AP
Protestors in opposition of Senate Bill 5 gather at the Ohio Statehouse, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, in Columbus, Ohio. The bill would strip public employees of collective bargaining rights.
AP
Margo Kernen, right, of Kent, protests against a bill at the Ohio Statehouse Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, in Columbus, Ohio, that would strip public employees of collective bargaining rights.
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Staff and wire report
YOUNGSTOWN
The Ohio Senate’s Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee is expected Tuesday to approve a bill that eliminates most collective bargaining for public employees.
The Mahoning County Democratic Party is offering a free ride Tuesday on a chartered bus to those wanting to protest the bill at the Statehouse in Columbus, where the committee vote will be taken.
The bus will leave at 6:30 a.m. from party headquarters at 3321 Mahoning Ave. in Youngstown.
The committee hearing is to start at 9 a.m.
Thousands of protesters have rallied in and outside the Statehouse during the past few weeks, including one Saturday.
Also, about 700 protesters lined state Route 193 in Vienna on Thursday to protest the bill while Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, spoke at a hangar at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport during a Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber luncheon.
The Republican-controlled state Senate is making changes to the bill so enough of its members will get the bill out of committee Tuesday and to the floor for a full Senate vote Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
Democratic senators have urged Republicans to postpone a vote on the bill.
Meanwhile, Kasich says he’s against joblessness, not unions, and is working on a state budget proposal aimed at creating jobs and economic growth.
The Republican worked on his budget Saturday as people rallied nearby at the Statehouse to protest Senate Bill 5, which would limit unions’ collective bargaining rights, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
“I’m not anti-union,” Kasich told the newspaper. “I think unions are an important part of the American fabric, but what we’re doing here is basically to start sticking up for taxpayers and private-sector workers who have made enormous sacrifices over the last decade.”
Kasich said compensation for public employees has become more generous than in the private sector.
“It is very reasonable to have the same kind of provisions that private workers get,” the governor said.
Comments
he's not anti-union, he's am ex-faux news "commentator" with a severe Koch addiction!
and how much of HIS deficit is related to his corporate tax breaks (read welfare)?
Are the protesters who are going to Columbus Tuesday using a "sick day" ? Isn't that the normal thing to do? Sure----
He is a liar and full of BS
There is no "free ride".... and no surprise the socialist Democrats will spend your money to support the unions who also take your money! I sincerely hope SB 5 is passed and we Ohioans begin to get our budget and deficit under control (be nice to see unspent surpluses for a "rainy day" again) wouldn't it!!
Why would any of them have to use a sick day? Most will probably be on welfare, only those with a job in government or teaching will have to use a sick day, paid for by the taxpayer not the democratic party. Give Kasich a chance to clean up the mess that Ted left him. It's about time someone is sticking up for the taxpayer.
I would like to see an actuarial analysis of the salaries and benefits of both private versus public employees to shed light on the "actual" differences. When you compare all items of importance say Social Security benefits, (Of which many public employees do not get benefits from, even if they had contributions) and the HUGE increase in health care premiums, you see that unlike what is reported, public employees do not fare any better than the private sector. Of course you have the defined benefits plan which happens to have fared MUCH better than the defined contribution plan so I imagine those people who have those failed plans would feel they got the bad end of the deal. Not a good reason to switch more retirees to that type of plan in my opinion.
The fascist, anti-worker, anti-government trolls just crapped their cages when they saw the headline.
You fascists are on the wrong side of this issue but not suprising most reich-wingers are on the wrong side of EVERY issue.
unionnever - good lucking voting everyone out, king kasich just kicked a massive hornets nest that will gaurentee President Obama a second term and gaurentee that the U.S. Senate remains in Democratic hands. Thankfully.
Antifascist is right about the 2012 elections.
What Kasich and the Republicans who support this don't realize is that a sizable portion of union members and their families vote for the GOP. Not to mention that not even 30% of the electorate voted, and still Kasich barely won.
I was talking to my cousin last week, and she was telling about one of the secretaries at her school. She's a major Tea-Partier, but now she's up in arms because her movement is now fighting against her. True irony.
I understand how getting rid of the unions will skew future campaign donations, and the GOP will be practically opponent-free when it comes to all the non-direct donations. But, in the short term, they've just sealed their fate when all the uninformed cops/teachers/firefighter/clerical people realize the GOP for what it is...anti anyone not in the investor class.
Rick, you need to point out which categories you're talking about.
Population shift, poverty rates, educational rate, income, gini, etc.
A lot of people don't realize how much poorer the average person is in Alabama, Georgia, or Texas. While average income may only be a few thousand less than Ohio, if they were to use the median income it would show the true value of having a unionized workforce.
A category that tells a lot about the relative economic status of a state is to look at the rate of what they pay in taxes to what the state receives from Washington in taxes.
Rust belt has been hit hard, but those states are still wealthier than the Southern states which have only had modern economies since 70s and 80s.
i read an article in the plain dealer that the special assistant to kasich is making 145,000 a year. sounds fair in troubled times.
read changes were made to get it out of committee. cant wait to read them.
A word for Kasick and his ilk from the Prophet Jeremiah (6:15): "Are they ashamed of their loathsome behavior? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall with the fallen and be brought down when I punish them, says the Lord". Amen.