With one final stroke of his pen, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed Senate Bill 5 into effect last night — limiting collective bargaining rights for 360,000 public employees across the state.
Kasich signed the controversial bill, which was created to help balance the $8 billion budget deficit, at about 7:20
last night.
“This is not a happy day, just one more step in a march to help save Ohio,” Kasich said at a news conference in his office yesterday.
Kasich said the bill could potentially remove the burden from local municipalities of raising taxes to pay for government workers’ salaries, which would inevitably force businesses out of the area.
“(This bill will) help the local governments deal with fewer resources and keep costs down to attract businesses,” he added.
Kasich was expected to sign the bill into effect April 6, but instead announced he would sign it yesterday after revisions to the bill were made by the Ohio House Republicans and accepted by the Ohio Senate Wednesday night.
The revised bill removes a proposed penalty of fines and possible imprisonment for public employees who strike and allows unions to bargain for safety equipment, according to the legislation. The original bill allowed for unions to bargain salaries.
The bill also requires public workers to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance and limits the issues that can be bargained. Unions can negotiate wages and certain working conditions but not health care, sick time or pension benefits.
It also eliminates automatic pay increases and replaces them with merit raises or performance pay.
The original bill passed through the Ohio Senate
March 2.
State Senator Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond), who spoke at the signing, said this was the first step on a difficult road.
“(The bill) creates transparency … Government workers will be treated like all other workers and paid based on performance,” Niehaus said. “It will lead to greater efficiency and greater excellence in communities.”
State Rep. Shannon Jones (R-Springboro), spoke about the “gut wrenching” stories about potential mass layoffs across the state that were presented to the representatives, which she said helped her realize the importance of the bill.
“These folks deserve the flexibility to save jobs in their cities, school districts and counties,” Jones said.
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