|
Toledo
Blade...
Labor law backers say
voters get voice on public contracts
By Jim Provance
COLUMBUS -- Supporters of a just-signed law restricting the collective
bargaining power of public employees have pointed to a potential
referendum process as a victory for taxpayers who would have a say in
final contracts.
The process would allow local voters to decide whether they approve of
a contract for public employees that had been approved by a local
legislative body.
The entire bill is expected to be subject to a statewide referendum on
the Nov. 8 ballot if Democrats, organized labor, and other opponents of
the bill are successful in gathering 231,147 signatures in the next 90
days.
“Under current law, an unelected arbitrator can force a decision on
local officials and the people they represent even if every person in a
city, township, or county opposes it. There is no consent of the
governed,’’ said Rep. Louis Blessing (R., Cincinnati), who helped craft
the language.
“Senate Bill 5 allows the people’s elected representatives to decide,’’
he said.
“It further allows the people themselves to referendum any contract
that cannot be funded out of current revenues. Most importantly, this
bill makes the offers to the contract themselves very transparent.’’
But critics, including Republicans who admittedly haven’t been friends
of organized labor in the past, have argued such a referendum is a
“charade.’’
“I will guarantee you I will flap my arms and fly home before you will
see a referendum,’’ said Sen. Tim Grendell (R., Chesterland), one of
six Republican senators who defected from the majority in his chamber
to vote against Senate Bill 5.
The paper version of the bill was about three inches thick when Gov.
John Kasich signed it into law after the Statehouse closed Thursday
evening.
Click below to see Senate Bill 5 in its entirety.
Among its numerous provisions, it prohibits all public employees from
striking, prohibits local governments from picking up any portion of an
employee’s contributions to his pension, eliminates automatic step and
longevity raises in favor of a yet undefined performance-pay system,
and prohibits unions from automatically collecting “fair share’’ fees
from members of a workforce who opt not to join the union.
Mr. Kasich has argued that the bill restores much-needed balance
between public employees and the taxpayers who pay their salaries and
benefits at a time when the state and local governments are struggling
with budget deficits.
Opponents have countered that Senate Bill 5 is a politically motivated
attack by Republicans on organized labor, traditionally a stronghold of
Democrats.
The language providing for a local voter referendum on contracts was
added to the bill by Mr. Blessing and his Republican colleagues in the
House as part of a new process to bring final resolution to contracts
when talks reach an impasse.
This process would replace final binding arbitration, the system that
now resolves disputes involving police, firefighters, and other public
safety workers who are barred from striking under current law. The
third-party arbitrator or conciliator, selected by both sides, picks
and chooses on each issue between the two final offers submitted,
fashioning a contract that the government must then accept.
Before signing Senate Bill 5 into law Thursday, Mr. Kasich again said
binding arbitration allows “somebody from outside our community to
impose a settlement that our communities at times cannot afford, and
even the threat of binding arbitration is a threat to force our
communities to make some decisions that don’t make sense.’’
The new resolution process would apply to all public employees who
would now be barred from striking. It would require the city council,
school board, or other local government legislative body to hold a
public hearing within 30 days after a contract’s expiration.
The elected board would choose between the final best offers submitted
by the union and local government management. A voter referendum could
follow.
Click here read a legislative analysis of Senate Bill 5.
Critics of this provision, however, argue that the hurdles just to
reach the ballot are too high.
In order for a local referendum to occur, the affected government would
have to vote to accept the more expensive of the two final best offers
on the table, most likely the union’s proposal. If the government’s
chief financial officer determines that the government can’t afford to
pay for that contract out of existing revenues, voters could gather
signatures to both offers on the ballot, winner take all.
But if the local government should choose the less expensive offer,
presumably its own, or fail to vote at all, which would automatically
implement the government’s offer as the contract, there could be no
referendum.
“The referendum provision will never come into play unless you have a
city council that doesn’t want to get re-elected, wants to be
personally liable, and wants to disregard their own chief financial
officer, and I submit that person just doesn’t exist,’’ Mr. Grendell
said.
Sen. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati), another rare Republican “no’’ vote,
also criticized the alternative dispute resolution process as too
stacked against the public employee. He said the bill substitutes for a
third-party decision-maker a party that has a financial stake in the
outcome.
“The governor has rightfully argued that having unelected arbitrators
make decisions that would bind the taxpayer is unfair and needs to be
stopped…, but the bill that comes to us from the House comes full
circle,’’ Mr. Seitz said.
He noted that the bill defines state hospital boards of trustees as the
final decision-makers when it comes to hospital employee contracts,
university and college boards of trustees as the final word when it
comes to public higher education employees, and the State Controlling
Board when it comes to state employee agreements.
Hospital and university boards of trustees are appointed, and the
controlling board consists of appointed legislators and a nonelected
chairman.
“We now have binding decisions being made by unelected individuals, the
very thing that Gov. John Kasich said he wanted to stop,’’ he said.
Read it with links at the Toledo Blade
|
|
|
|
