Athens County, the poorest county of Ohio is expected to suffer from SB5 as most of its public employees are working at Ohio University (OU), the largest employer of the whole county. A protest of about 250 OU students took place on campus in March to oppose the cutting budget proposal of Gov. Kasich in higher education sector which OU belongs to. Last Wednesday, more than 50 OU students showed up at the OU Student Senate weekly meeting to speak out on SB5 and request the Student Senate to take a stance on it.
However, the above mentioned groups of students is modest compared with the total of 20,857 students, Athens campus alone. A large number of students do not care or even know about SB5. Many students think it is a political issue and not directly affecting them. "OU students are no different than most people in the world. A lot of people don't pay attention to politics", said David Smith, a student at OU. From the side of OU Student Senate, they seems to have the same opinion said by President Kyle Triplett : “The opinion of the Student Senate executives is that it’s not Student Senate’s role to get involved in issues that are purely political".
We will need to wait for an official figure to know exactly how many students really care about SB5, how many of them sign in form to vote against it and for them SB5 is just a State issue or OU-related issue.
Kasich steeling from the poor to give to the rich. Ohio people should mobilize and call him on it!!! :) CONSERVATIVES!!!!
ReplyDelete@Lily: but how do you think it can affect OU and its students? In what way? Why don't students care?
ReplyDeleteWell tehy do care, a lot of members of the student body are mobilizing against this, just ask Tracy Kelly... the thing is most of the affected students are grad-students, u know T.A's and G.A's and only a small portion of the undergrads- which make up most of our student body- it affects OU becuase it affects the quality of work that our teachers will be getting, and prompting early retirements like we saw last year, in which we lost many valuable faculty members and CIS staff such as Dr. Rota and Jill Mckinney...
ReplyDelete@Lily: Tracy Kelly, president of GSS? Have they done anything?
ReplyDeleteHowever, OU Student Senate said that it was not their role to support or oppose the law. When I shot the video, I asked many students if they care about SB5. To my surprise, they don't even know what SB5. Sadly enough, all the students I asked are originally from Ohio.
I didn't get your idea why grad is more affected. Because no GA or TA will be granted due to budget cut?
I thought that the early retirement at OU is part of its budget deficit. The law will go in referendum in November which will leave sometime to repeal(hopefully!).
Honestly, the SB5 debate isn't my business. I am not an Ohioan. I don't follow Ohio's political issues. I also think it's wrong for people from outside Ohio to get involved in issues here.
ReplyDeleteThe more educated on policy I become, the more I realize that if it isn't your policy, neutral is the way to be.
@Brian: yeah, it's the issue of Ohio. However, it can sever as a typical political controversy in the country. I am not quite sure if Ohio is the first case with bargaining rights?
ReplyDeleteActually, I support SB5. I think the public sectors should be improved, and ineffective public employees should be laid off.
ReplyDeleteI think there are plenty of other states where public employees lack collective bargaining rights and live normal, fulfilling lives. At the same time, these people wouldn't have formed unions if they were treated fairly by their employers.
ReplyDeleteThen, if the government was treating the employees badly, wouldn't that have meant Ohioans years ago should have recreated their government? This question is an example of why outsiders should keep their noses out of these kinds of debates.
@MH: there's no relation between improvement of public sectors and bargaining rights of workers. you think they will work more effectively if they can't negotiate their rights???? No way! There are always other employment opportunities out there. Even if the law takes into effect with the ban on strikes, there are ALWAYS other form of oppression. The public employees actually do not earn a lot of money even they are entitled as "middle class". Their counterparts from private sectors make up a huge pie out of the total incomes. And now they must be very happy to see middle and working class fighting against each other. It is really ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous! The initial idea of the law is to help the State of Ohio save money to balance their deficit. However, the bottom line is that it most likely would not save significant money and it would make it difficult for a lot of middle class families and working class.
ReplyDelete@Brian: that's true. I heard some people said the repeal should not just be on SB5 but on Gov. Kasich. If they wish to overturn the state government, is there a possibility for them to do that in the incoming general election of Ohio in November?
ReplyDeletePeople say no bargaining rights is equal to no freedom and democracy. It is absolutely unacceptable in this country.
@ Brian, Lula but it is a matter of principles, of union between similar interest groups and of fighting the man when he;s trying to keep a brother down!!
ReplyDelete@ MH but see MH, the problem is not effective or inffective employed, it is that the people on top come up with every reason to screw the little man over!! and that is what this bill is trying to do!! barganning rights are key to a good work situations for laborers, without them what you have is the same exploitation of the prole that you see in early industrial societies and more chances for savage capitalism to devour those who have no chance to fend for themselves! NO TO SB5!!
ReplyDeleteLadies, listen. First, SB5 only limits COLLECTIVE bargaining rights. It's not true to say that you cannot bargain. Second, name ONE example when you will need collective bargaining right these days. Third, suppose you are a manager working for a public department and there are some laid back employees, what would you do? Fourth, ineffective teachers/professors should be fired to create zoom for the young!
ReplyDelete@MH: I agree that SB5 will not limit bargaining rights completely. However, workers find it ridiculous to figure out to what extent they can negotiate their rights, especially in a country always proud of its democracy and freedom.
ReplyDeleteExample of bargaining rights: to put in a simple way: you have to accept whatever condition (wage rate, working hours, health care, safety...) is given to you. If you are a doctor working with harmful X-ray, you will need higher safety level to compensate for the harmfulness. However, SB5 will prevent you from claiming it. Other example: employer doesn't pay you for extra working hours. He/she says that you have to finish the work when it's due, no matter how many hours needed. Other employees are treated the same way and you guys want to strike? Oh no, SB5 bans you from going on strike because it is considered as bargaining right - you strike to bargain for your right!
It's not always easy to fire inefficient public workers. It is a very common problem, not just in this country. Public workers are protected by the system and it takes a LOT of time in investigative process until you can really kick them out. Back to SB5, can it make easier for State employers to fire their employees? The nature of the issue doesn't lie in the efficiency of public workers or the need of public sector improvement. It is the issue of the elite (minority) versus working class (the vast majority). The nature of politics is to protect the status quo of the elite. You can see how it is applied in this case with SB5!
Again, the issue of firing unproductive teachers/prof is not the focus of this law!
@ MH yeah william but collective bargainign is the only way in which employees get to make themselves heard. We'll they have frozen stipend salaries for T.A's and raised our taxes and increased or hours without any additional benefits. It is not about not firing people, is about not firing for unfair reasons, if u don;t produce ur out, but suppose ur a single mother or father who works and needs a leave because ur chikd is sick, third this stupid thing is not only costing us ieddective teachers it is costing us people who are good teachers and move to a different field because the system was just plain screwing the,!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyone who has ever walked into an office and asked for a raise should understand the value of collective bargaining. Also, if you managed to negotiate a 40 hour work week while your coworkers weren't, it would lead to serious workforce problems. That's why such things would never happen on the individual level. Heck, it took until Bill Clinton for there to be reasonable leave from work when women give birth.
ReplyDeleteLadies, you completely misunderstood the point. SB5 limits collective bargain, not individual bargain. As far as I know, you, the employee, the middle-class as you claim, can certainly negotiate your salaries and other benefits. Furthermore, collective bargain is not the only way to have your voice heard. You have the Union and this is what it is created for!
ReplyDelete@ Brain Awesome point Lula!!! go mr. Pres!!! @ MH yes, William we know it only limits collective bargain, but when a work situation is bad for all employees, wouldn;t it be more effective if they all got together and spoke out, this kind of individualistic, every man and woman for themselves is exactly what is wrong with neo-liberal capitalism, the loss of the sense of community and collective wellbeing. Also, did u just include Lula in the category of "ladies" or are you just using that word to imply that women are unreasonable, which is unacceptable BTW and also an at hominas falace!!
ReplyDelete@MH: remember Unions are created to protect rights of workers at collective level! If their collective bargaining rights are limited due to SB5, Unions can't do anything to protect workers.
ReplyDelete@Lily: you are right! collective rights add on more power for workers than individual level. The seriousness of the issue is they try to isolate individual worker from the chain of protected community (where Unions play a role in protecting THEM).