Ohio Workers Protest Plan to End Collective Bargaining

February 24, 2011

 

AFSCME Corrections officers from the Marion Correctional Institution joined thousands of demonstrators at the Feb. 22 rally at the Statehouse.

Photo Credit: Joe Weidner

 

Thousands of protesters, including members from AFSCME Council 8, Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE), rallied outside the state capitol yesterday to protest a move by the legislature to eliminate collective bargaining for state employees. State troopers locked out hundreds more but the demonstrators were determined to have their voices heard as they chanted “No Bill!” and “Say No to S.B. 5.”

The crowd inside and outside the Statehouse was estimated to be larger than the number of people who marched last week as the Senate began hearings on Senate Bill 5, a GOP-sponsored bill supported by Gov. John Kasich (R). The measure would eliminate collective bargaining for state workers and weaken the ability of local workers to bargain for their pay, benefits and working conditions.

“I believe Gov. Kasich decided he wants to squash unions and found a creative way to do it, but he has to realize that we've fought this battle before and he will not stop us because we will fight to the very end,” says JoAnn Johntony, president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, which represents 38,000 non-teaching school employees. She adds that like their sisters and brothers in Wisconsin who are fighting Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting proposal, “Ohio workers will not back down either.”

“S.B. 5 is a mean-spirited piece of legislation,” adds AFSCME Council 8 President John A. Lyall. “It will virtually end collective bargaining as we know it for workers at all levels of government. It’s about eliminating the middle class, not just in Ohio but in the country. That’s why it is critical for every AFSCME member, and their families, friends and neighbors, to fight this attack in their communities and in the state house.”

To show solidarity with public employee unions, heads of private sector labor unions held a noontime press conference to denounce S.B. 5 as evidence of a coordinated national attack by Republicans on labor unions, which overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates.