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Marco T. Pigeon: I think the days of teachers unions blackmailing communities for more money are finally coming to an end and that having a public job doesn’t mean you should be entitled to things those in the private sector might not get.
Doug Imfeld: I think before the average worker takes hits, all of the Senate and House members should first. They live in their half-million dollar homes on acres of land; they can afford to lose a little more, and for all the people who think government workers have it so sweet, the state has a statewide opening of correction officers; so come apply, after the riot no one knows happened, we could use the help.
Barbara Walters Brewer: The state does not produce anything like the steel companies. It pays the state employees with tax money, not profits from a product. I’m done with the day my tax dollars increase to give state workers a increase in wages and benefits. My health care went up and I am not able to work a full 40 hours in health care. They should not get a free pass.
Erik Jon Barrett: Eliminating collective bargaining rights is eliminating the unions ... just because the economy isn’t what used to be, shouldn’t mean the end of all negotiations, ever ... it’ll just put the state back in power like a dictatorship ... collective bargaining is democracy in the workplace ... and certainly the state and the American people are not against democracy ... are they?
Jim Robinson: My thought would be to stick to the items that will adjust the budget. Become better negotiators if they don’t like the deal, but this is simply to do away with unions altogether. Collective bargaining is just that, bargaining. Maybe our leaders should learn that trade and we wouldn’t be in this shape. My father was a union worker his whole career and he didn’t get rich.
Comments to @journalnews via twitter:
@pam_iam_a1: as usual, the Right blames unions for all money troubles ... yet most businesses that go overseas or pay low wages are nonunion.
@jhuff819: I say we pay politicians on merit pay like they want to pay teachers.
HAMILTON — Local educators and union members are saying the Ohio legislature has no idea of all the ramifications of a proposed collective bargaining bill and is going off half-cocked on its drive to eliminate unions.
“What we’re trying to do is stop them from rushing this bill through because it will change so many things,” said Deloris Hudson, president of the Hamilton Classroom Teachers Association, who spent her Presidents Day holiday at a rally in Dayton protesting Senate Bill 5.
“The legislators have it on a fast track, but we’re saying let’s consider what is in the bill and do it at a slower pace,” she said.
For instance, Hudson said, SB 5 could jeopardize Ohio’s $400 million share of the Race to the Top funds being dispersed by the U.S. Department of Education, which required a memorandum of understanding from the teacher’s unions in districts — including Fairfield, Hamilton, Monroe, Ross and Talawanda — that applied for funds.
“Race to the Top was the result of the union and the district working together, bargaining evaluations and other things,” Hudson said. “I’m not sure if we’d be able to continue Race to the Top if we can no longer collectively bargain.”
Supporters of Ohio Senate Bill 5 — sponsored by state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro — contend it will curtail public spending to help deal with a projected $8 billion deficit.
Ohio had 655,000 union members — both public and private — in 2010, which is 13.7 percent of the 4,787,000 people employed in the state, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dave Spurrier, a former Hamilton High School teacher who retired last year, was in the district prior to 1980 when the district and union reached its first collective bargaining agreement.
Spurrier said he will attend a rally scheduled for today in Columbus to protest SB 5. His wife, Linda, still teaches in Hamilton and their daughter Kate teaches in the New Miami district.
“I realize how hard-fought the right to collective bargain was to get,” he said. “Without collective bargaining, it’s a take-it-or-leave-it situation and you have to take what they’re willing to give you.
“With collective bargaining, the boards of education and the state have a partner to do what’s best for everyone.”
Spurrier said it troubles him that the current state government is taking a “dictatorship” approach to dealing with public employees.
“When (former Ohio Gov.) Ted Strickland was trying to balance the budget, he brought union leaders in and looked at ways to cooperate, that we can come together and work it out that way,” he said. “The dictatorship approach is a quicker way to respond, but it doesn’t do any good in the long run.
“Rather than have the government as a partner, they’ll have someone who can just dictate what will happen,” Spurrier said.
Unions: Some services may change if bill passes
Christopher Haynes isn’t quite sure how Senate Bill 5 will impact Hamilton city employees who are members of unions.
“We had a union meeting last week and it was brought up, but we’re still trying to read up on it and see how it’ll affect us as a municipality,” said Haynes, vice president of AFSCME Local 475, which represents employees of the Department of Public Works.
Haynes, who served as president of the union for eight years, said it seems the bill will most affect the teachers unions and he’s not sure what the trickle-down effect will be yet.
The bill — sponsored by state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp. — seeks to eliminate collective bargaining as a way of curtailing spending as the state attempts to reduce a projected $8 billion deficit.
Passage of the bill, which is the subject of a rally scheduled today in Columbus, may change how safety forces operate, said Hamilton firefighter Eric Abney, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 20.
For firefighters, Abney said, collective bargaining keeps the limited manning clause in place, which keeps all firehouses open.
That’s one of the reasons why at least seven IAFF Local 20 members plan to attend today’s rally. Since it was introduced, SB 5 has been the subject of much debate and testimony, including that given by Mark Sanders, president of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, last week.
“His points were it’s a system that’s not broken,” Abney said. “For public safety employees, it works. It allows the employees and employers to sit at the table to discuss issues.”
Butler County Democratic Party Executive Chairwoman Jocelyn Bucaro said she thinks the bill “is a sham. I think it’s a blatant attempt by the Republicans to continue to destroy unions in America,” Bucaro said. “I think it’s shameful because the people who are targeted by this bill have worked to have the right to collectively bargain and work for better working conditions and safer working conditions.”
Staff writers Chelsey Levingston, Michael D. Pitman and Hannah Poturalski contributed to this report
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