The Green Party of Ohio stands in solidarity with the public employees of our state. We believe that it is an essential right and intrinsic element of democracy that workers be allowed to collectively bargain with their employers.
Attempts by the Republican Party of Ohio and specifically Governor John Kasich to destroy public union bargaining rights are little more than an attempt to destroy opposition to their corporate-sponsored agenda. Their assault on worker's rights has nothing to do with saving taxpayer's money and has everything to do with the rise of a corporate state.
When worker's rights are under attack, the Green Party firmly supports a "fight back" and pledges active support in any referendum that will repeal this unjust and undemocratic assault on the rights of union workers and their livelihood.
Statement by Ohio Green Party Co-Chair Bob Fitrakis
It's so easy to posture on this issue, but when one looks at the basic issue it really is nothing like its opponents say. Here's what it's all about in my view. Public service is a very labor intensive activity, consequently the bulk of local government's revenue goes toward employee compensation. Our collective bargaining laws, as presently constructed, have proved "tilted" slightly in favor of the employee. To know this, all you have to know is that we see governments having to lay off employees as tax revenue shrinks. The last thing politicians want to do is lay off people because it reduces services, which they like to provide. If it was totally in their control, most of them would just reduce the compensation being paid to the employees as much as necessary to keep from having to lay people off. SB5 provides a few tools to administrators to give them a little more power to do just that.
Sadly, the opponents of SB5, though posing as friends of the working man, are demonstrating that they only care about helping those who remain. They'll fight to keep collective bargaining intact even though it often results in the loss of workers jobs.
When I was a Councilman, as I watched raises being granted while safety force jobs were being lost, I used to joke that we would eventually end up with one $250K police officer, and one $250K firefighter.