Ohio Outdoes Wisconsin. (orig. 3/31/2011)

The state of Ohio just outdid Wisconsin. Although some Republicans thought the bill went too far and joined Democrats in voting against it, the Senate approved the bill 17-16 and the House passed it 53-44. Newly-elected governor Kasich is expected to sign it within a few days. ( When a similar bill was passed some years ago, voters rejected it by a 2-1 margin in a statewide vote.)

Here's what the bill does:

1) "The bill would bar public employees from striking and would prohibit binding arbitration for police officers and firefighters. It would allow bargaining over wages, but not health coverage and pensions and would allow public-employee unions to bargain only when the public employer chose to do so." (You might want to read the second sentence again.)

2) "Under the Ohio bill, when there is public-sector bargaining and management and union fail to reach a settlement, the legislative body, such as a county or school board, would make the final decision on what offer to accept. But if the legislative body refrains from selecting either side’s last best offer, the public employer’s last offer would become the agreement between the parties."

3) "The bill would allow public employees who are covered by union contracts but who choose not to belong to the union to opt out of paying union dues or fees. The bill would also bar any governmental unit in Ohio from deducting any part of a worker’s paycheck and giving it to the union for political activities unless the worker gave express permission."

4) "The bill would bar any union contract that limited a public employer’s ability to privatize operations. It eliminates statutory schedules and steps that automatically increase salaries year by year, and it bars seniority, by itself, from determining who is to be laid off." (You might want to read the first part of the second sentence one more time.)

5) The bill eliminates "...the ability of public employees to negotiate on health care, outsourcing and staffing levels for nurses, firefighting crews and police squad cars."

6) "Under the bill, if a public employer chose the costlier of two final offers from management and union and that choice forced a community to raise taxes, then voters would be given the opportunity to overturn the contract through a referendum."

The above quotes are from a NY Times article. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/us/31ohio.html?ref=us