Witness the actions at Idaho State where the administration has dissolved the faculty senate. And another silly idea is that unions have no place with public employers. In the real world, modern universities have adopted the corporate model in which property management and profit making are paramount. Unions defend academic freedom, shared governance, and the instructional mission of the university. The charter university strategy combined with the crushing of unions will create institutions that have all the academic integrity of a Burger King.
grizzlyinohio

We Ohio faculty are actively campaigning against Senate Bill 5. We are speaking and carrying a big a stick as we can. These Republicans have created this budget problem through irresponsible and sweeping tax cuts, such as a 21 percent cut to the state income tax that has been a windfall to the wealthiest Ohioans. And as far as fearing Kasich, the most recent polls shows him with an approval rating of about 33 percent and it is exactly because of this kind of silly legislation.
jffoster

If one has to pay “fair share” fees for services one did not vote for nor request, that’s damned near a union shop — certainly an onion shop. I’d vote to make Ohio a right-to-work state.
jffoster

“And another silly idea is that unions have no place with public employers.”

Were George Meany and Franklin Delano Roosevelt silly?