Dayton Daily News...
Kasich blasts unions
By Laura Bischoff
Friday, August 19, 2011 

Gov. John Kasich and legislative leaders blasted union leaders on Friday for skipping a meeting to negotiate a compromise to keep the Senate Bill 5 referendum vote off the Nov. 8 ballot. 

“Woody Allen says that 90 percent of life is just showing up. And they’ve obviously flunked that test today,” Kasich said while flanked by Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, and House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina. 

The trio sat across from six empty chairs set up for union leaders who are involved We Are Ohio, the campaign against the new collective bargaining law. 

Kasich and Batchelder accused union leaders of “selling their membership down the river,” populating the We Are Ohio website with “empty rhetoric,” pushing “propaganda” on their members, and committing “a complete abdication of moral responsibility on their part.” 

While harshly criticizing union leaders, Kasich portrayed himself as an experienced and successful negotiator and said his door is open, even in the middle of the night. 

“Look at this. You have the three leaders of the state of Ohio sitting here. The president, the speaker of the House and the governor of the state. And they won’t show up? I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire career,” Kasich to bank of television cameras and gaggle of reporters who showed up for the no-show meeting. He added that he understands the need to protest, “but you have to talk. You have to participate. You got to advance your ideas. Is this where we are as a state? Is this where we are as a country? I’ll tell you, if it continues like this, it will absolutely erode our children’s future.” 

Kasich, Niehaus and Batchelder on Wednesday invited unnamed union leaders associated with We Are Ohio to discuss a compromise that would pull the referendum on Senate Bill 5 from the ballot and avoid a costly, divisive campaign. 

We Are Ohio declined the meeting, saying talks would begin only after lawmakers repeal the entire bill. The campaign said there is a lack of trust because of ‘political tricks’ played during the Senate Bill 5 debate, including locking Ohioans out of the Statehouse, removing lawmakers opposed to the bill from key committees at the last minute, and attempting to split the referendum into pieces on the ballot. 

After Kasich, Niehaus and Batchelder pushed Senate Bill 5 through the Legislature in March, We Are Ohio collected nearly 1.3 million signatures from Ohioans to put the bill up for a referendum vote. It is slated to appear on the statewide ballot as Issue 2. 

A July poll by Quinnipiac University shows 56 percent of voters favor defeating the bill and 32 percent support it. The campaign is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars. We Are Ohio reported in July that it has already raised $6.9 million while Building A Better Ohio did not file a July report. 

We Are Ohio told state leaders to repeal the bill first, and then they would negotiate. 

Niehaus described that response as an ultimatum, not a negotiation. 

“What Senate Bill 5 does is restore reasonableness and a balance to the collective bargaining process,” said Niehaus, who added that local government leaders tell him that they can’t get unions to come to the table. 

The law bans strikes by public employees, requires workers to pay at least 15 percent of their health care costs and all of their pension contribution, eliminates binding arbitration for safety forces and restricts collective bargaining rights for more than 350,000 police, firefighters, teachers, prison guards and other public employees. Unions would still be allowed to negotiate for wages, terms and conditions but if labor and management reach an impasse, management is allowed to impose its last offer. 

Read it at the Dayton Daily News