|
Columbus
Dispatch Editorial
Bad idea
Elected
officials shouldn’t dodge duty to settle union-contract disputes
Sunday, March 27, 2011
A compromise being floated to speed passage of Ohio’s
collective-bargaining bill — by giving voters the final say on union
contracts — instead would enable public officials to sidestep their
duty and dump the hard decisions on taxpayers.
No doubt, Ohio Senate Bill 5 will undergo changes as Republican House
and Senate work on it. But this is one idea that lawmakers should not
adopt.
The proposal targets what opponents see as a chief complaint against
the current bill and supporters consider its strength: It would
eliminate binding arbitration and ban strikes, and then allow the
governing body to impose its final offer.
Supporters, including Gov. John Kasich, argue that local governments
need to be able to control employee wages and benefit costs as state
dollars dwindle. Opponents argue it weakens unions.
Hence the idea of kicking it to voters.
Taxpayers already weigh in on union contracts. They elect officials to
gather facts, question budget directors and treasurers, evaluate future
needs, calibrate employee compensation for parity and then vote. And at
the next election, the voters decide how well those elected officials
did.
Asking taxpayers to invest the hours to make a properly informed
decision about employee contracts asks too much. Teasing out truths is
challenging, and information likely would be skewed and served up
piecemeal by both sides before an election.
Imagine the divisiveness and hard feelings such a campaign would
engender in a community by directly pitting taxpayers against public
servants. And what happens if a board needs to cut expenses in
February, but a vote on a union contract cannot occur until November?
Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, the chamber’s No. 2 leader, said the
idea is still fledgling but would enable taxpayers to reject a contract
that is “totally out of whack.”
Officials are elected to make these hard decisions. They should do
their duty, and state lawmakers should let this idea die.
Read it at the Columbus Dispatch
|
|
|
|
