Thanks, Jim Provance, for saying what others have doubted............

"He replaced Sen. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati) on the Insurance committee with Sen. Cliff Hite (R., Findlay), who was a union member most of the time that he served as a public school teacher."

http://toledoblade.com/State/2011/03/02/Committee-votes-7-5-to-forward-collective-bargaining-bill-to-GOP-controlled-House.html

Ohio Senate narrowly approves bill limiting collective bargaining rights of state’s public employees

BY JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
March 2, 2011

Akron kindergarten teacher Cathy Macklem, center foreground, was among those protesting Senate Bill 5 at the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday.

Click image to enlarge

COLUMBUS — A divided Ohio Senate Wednesday voted 17-16 to approve a controversial bill limiting collective bargaining rights of Ohio’s public employees.

Six Republicans joined all 10 Democrats in opposing the measure, which would preserve union negotiations for public employee contracts but limit what they could talk about, prohibit all public employees from striking, and establish a new process to bring final resolution to contract disputes.

Wednesday’s vote took place in a relatively quiet Statehouse, which stood in sharp contrast to the roughly 8,500 protestors who crowded the building and its grounds the day before.

Senate Bill 5 includes pay ranges for public employees, but does not preserve automatic longevity or step increases. It introduces a merit system through which employee pay could be increased based on their performance.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Shannon Jones (R., Springboro), said that system could be designed through contract negotiations and that longevity could still be a factor.

“The prohibition is on longevity being the only consideration and preeminent consideration (for raises)…,’’ she said. “There is no justification to say public employees can only be judged on seniority. I believe public employees could be should be judged on their performance.’’

To ensure that the bill would have enough votes to clear the Senate Insurance, Commerce, and Labor Committee and then the Senate Rules Committee to swiftly move to the floor, Senate President Tom Niehaus (R., New Richmond) replaced known GOP “no’’ votes on the committees with senators he knew would vote “yes.’’

He replaced Sen. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati) on the Insurance committee with Sen. Cliff Hite (R., Findlay), who was a union member most of the time that he served as a public school teacher.

Mr. Seitz had joined Democrats in arguing that provisions of the bill left some public employees, who would not have the right to strike, with little leverage in negotiations with government management. The committee went on to approve the bill 7-5 with one Republican, Sen. Jim Hughes (R., Columbus), joining the four Democrats in opposition.

“It’s pretty clear it was done due to the vote count,’’ the committee’s chairman, Sen. Kevin Bacon (R., Columbus), said.

Mr. Niehaus took Sen. Scott Oelslager (R., North Canton) off Rules and replaced him with Sen. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills), who then voted to put the bill on Wednesday’s floor calendar.

“This bill’s going to put a muzzle on public employees,’’ said Sen. Edna Brown (D., Toledo), who opposed the bill in committee and on the floor.

“They’re not going to be able to negotiate safety issues for police and fire equipment…,’’ she said. “It’s going to be revert back, in my opinion, to the days when management had employees were totally at the mercy of supervisors…We’re going to see more nepotism, a lot of discrimination in this merit-pay business. Things are not going to be the same.’’

Despite the prohibition on public employee strikes, she said she believes strikes could still happen.

.“It is not unrealistic to think that, if employees become fed up enough, they will walk out,’’ she said.

Ms. Jones defended the decision to create an alternative to binding arbitration as a means of bring final resolution to a dispute. The new process would end with the governing body of the public employer deciding whether to pick its own final best offer or the union’s last offer as the final contract.

“They’re the body that should be accountable for the spending of those tax dollars,’’ she said. “This is keeping with the spirit and letter of the legislation that is asking for a lot of public transparency, putting these hearings in the public domain, and letting the public weigh in in the process…It is their responsibility and only their responsibility.’’

Under the new process, when contracts reach an impasse, either side could ask the State Employment Relations Board to appoint a mediator and, after that, seek the appointment of a fact-finder. The fact-finder would have to consider the taxpayers’ ability to pay when making his recommendations.

If the impasse continues 14 days after a fact-finder’s report is issued, the two sides’ final best offers would be submitted to the governing body of the public employer, which would hold a public hearing and then vote to pick one or the other offer as the final contract.

“You believe that it would be better to have someone who has the stake in the final outcome than somebody who is a neutral unbiased third party,’’ Sen. Joseph Schiavoni (D., Youngstown) told Ms. Jones.