Repeal of SB 5 Isn’t the Victory Labor Thinks: Service Cuts & Tax Increases Likely to Follow

New York, NY: With the repeal of Senate Bill 5, a new collective bargaining law signed by Governor Kasich earlier this year, public-sector unions will claim that this is the final verdict that will end efforts to change the terms of employment for unionized public-sector workers. In his new Manhattan Institute issue brief, “Storm Clouds Ahead: Why Conflict with Public Unions Will Continue,” City College political scientist Daniel DiSalvo argues that instead this will be the latest in a series of ongoing conflicts that will arise between governments and public-employee unions in states where the public workforce is heavily unionized. Slow economic growth will cause persistent budget problems—especially as pension and health benefits limit the availability of funds for core government services.

DiSalvo says that these conditions will pertain to New York, California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington State. If government spends more on the salaries, pensions, and health care of its employees, it cannot spend on public transit, schools, and assistance for the poor.

According to DiSalvo, there will be ongoing conflict between public-sector unions and government because of the fundamental differences between unions in the public and private sectors. In times of fiscal pressures, these differences make it very difficult for elected officials and government labor unions to resolve disputes, in contrast to private-sector negotiations where compromise has started to take root between management and workers. Because public employees have become a majority of America’s union members and because their unions are now the principal financiers of political efforts, compromise is not likely. Collective bargaining at the center of the SB 5 controversy is fundamentally different in the public sector than in the private sector.

While public employee unions may be able to stave-off major efforts to address employee compensation costs in the short term, the need for states to make their budgets more resilient and their workforces more efficient will remain. By rejecting structural reform, as voters have in Ohio, states force a choice between either the “austerity” path blazed by California, leading to a deterioration of services; or a model that is heavy on tax increases, as seen in Illinois and Rhode Island. These approaches are better for public employee unions—or at least for the majority of their members who don’t get laid off due to austerity-- but they are worse for the taxpayer. Public-sector unionization can distort policy choices toward special interests at the expense of the general public good.

Daniel DiSalvo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute's Center for State and Local Leadership and an assistant professor of political science at The City College of New York. He received his doctorate in politics from the University of Virginia and was previously Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professor at Amherst College. His work focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy.

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My Letter To Gov. Kasich

Dear Gov. Kasich,
     The other day a very well known radio personality whom you should never doubt because he is correct 99.6% of the time with half his brain tied behind his back said: "Governor Kasich, you didn't hear the people; you heard the unions! You heard union cash registers..." I firmly believe he is correct in that statement.
     I have listened to your statements after the defeat of Issue 2 and I have read your letter on Facebook and quite frankly it didn't sound like you. I have family members who have lived in Columbus for years, they have voted for and supported you since the beginning because of your common sense, no nonsense, steel backbone approach and that is why I voted for and support you as well. While I understand that it is very difficult if not impossible to win against a machine such as the public-sector unions, what with their member dues to spend at will on anything they choose, I found that your statements sounded as is you have been defeated. That is not the John Kasich I have been told about and not the John Kasich I met and voted for.
    I don't know what you are going to do in the future. We know what needs to be done, we know the consequences if it remains business as usual and I hope and pray that you have not been defeated. Regret is not in my vocabulary (yet).


Yours in support,
                        Scott B.

September 2010

Now Lay More Eggs!

Vote YES on Issue 2!

I may not convince anybody to change their NO votes tomorrow to a YES but mark my words: If SB5 is repealed tomorrow, you will absolutely, positively see higher taxes, more layoffs and more budget problems for the schools. How else can the state pay for everything? There aren't going to be any more stimulus packages to shore up the union pensions (which are currently unsustainable and the very reason for the stimulus packages). Pay freezes and larger classrooms that are happening right now are BECAUSE there is no more stimulus money (that's the "loss of Federal Funding" part in your school newsletter) and the state is obligated by contract to pay the union pensions and benefits FIRST (the newsletter left THAT part out), so now there isn't enough money left for the schools and currently working teachers. Keep things the way they are and things will surely get much worse. Please vote YES on Issue 2 Tuesday!

Here in Ohio we have SB5.

Hope & Change: Even Government-Run Agencies Are Going Out of Business

“We will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit pre-funding costs imposed by Congress.”

Now witness the unions fighting to stop the layoffs knowing full well what will happen. This kind of thing is happening across the country, not just with the USPS. States are being forced to take action. Wisconsin being the most publicized. Here in Ohio we have SB5. 

A decrease in revenue and the public sector union's refusal to help by cutting the burden they place on the state... It's very simple really.

Scott

 

Merit Based Pay? Oh The Horror

"If you are not pulling your weight, if you are not getting performance, if you are not tenacious and really trying to learn and all those sorts of things you want to see teachers doing, then you don't move up at all," she said. "And I tell you, you run that by public opinion and you get a thumbs-up every time."

Teacher merit pay system in Ohio's new collective bargaining law could be first of its kind in the country

There was a time in America

The bill was sponsored by State Senator Shannon Jones, a Republican from Springboro. If it passes, SB 5 will eliminate collective bargaining privileges for workers employed by the State of Ohio. Changes for public employees would include the elimination of binding arbitration for safety forces. Annual "step" increases would also be removed from the list of state laws. Currently, public employees garner the raises BASED SOLELY ON THE NUMBER OF YEARS WORKED and NOT performance, attendance or advanced training or education. There was a time in America that workers had little to no protection from unjust firing, unfair wage policies and unsafe working conditions. The creation of workers compensation departments, civil rights laws, OSHA laws, EPA laws and state wage and hour departments address the major concerns which spurred the creation of labor unions. Is there still a need for worker's unions to ensure safe and lawful employment practices?