The situation is very fluid, shifting daily, but House Republicans had the votes to pass the vicious anti-worker bill SB 5 today. Organized labor, meanwhile, has built a massive coalition of community, religious, academic, retiree and allied groups to oppose the legislation and has already announced its intention to immediately mount a campaign to put the bill on the November ballot as a referendum.
While we won’t really know the total damage that SB 5 will do until we can see the entire bill, with amendments, we do know that it is a massive corporate attack on the right of public workers to bargain collectively. Among other things, SB 5 would;
• End the right of public workers to bargain collectively over most issues, including health care, safety and pensions.
• Outlaws strikes by public workers.
• Imposes “merit pay” on public workers, meaning bosses can pay those they choose more, while paying others that don’t “suck up” less!
• Sets up a “right to work” (for less) situation for public workers in Ohio, ending closed shops, and thus, the power of workers to bargain effectively.