A problem for the Republicans as the next election approaches is that more people voted against Issue 2 than voted for Republican Governor John Kasich in 2010.

SB 5 planned to severely restricted collective bargaining rights for firefighters, teachers, nurses and other public employees. The bill made striking illegal and restricted union bargaining rights to a couple of items. The bill also eliminated safe staffing minimums, putting both workers and the public in potentially dangerous situations. Working class people overwhelmingly opposed this attack.

SB 5 was another attempt to balance the state budget on the backs of workers here in Ohio. Governor Kasich, former CEO of the big Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs, wanted to take away the rights of workers, claiming the need for concessions due to the bad economy. At the same time Kasich defends the bonuses paid to his Wall Street buddies with taxpayer bailout monies. SB 5 was just another attempt by the 1% to bust up unions.

While this is a major victory, the fight in Ohio is not over. Kasich is already hinting at breaking up SB 5 into smaller portions and passing each one individually, making it hard to repeal multiple sections thru ballot voting. Governor Kasich will not stop his attacks on the working class of Ohio and the working people will not stop fighting back.

#ColumbusOH #unionBusting #SenateBill5 #GovernorKasich

“They've gone too far and now it's time to fight back” said a worker when asked about why he was attending the demonstration.

Speakers, many from the Service Employees International Union, denounced the bill for attacking workers while doing nothing to solve the $8 billion dollar budget deficit that Republicans claim the bill is supposed to address. They pointed out that if collective bargaining was the problem, so-called 'right-to-work' states wouldn't be having large budget deficits.

Today, the Republicans rammed through SB-5 with a 17-16 vote in the Senate. Earlier, the Republicans pushed through SB-5 in a senate committee by removing a dissenting Republican senator. Six Republicans voted against the proposed law; a couple of publicly denounced the vote. Gov.Kasich's union-busting bill will now head to the Ohio House of Representatives, while workers and students continue to protest at the State Capitol building.

#ColumbusOH #CollectiveBargaining #GovernorJohnKasich #SB5 #publicSectorUnions #SenateBill5 #ohio