“If you think you’re going to stop us, you’re crazy. You will not stop us. We will beat you.”
Those were the words of then-Gov.-elect John Kasich to unions and working people.
And to the business interests and their lobbyists, that same governor comfortingly said, “We will listen to you. If you think we’re doing something that really doesn’t make sense, tell us. If you think that I’m going in the wrong direction, stop me. I don’t want to drive over a cliff. I just want to be a good governor.”
However, it now appears that the Ohio governor’s strategy has backfired a bit-with approval ratings in the toilet, he has switched strategies and is now offering to change laws he pushed for that limited collective bargaining in exchange for ending a drive to rescind a signature law on the November ballot.
Democrats joined forces with union leaders in a group called “We Are Ohio,” and have gathered over 900,000 signatures for a referendum in November.
The law currently on the books restricts collective bargaining rights for more than 350,000 teachers, police officers, state employees and others. It allows public workers’ unions to negotiate wages, but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. It also bans public employees from striking and gets rid of automatic pay increases.
The measure was approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature in March, but it cannot take effect until voters have their say in November.
“We ought to get to the table and we ought to talk about it,” Kasich told reporters last Friday after setting up tables with name cards of union leaders. Kasich had scheduled a meeting between GOP lawmakers and union leaders, but many politicians in the state knew the union wouldn’t show up.
Melissa Fazekas, a spokeswoman for We Are Ohio, told lawmakers to rescind the law wholesale if they want the repeal removed from the Nov. 8 ballot.
“I think it’s awfully funny to now be standing here and talking about coming to the table, when this entire bill takes away their rights to do so,” Fazekas said last week. “If they’re honestly coming forward for a compromise, repeal the bill and then we’ll talk.
“If they wanted to get along, they probably should have tried during the legislative process instead of locking people out.”
Kasich was elected governor of Ohio in 2010 with only 49 percent of the vote.