Ohioans Continue to Organize against Kasich’s Job Killing Budget
Ohioans are not only focused on SB 5 but also Kasich’s job killing budget and labor and community members are mobilizing in different ways to keep Kasich’s proposals that would hurt working families and our communities from becoming law.
The Ohio Labor Unity Table, with the help of the Ohio AFL-CIO, OAPFF, OFT, FOP, IBEW, UFCW, OEA, and other affiliate and non-affiliate unions, have been conducting tele town halls with thousands working families to inform tem about Kasich’s budget proposals and to answer their questions. Six tele town halls – in the districts of Senators Bacon, Lehner, Oelslager, Patton, Stewart, and Widener – have already taken place and the calls have been averaging between 1,500-2,500 people on each call.
This budget is “wrong for working families and it needs to be stopped,” said Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga during a tele town hall last week. “The Governor’s budget bill will do the following three things: it will eliminate prevailing wages on public construction projects, it will cut school funding by $3 billion and slash local government funds by more than $1 billion and it will privatize state services, such as public education and state assets like the turnpike, prisons and the liquor control to name a few.”
8 more tele town halls are planned in the districts of Senate Republicans through the month of May and are part of the broader effort from labor to educate Ohioans about the budget and put pressure on lawmakers to oppose the job killing aspects of Kasich’s  plan. Other planned actions include worksite leaflets, door-to-door canvassing, in-district and Statehouse visits with Senators and more.
“Despite campaigning on a let’s create jobs message, Gov. Kasich and other lawmakers have done the opposite in the budget,” said OEA Secretary-Treasurer Jim Timlin during a tele town hall last week. “After this bill slashes traditional public education funding, it also both greatly expands privately-run charter schools and private school voucher programs that serve only a few students taking further resources from the public schools.” Timlin also added that we need to keep pressure up on the Ohio Senate. “At this point, if we have any chance at mitigating what is in this bill, it is in the Senate. So it is doubly important that we really push hard with our state Senators to try and get them to ameliorate the problems with this bill.”
Call your Senator now at 1-888-218-5931 and ask him/her these three things:
1. To remove all language regarding prevailing wage
2. do not privatize state assets and services
3. restore the cuts to schools and local government funds
Ohio Association of IBEW Local 972 Business Manager Steve Crum told a tele town hall audience last week that Gov. Kasich’s jobs killing budget is also an attack on building and construction trades workers because it effectively eliminates prevailing wage. “The  question we need to be asking ourselves is who do you want to build your schools and college dorms? Do you want local workers who take pride in their trade or do you want someone whose only goal is to finish the job as fast and cheap as they can to take our tax dollars out-of-state with them,” said Crum.
“We must remember that those in public trust are held to a higher standard and certainly deserve to have adequate funding levels for public safety in this budget,” said OAPFF Vice President Mike Taylor. “Whether it has been a Republican or Democratic administration, we have always been provided sufficient funding to ensure our communities are safe. Until now, public safety has had no political party affiliation.” Taylor added that Ohioans can make a difference by contacting their Senators and telling them to oppose this budget.
You can take action now by calling your Senator at 1-888-218-5931 and ask him/her:
1. To remove all language regarding prevailing wage
2. Do not privatize state assets and services
3. Restore the cuts to schools and local government funds
Worki ng America has also been active in organizing events and letter deliveries to Senators in the 14 districts activities are taking place. This week, Working America conducted events in Zanesville (pictured at right and above) and Elyria. In Zanesville, Sherrie Johnson, a Zanesville resident who participated in the action, told the Zanesville Times Recorder that she doesn't want to see the schools suffer from any further budget cuts.
"Schools are already underfunded," Johnson told Time Recorder. "If they get cut further, it will mean the quality of education not only for my grandchildren, but all the children in schools here, students are going to suffer."
Here is a rundown of clips from the Working America actions:
Working America protests Gov. John Kasich's budget cuts for Ohio
Protesting Proposed Budget Cuts
Labor group to protest state budget cuts in Elyria
- Photos courtesy of Working America
SB 5 Updates: 214,399 Signatures Collected in a Month and Another Poll Confirms What We Already Knew: Ohioans Support the Repeal of SB 5
214,399 Signatures Collected in a Month
Ohioans have been working hard over the last month and today's announcement that volunteer petition gatherers have collected 214,399 signatures - 231,149 good  signatures are needed in order to get SB 5 on the ballot to give Ohioans a chance to cast a citizens' veto - shows it is paying off.
Last week, OCSEA/AFSCME reported their members had collected 20,000 signatures in just two weeks, reaching a third of their goal for the June 30 deadline. In Cleveland, over 150 turned out for a town hall meeting on SB 5 with special guest Wisconsin Senator Lena Taylor who told the audience “this is not a Wisconsin fight. This is not an Ohio fight. This is a fight for everybody.”
Ohioans have also been creative with their efforts to gather signatures. In Ashland, Columbus, Steubenville, Mansfield and  other cities in Ohio, with the help of Ohio AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils in many of these areas, volunteer petition gatherers have set up drive-thru signing events. And labor is not the only one involved in the campaign to repeal SB 5. Last week, the Ohio AFL-CIO, Toledo CBTU, APRI and TFT Local 250 circulated petitions at the Toledo IMA Revival and collected over 100 signatures. Other outreach, with the help of the faith community, to congregations has generated thousands of signatures since the petition drive started. Also, the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor is working on a plan to build a grassroots network of activists in every precinct to repeal Senate Bill 5. Click here for more on that.
For the latest signing events and SB 5 activities, check out the We Are Ohio website.
Another Poll Confirms What We Already Knew: Ohioans Support the Repeal of SB 5
If the huge rallies and protests at the Statehouse and across the state, thousands of volunteer petition circulators and continuous coverage of opposition to SB 5 in the news didn’t convince you that Ohioans support the repeal of SB 5, maybe this week’s Quinnipiac  poll will. The poll shows that 56 percent of Ohioans would vote to repeal the measure and only 36 percent would support it.
This confirms the Wenzel Strategies and Public Policy Polling polls that show a majority a of Ohioans would vote in favor of a citizens’ veto of SB 5.
The Quinnipiac poll also shows that Kasich’s approval rating is 38 percent and a majority still disapprove of Kasich’s job killing budget. Here are highlights from the poll:
- 54 - 36 percent they say that SB 5 should be repealed
- Ohio voters disapprove 49 - 38 percent of the job Gov. John Kasich is doing
- Registered voters disapprove of Kasich's handling of the state budget 53 – 35 and by 53 - 36 percent
- Voters say 52 - 38 percent that limiting collective bargaining for public employees is not needed to balance the budget
- Asked about Kasich's proposed cuts in state spending, 42 percent of voters say they go too far; 15 percent say not far enough and 30 percent say they are about right
This Week at the Statehouse: Kasich’s Job Killing Budget and House and Senate Move on Attempts to Disenfranchise Ohio Voters
This week, the Ohio Senate continued to hear HB 153- the biennial budget bill. The Senate Finance Committee began taking public testimony on Monday and continued throughout this week. You can find a full schedule of upcoming hearings by clicking here. If have questions, please contact Matt Smith at (614) 224-8271 Ext. 1007 or masmit27@gmail.com
Other bills of importance had hearings this week and votes may be held next week. The House Commerce and Labor Committee voted out an anti- project labor agreement bill. While a full House vote is not yet scheduled, it is important that you click here now to email your Representative today and tell them to vote “NO” on this job killing measure.
If it passes, Ohio will be opening the floodgate to out-of-state, unskilled labor coming into our communities that will result in poor craftmanship and taking money away from OUR tax base. Click here now to email your Representative and ask them to stop trying to kill the middle class.
The House State Government and Elections committee held another hearing on House Bill 194 and passed it on the House floor on Thursday on a party line vote. Separately, the Senate moved it's version of election reform out of the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee, also on a party line vote. It is expected that the Senate version will be on the floor next week. It is hard to tell which of these proposals will be the final vehicle. These bills an will likely lead to a smaller number of Ohioans who will have their votes counted during elections.
For more information, or if you would like to testify on an issue, please contact Matt Smith at (614) 224-8271 ext. 1007.
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TWO WAYS YOU CAN TAKE ACTION NOW ON KASICH'S JOB KILLING BUDGET!
1. Call your Senator at 1-888-218-5931 and ask him/her to remove all language regarding prevailing wage, do not privatize state assets and services and restore the cuts to schools and local government funds
2. Click here now to send an email asking your Senator to remove prevailing wage language from the budget bill
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