State Senator Shannon Jones (R, Springboro) has introduced Ohio Senate Bill 5, which would significantly reduce the collective bargaining rights of public employees at both the state and local levels.
Buster knows that many people like to blame unions for all the problems in the world, but would you really want to return to the bad old days before they existed? If you know your history, no, you wouldn't. Over the years, every workers' rights issue has been bitterly opposed by management, every labor success hard fought. In recent years, unions all over the country have recognized the economic conditions and agreed to concessions and wage cuts. But any attempt to weaken actual labor laws,which is what SB 5 does, should be met with great skepticism. We give up these rights at our peril.
I'll spare you the details of the bill, giving you instead the comment of Sen. Bill Seitz (R, Cinti.), who said "It tends to skew things mightily in favor of the employer." (This from a Republican!) Sen. Jones said she's "not doing this to punish [Ohio] employees." Behind her back, she had her fingers crossed. Another R, Sen. Tom Niehaus, tied it to the budget and deficit reduction, which is just total horseshit. And John-Boy Kasich is all for it, of course.
The new breed of Libertarian Tea-swilling Republicans seem to think the world would be a much better place if we could somehow roll back the clock to 1773. No, it wouldn't! Unfortunately, both houses of the State legislature are heavy with R's and they're ready to toss us into the Time Machine and see how far backward we can go. Buckle up!
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