Ohio vote repealing collective bargaining reforms backfires on unions

By Bob Williams/Watchdog.org

On November 8, voters in Ohio overwhelmingly repealed the collective bargaining reforms that were passed by the Legislature earlier this year.  Labor hailed the vote as a great victory for unions.  Repealing this reform, however, is bad news for both government employees and taxpayers.  Reality is not negotiable.  The election results do not change the fact that public employers in Ohio cannot continue to fund salary and benefit increases as they have in the past.

Ohio voters sent a decidedly mixed message when you look at results from all elections in Ohio last week.  In addition to repealing the collective bargaining reforms, voters also sent a strong message that public employees salaries and benefits were unsustainable by rejecting many of the levies necessary to pay for the wages and benefits won by government employees through collective bargaining. Voters rejected seventy-eight percent of the school levies!  Thus, voters voted to support public unions and collective bargaining but voted against the taxes to pay for the contracts!

http://watchdog.org/11963/ohio-vote-repealing-collective-bargaining-reforms-backfires-on-unions/

Tagged as: collective bargaining rights, Issue 2, layoffs, Ohio, public-sector unions, retirement benefits, state budget deficits