This year, Ohioans have been in the fight of our lives. Senate Bill 5 is the biggest attack on the rights and conditions of higher education employees (and other workers) in decades. If Senate Bill 5 is not repealed, we will lose our right to collectively bargain. Our wages, working conditions, teaching loads, policies for promotion and tenure, sick leave, benefits, and grievance procedures will be left to the whims of University Administrators. We cannot allow this to happen.
In the past 24 hours, Governor Kasich has floated the idea of a 'compromise' or re-negotiations of the Bill. He is just responding to the pressure that Ohioans have brought to bear on his Administration. His standing in the polls is terrible and he is desperately trying for a 'quick fix" to save his political career.
But talk of a compromise is too little, too late. Kasich's plan appears to have the referendum withdrawn from the ballot, thereby allowing it to become law, and then negotiate. What sort of negotiation would it be if this happened? It makes no sense. In calling for "compromise" now the governor has implicitly admitted that it is a bad Bill. The only way to effectively deal with the situation is for the Bill to be defeated in November.
With the start of the Fall Semester, we are restarting the campaign against Senate Bill 5. But now we will refer to it as Ballot Issue 2. VOTE NO ON ISSUE 2!
Just remember the facts about the Bill: it is partisan and divisive. It undoes years of workplace cooperation and instead positions public employees as the enemy of taxpayers. Collective bargaining has been an effective tool for workplace negotiations and this Bill represents an unwarranted attack on the workers' right to have a seat at the table.
This is not the kind of Ohio that middle class families want to live in. That's why almost 1.3 million people signed the petition to have a people's referendum on Senate Bill 5. We must send a clear message that this kind of legislation is unacceptable.
We will be organizing a lot of events this semester. There will be a rally at the Main Campus of The University of Toledo on September 12 from 12-2 (more information to come). We will also be organizing lunch-time talks throughout the semester. Local and national labor leaders and speakers from We Are Ohio, the nonpartisan group against the Bill, will be coming to campus. Please stay tuned and read your emails from the Union!
On November 8th, please vote NO on Issue 2.
