From Badgers To Buckeyes, Part 2

While the attention is on Wisconsin Republicans going after public unions, the real battle is here in Ohio.  GOP Gov. John Kasich and Ohio Republicans are trying to do everything they can to eliminate all collective bargaining and strike rights for all Ohio state employees, including cops and firefighters.  In other words, the bill goes even further than Wisconsin's does.

Even worse, the "revised" bill introduced yesterday that would allow some collective bargaining would in turn completely eliminate arbitration, putting labor disputes in the hands of elected officials to resolve as they see fit.  That rather neatly removes the point of collective bargaining, when the outcome always favors the government over workers.

The new bill was the latest development in a hotly contested fight over rights for public sector workers that began in Ohio in early February. It came as unions drew their largest crowd of protesters yet to Columbus — about 8,500 people, according to the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, a nonpartisan government group that manages the Statehouse complex here.

Another change would prohibit all public employees from striking, a right that public sector unions say is their only tool for getting a fair deal in labor disputes. The bill would impose fines and imprisonment for violators.
Currently, emergency workers, like police officers and firefighters, are prohibited from striking in Ohio, while most state workers and teachers are permitted to strike. Union leaders said that if the bill passed in its current form, they would press to put the issue on the ballot this fall.

“We will not support this,” said Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat on the committee. “If it’s illegal and criminal to strike, you really don’t have any collective bargaining rights at all.”

Lawyers pored over the 99-page bill Tuesday night.

Senator Bacon said that collective bargaining was reinstated because lawmakers had consulted with government administrators who argued that it was more efficient to deal with workers through collective bargaining. He said Republicans had enough votes to pass the bill out of committee on Wednesday. 

Ohio Republicans aren't stupid.  They've determined that if they keep the unions around, they keep their bogeyman and at the same time they can assure that the public unions can never strike and never win a dispute in third party arbitration, giving state workers precisely zero leverage.  Unions themselves get neutered, Republicans get everything they want.

You can bet every other state with public unions and Republican lawmakers will be looking to force the same outcome.  What's the point of collective bargaining when you can't win?

[UPDATE]  The "revised" bill passed the Ohio State Senate 17-16, and moves on to the House, where it is expected to pass.  Gov. Kasich has already said he will sign the bill.

And with that, unions die in Ohio.

What's to stop them from coming after your job?