Ohio limits collective bargaining (w/ related video)

Ohio has passed a law limiting public employees’ collective bargaining abilities, less than a month after Wisconsin passed a similar statute. Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the new law preserves collective bargaining on “legitimate” issues, but also gives local governments more control over their resources to avoid raising taxes. Meanwhile, opponents of the bill are calling for its repeal, calling it an “attack on the middle class.”

Ohio Senate Bill 5, signed into law on Thursday, allows public employees to bargain collectively on wages and working conditions only, while eliminating their right to strike. It also requires local and state government agencies to pay for up to 85 percent of employees’ healthcare costs, a provision that aims to restore balance between private and public sector healthcare costs, Kasich says in a press conference. “When your average private sector employee is paying 23 percent of their healthcare cost and your average city worker is paying 9 percent, I think it’s fair to create a balance,” Kasich says.

Kasich says his goal was to give local governments the ability to manage their costs. “We think we have a program here that’s going to allow local governments to deal with fewer dollars, still protects the right of collective bargaining on things that we think are legitimate, and will help people to cope in a period of time when we do have fewer resources,” Kasisch says.

Service Employees International Union District 1199, which has 25,000 Ohio members, is organizing a referendum for the state’s residents to vote whether to keep the new law. “Gov. Kasich’s attack on the Ohio middle class is disgraceful,” says Becky Williams, president of SEIU 1199, in a statement. “Governor Kasich promised to create jobs, but instead has set out to establish an agenda against the middle class and Ohio workers.”

SEIU 1199 will need to gather more than 300,000 signatures to place Senate Bill 5 on the November ballot. Williams says that the union would begin the referendum process immediately and would kick off the referendum campaign at a rally on the west lawn of the Ohio Statehouse on Saturday.

Watch Kasich’s press conference on the bill below and read Williams’ statement.