It's not just Wisconsin

“I’ll give up my union card when you pry it from my cold dead hand,” reads the sign of an Ohio protester who gathered with an estimated 3,800 others in an act of solidarity against Ohio’s Senate Bill 5. Although Wisconsin has been garnering more widespread media coverage, a frighteningly similar Republican sponsored bill is working its way through the Ohio Senate’s Insurance, Commerce and Labor committee. Protests reached fever pitch today as over 1000 protesters flooded into the Capitol building in Columbus, where the Senate Bill 5 testimony was being broadcast over speakers from a tightly guarded hearing room.

Union members are angry! In state legislatures and governors’ offices, where Republicans have dominated all branches of government after the 2010 elections, they are going after hardworking public-sector employees! No wonder teachers, firefighters, and policemen, alongside family and friends, are vocalizing their opposition in such magnitudes! So what’s at stake? A collective bargaining bill that gives organized state and local labor the right to collectively bargain for better working conditions, in addition to granting police and fire officials the right to seek binding arbitration.

Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich wants to reform this law and ban collective bargaining rights for all state employees and drastically limit arbitration rules for local governments. Senate Bill 5 will make it much harder for teachers and other local union members to bargain collectively and force them to pay much larger shares of health insurance premiums. Republicans claim that they are trying to rein in the rising cost of salary benefits earned by hardworking municipal workers, but taking away collective bargaining rights doesn't save money, it just hurts workers.

Kasich has even pushed for public workers who strike to be fired! This Republican claim that denies wanting to harm workers is not true. This is a politically risky tactic for Republicans given that a USA Today/Gallup Poll found 61% of Americans in opposition to laws undermining collective bargaining rights to 33% in favor. “I proudly served for Freedom, don’t take it away,” reads another protester's sign. The mounting fear for most union members is that if Senate Bill 5 passes, they will unilaterally be removed from collective bargaining, and their views and voices will be diluted and steamrolled by the government.

The Ohio protests are also receiving significant support from many high profile leaders who are standing by hard working Americans. Today, former Governor Ted Strickland, a past 21st Century Democrats endorsee, cheered on union supporters through a megaphone alongside former congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, another past endorsee, and Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17). Although United States Senate rules prevent members from lobbying on state legislation, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has voiced an interest in expressing solidarity with state democrats.

Ohio is just one of several other states that are encountering bills that undercut state employees’ rights to collective bargaining. Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine and Pennsylvania are also facing the same situation where Republicans made significant gains in the wake of the midterm elections. 21st Century Democrats is committed to representing the interests of America’s Working Families and we are dedicated to doing all we can to promote a fairer, just and equal society for all.