Austin Keyser of the Shawnee Labor Council and IBEW 575 spoke to a crowd at the Portsmouth Fire Department on Saturday in opposition of Senate Bill 5, which restrict collective bargaining rights of public employees.
The GOP-backed measure that would restrict the collective bargaining rights of about 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees squeaked through the state Senate on a 17-16 vote. Six Republicans sided with Democrats against the measure. The bill now heads for consideration in the Republican-controlled Ohio House of Representatives.
“We have a representative now in Terry Johnson and we want to make sure he goes up there and fights for the people of southern Ohio,” said Austin Keyser, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 575, and secretary general of the Shawnee Labor Council.
State Rep. Johnson, R-89, told the Daily Times earlier this week that he doesn’t know yet what the bill will look like when it comes to a vote in the House of Representatives, but he cited job creation as one of his biggest goals in office and said he supports union workers.
Keyer said Johnson said he would not support the bill in its current form, but Keyser and the Shawnee Labor Council want the bill, in any form, killed. He called the bill an assault on the working people of southern Ohio. Keyser said he has an appointment to meet with Johnson this week.
“We want to know where he stands. There’s a dark line here and you’re either on one side or you’re on the other. This isn’t a position that you can take a grey area on,” Keyser said.
The fire station garage was packed-full of people Saturday, waving signs that read “Kill the Bill,” and likening the legislation to Nazi Germany and Gov. John Kasich (whom they called “Kay-Suck”) to Hitler. Shouting through a megaphone from atop a picnic table, Keyser told the crowd how Kasich was paid $50,000 for 36 hours of public speaking at The Ohio State University.
“That’s almost $1,400 an hour, and then he says that school teachers and college professors that do it full-time everyday are worth nothing. That they deserve to be cut back a notch. I mean, that money came from a public university. Where does he think that money came from? That’s taxpayer dollars. Why is he worth so much more than you are?” Keyser prompted.
He said Kasich also gave raises of an average of $40,000 a year to members of his “inner circle.” He accused the governor of bringing his “arrogant CEO persona” to the statehouse.
“Big bonuses and big pay hikes for the people at the top, and how are they going to pay for it? They’re going to cut the people at the bottom,” Keyser said. “It’s the same concept we see in the private sector. It’s the same thing that the private sector is fighting against, and he’s bringing that here.”
Members of Portsmouth City Council last week voted 5-1 to support collective bargaining with a local resolution. Councilmen John Haas, Rich Saddler, and City Solicitor Mike Jones also participated in the rally to read the resolution. Haas called the bill an attack on the middle class of Ohio.
“We want to send a message to Gov. Kasich that we believe our union workers, our city workers, police and fire and teachers, all deserve a decent wage and benefits. We respect the job that teachers do teaching our kids, and police and fire protecting our kids,” he said.
Shawnee State University Faculty Senate President Dr. Chip Piorot also read the Faculty Senate’s resolution regarding Senate Bill 5.
I guess that depends on the correct definition of "industrial army". There's hardly anything industrial about the teaching profession. I guess if it's meant to define the group of people who are standing up to those trying to take away our job security, I guess we'd be guilty as charged.
Of course, communism wouldn't allow for us to stand up for ANYTHING. So that definition CAN'T be right.
are you new in town, the government spending in this town in fact benefits the private sector all the way from the public employees voting for the SOGP candidates, the money flows though grants and tax abatements, to all the underground money flows we do not know about because of their covertness and lack of transparency with our tax dollars.
Get informed before you argue stuff, things in the world do not apply in Scioto County, that La Purga person, and Keith Richardson on the blog has the same problem with the discerning of Scioto County and the "real" world.
Come on now, you are better than most of the 18,000 people in Ptown, cause you speak out, so step up to the offices of government, or you are just sissing in the wind pister.
They call that Rhetoric and blowhard, whatever the 1st. Amendment saids. That amendment is so things get changed, not to let people occupy their like with blowing off.
Also, see the irony that the state GOP is smashing the Ptown GOP in their pocket books, you all elected them in Columbus, Ohio be careful what you vote for.
My next questions are for Rep. Johnson. In one recent article, he stated he is for the union worker. Shouldn't he have stated that he is for all workers? Shouldn't the individual have the right to choose whether he or she wants to be in a union? Shouldn't an individual have the right to say no to having a government entity withdraw union dues from his or her paycheck, particularly when it goes to pay the overinflated salaries of union bosses, such as Keyser's, or to support causes the individual finds morally objectionable?
Can you defend the illogical position that public employees actually "bargain" with other politically motivated public employees, officers and boards? Where is the private sector tax payer's place at the table?
Finally, my last inquiry is to the members of city council who passed a toothless resolution against SB5 and those city officials who chose to attend rally against SB5. How do you have the nerve to condemn SB5 but yet, due to fiscal irresponsibility, ask for an increase in the city income tax? One of you was quoted that SB5 is an assault on the middle class of Ohio. Which part of the middle class is being assaulted, the special interest unions, or the entire middle class? Isn't the way government spends recklessly an assault on the private sector middle class, that is the one who fronts the money to pay the public sector employees in the first place? I would think that every government employee, official and politician who opposes SB5 should answer this question, how successful would a business be if it were run like a government office?
Sort of like General Motors Workers a few years ago. When laid off they got full benefits and 98% of the wages they made before the layoff.
Many Private Sector jobs today you pay 50% of your healthcare or get none at all, as lots of companies offer zero.
Lots of City Union Workers in different Cities in the State of Ohio pay less than 9% of their healthcare.
Everyone everywhere needs to start giving more instead of always taking.
I guess if anyone dont like it, they can go to Wal Mart and work as they are one of the Major Employers in the county. If thats not good enough, then be happy for what you already have and even take a cut, in these hard times.
"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers' salaries and take away their right to strike." - Adolph Hitler, May 2, 1933
This is what the bill is leading to. I, for one, will NOT have that.
And for the record, I was holding the "Kay-SUCK" sign.