Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Ohio Voters Reject Republican-Back State's Collective Bargaining Law

Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected the state's new collective bargaining law. This law limited the collective bargaining capability of the 350,000 unionized public workers.

Unions and other interest groups spent over $30 million dollars to defeat this law and worked to turn out voters. The largely union-funded coalition, We Are Ohio, depicted the law as a threat to public safety and middle-class workers rather than a fiscal issue. Millions of dollars were spent on television ads with images of police officers, fire fighters, nurses and teachers.

Supporters of the law said that it would control costs and save jobs. The "Building a Better Ohio" committee that supported the law raised $8 million.

The defeat of this law is anticipated to energize the labor movement in preparation for 2012.

No comments:

Post a Comment