Local police declared their opposition to Ohio Senate Bill 5, which limits bargaining rights for 360,000 state public employees, yesterday, calling it a “slap in the face.”
Speaking for local police officers, Athens Police Lt. Anthony Fish said public workers should be able to negotiate and the state should let local governments decide how to spend their money.
“The state is trying to micromanage local governments,” Fish said. “We consider it a slap in the face.”
This announcement is one of many local resident initiatives to combat the bill.
The number of officers killed in the line of duty increased 85 percent from last year; the bill is just one more blow, Fish said.
“At a time we are being attacked from the outside, it is incredible that we are being attacked from the inside,” Fish said.
Local police are not fighting against Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Fish said, but against bad policy, because the bill will negatively effect police departments.
The negative impacts of the legislation could push the best law enforcement candidates to other states or the private sector, he added.
Although local police officers have signed petitions for the referendum effort, no officers have circulated petitions, because the police must do their best to remain unpartisan in political issues, Fish said.
Fish added that he is encouraging all Ohioans to get involved in the effort and to make a stand for workers’ rights.
“I am confident that in the end, we will defeat this,” he said.
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