Dispatch coverage of Statehouse demonstrations re: S.B. 5

Hint of progress amid the protests over
Senate Bill 5
5,200 opponents make loud show at the Capitol

Columbus Dispatch, February 23, 2011
By Jim Siegel and Joe Hallett

A key Senate Republican said at least one public union has shown a willingness to go beyond the "kill the bill" chants heard repeatedly from the estimated 5,200 protesters who swarmed the Statehouse yesterday to fight an overhaul of Ohio's collective-bargaining law.

"They are remaining pragmatic and so are we," Sen. Kevin Bacon, R-Minerva Park, said yesterday after a meeting with the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio. "We have some things that maybe we can come together on."

Jay McDonald, president of the union, said his organization can agree with parts of the bill, such as more transparency in the bargaining process. But he said eliminating binding arbitration - a provision Bacon says is key to the bill - goes way too far, giving police and firefighters no power to negotiate.

"There might be other ways to achieve the same result," McDonald said. "There has to be finality that my members have an equitable stake in."

As for his willingness to engage in talks, he said, "I'd love for them to say this is going to go away, but it's not."

McDonald and firefighters yesterday also urged Republicans to take more time on such a major change in Ohio law. "We came to slow it down and see if we can come to a consensus on this thing," said Jack Reall, head of the Columbus firefighters' union.

Bacon, the chairman of the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee, said the process is "a lot more fluid than people think." As for complaints about the speed of action, he said, "People are so used to government moving at a snail's pace, maybe this is a rush to them."

The State Highway Patrol limited access to the Statehouse yesterday as thousands of protesters stood outside in the cold and snow, many angry they could not get inside to register their opposition.

Saying it was concerned for the safety of the hundreds already gathered in the Statehouse, the patrol locked outside doors, leaving throngs of protesters on the east side along 3rd Street chanting and cheering so loudly that they could be heard across Downtown as newscasters from across Ohio and CNN captured the scene.

"My taxes pay for this and I should be allowed in," said Diane Twarog, a representative for the Service Employees International Union who made the trip from St. Clairsville in Belmont County.

As a Democratic lawsuit was threatened to open the doors, the party's lawmakers finally were successful in getting about 500 more protesters to join the roughly 700 in the atrium. About 900 others were allowed to sit in the Capitol Theatre in the Riffe Center, across High Street from the Statehouse. Audio from the hearing was piped in both locales.

With a fourth hearing on the bill scheduled in the afternoon, busloads of union sympathizers came from across the state, many carrying placards and chanting "No bill" at the top of their lungs. Music also filled the air, thanks to a bagpipe and drums corps from one of the state's safety unions.

The Ohio bill, and the protests it has drawn, mirrors the scenario in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker and his GOP-legislative majorities are stymied because Democratic lawmakers are away from the Statehouse in hiding.

Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern said that if Gov. John Kasich and GOP legislators push through Senate Bill 5, a ballot challenge almost certainly will follow. The bill would have to be signed by the first week of April to avoid having that challenge decided in the November 2012 presidential election.

A national USA Today/Gallup Poll released yesterday said that 61 percent of respondents oppose a law reducing collective-bargaining power of public workers. In Ohio, a Quinnipiac University poll in January found 51 percent opposed reducing collective-bargaining rights for public workers, compared with 34 percent in support.

Supporters say the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, would slow the unsustainable rise in personnel costs and give government managers more flexibility to deal with looming budget cuts. Union members see it differently.

"I believe Gov. Kasich decided he wants to squash unions and found a creative way to do it, but he has to realize that we've fought this battle before, and he will not stop us because we will fight to the very end," said JoAnn Johntony, president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees.

Neither Bacon nor Jones hinted when the bill would pass. Bacon generally supports the bill, and with the civil-service protections that would remain, "The post-Senate Bill 5 doom-and-gloom nuclear scenario just isn't true."

The Dispatch has talked to eight GOP senators who either would not express support for the bill, or have stated varying degrees of discomfort with it.

"You need to have some form of collective bargaining to actually expedite management's ability to deal with the work force and save taxpayers money," said Sen. Timothy J. Grendell, R-Chesterland.

Inside the committee hearing, Dewey Stokes, a retired police officer and former Franklin County commissioner who served nationally with the FOP, told lawmakers that collective bargaining creates a level playing field to negotiate wages and other issues.

"If you take away binding arbitration, you stand to be accountable for strikes by safety forces," he said.

Former GOP state Sen. Bruce Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, argued that collective bargaining places very little value on efficiency and productivity. He said the University of Toledo, for example, estimates it spends $8 million extra in labor costs because of ineffective employees.

"If people knew about all of the processes that go on relative to Ohio's public sector collective-bargaining law, they would be offended by the time, energy and talent that is underutilized," Johnson said.

jsiegel@dispatch.com
jhallett@dispatch.com