While the good folks in Wisconsin watch the Democrats chicken out and run from the state, the Senate in Ohio has passed a significant reform bill.

*not_secure_link*www.cnbc.com/id/41877986

And on another front the Ohio legislature passed a bill to keep important employers in the state.

*not_secure_link*www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/03/ohio_house_signs_off_on_bill_a.html

 

You know certain people on here will not be happy about this.

This will be going around to all the union states, America needs to have right to work states.

The states have to do what they have to do, this is what happens to people when they run out of others money.:-E:-E

 

It barely passed, but man,,,my state needs this to survive. Industry has left Ohio, the population went with it. Ohio is in dire need for some substantial reform,. this is just the first stepping block.

 

I'm curious about the automatic pay rises thing, if you don't mind explaining...

Basically, here in the UK, there is [perhaps two?] automatic payrises per year. This, I think, is to ensure that wages will keep in line with inflation and the fact that everything seems to be getting more damned expensive.

Would the legislation ban that? If so, doesn't that ultimately make people poorer?

 

The bill in Wisconsin provides for annual COLA (cost of living allowance) pay increases. Inflation is considered when the COLA number is calculated. The bill in Ohio is similar, but I have not read it to see what restrictions are being implemented. I would assume that it also includes a COLA provision.

The problem we see here is that the opponents to this reform are spinning the bill to mean that ALL collective bargaining is being eliminated, this is not true.

 

Ah, fair enough.

As far as 'collective bargaining' is concerned - I'm well out of my depth there! Not the faintest clue what it even means.

 

And what did they have to do in Ohio to get the bill passed? They had to remove a Republican senator from a key committee because he was opposed to the bill, and replace him with one that wasn't. Remember when Republicans were vociferously objecting to the way Health Care Reform was "rammed through" Congress?

The Republican Party is playing with fire here, and they just might get burned.

 

How unions help all workers

If you are an employee, even if you are not in a union, you benefit from strong unions in your field.

--------

Economic Policy Institute
August 26, 2003

by Lawrence Mishel and Matthew Walters

Unions have a substantial impact on the compensation and work lives of both unionized and non-unionized workers. This report presents current data on unions' effect on wages, fringe benefits, total compensation, pay inequality, and workplace protections.

Some of the conclusions are:
• Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%.
• Unions reduce wage inequality because they raise wages more for low- and middle-wage workers than for higher-wage workers, more for blue-collar than for white-collar workers, and more for workers who do not have a college degree.
• Strong unions set a pay standard that nonunion employers follow. For example, a high school graduate whose workplace is not unionized but whose industry is 25% unionized is paid 5% more than similar workers in less unionized industries.
• The impact of unions on total nonunion wages is almost as large as the impact on total union wages.
• The most sweeping advantage for unionized workers is in fringe benefits. Unionized workers are more likely than their nonunionized counterparts to receive paid leave, are approximately 18% to 28% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are 23% to 54% more likely to be in employer-provided pension plans.

*not_secure_link*www.epi.org/publications/entry/briefingpapers_bp143/

 

Kind of jumping to conclusions here aren't you tenguy? SB 5 still has to pass the Ohio House of Representatives and even if it passes there and is signed into law, residents of Ohio can repeal it at the ballot box which will more than likely happen.

*not_secure_link*business-journal.c...onents-vow-to-put-issue-on-ballo-p18689-1.htm

 

But they have accomplished something important, Stumbler. They've shown clearly what their real agenda is...and it's an all-out war on the middle class of America.

As usual, when they're in charge of anything, they overreach, pursuing radical changes that most people don't want. And then they pay the price.

 

but, they have got it through the Senate and they did it despite the crying by the left.

I don't remember you crying foul when the Dems did that with health care, turn about is fair play.

 

How am I jumping to conclusions, Stumbles. What is incorrect in my post?

And so can health care be repealed by a vote in two years, nothing is permanent.

 

The usual bullshit is flowing again.

At least they have the guts to take on the leftist agenda head on.

 

Then surely you won't mind if the issue gets put on the ballot in Ohio...right?

 

The "leftist agenda" being a living wage for working people. What they have the "guts" for is to do the bidding of the wealthiest people in America..the people who pay for them to be elected.

 

Truthfully? It is exactly what I hope happens, let the voters the states express their wishes.

All of the polls and all of the demonstrations mean nothing.

 

The leftist agenda has been buying votes with favoritism to the unions and to the folks who think that an individual is not responsibility for his own well being.

All the other stuff that you spout on this subject, is pure bullshit.

 

Let them eat cake, right Tenguy?

Another cogent, well-thought-out, rational retort.

 

Very true but my comment was more directed at tenguy's premature elation. This is a long ways from being a new law and an even longer ways from being settled.

All the polls indicate that people are beginning to wake up to the fact they were bamboozled in the last election and support is turning against them because of the deception.

This Koch Brothers national attempt at Union busting just might be one of the best things that could happen to us liberal/Democrats for the coming elections. Especially when the conservative/Republican/Tea Baggers are doing everything to cause more job losses than create them.