Kasich Suggests Compromise on Issue 2

August 17, 2011 | 3:31 PM

Governor John Kasich proposed a compromise on the state’s recently passed collective bargaining law today. The catch? He wants opponents to yank the referendum opposing the law off of the November ballot.

Issue 2 – formerly known as Senate Bill 5 – would severely curtail the collective bargaining rights of Ohio’s public employees. It also includes several education reforms, such as requiring merit to be taken into account in teacher evaluations and foregoing the seniority system in firing and re-hiring teachers.

Fellow Republicans William G. Batchelder, the speaker of the Ohio House, and Tom Niehaus, president of the Ohio Senate, joined Kasich at today’s press conference. You can read Kasich’s letter asking for a compromise here.

It’s unclear what a watered down version of Senate Bill 5 would look like, but Kasich has invited union officials to meet with him this Friday morning. The initial RSVPs didn’t sound too enthusiastic.Just two days ago We Are Ohio, the group leading the referendum effort said it wouldn’t agree to any compromise. In a press release sent out immediately after Kasich’s press conference, spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas reaffirmed that.

“We’re glad that Governor Kasich and the other politicians who passed SB 5 are finally admitting this is a flawed bill. Just like the bill was flawed, this approach to a compromise is flawed as well. Our message is clear. …. They should either repeal the entire bill or support our efforts and encourage a no vote on Issue 2.”

The Columbus Dispatch reported earlier that some anti-SB 5 groups had met with Republican lawmakers to discuss changes to SB 5 or the referendum effort, but never reached a compromise.

Polls have been showing strong support for repealing the collective bargaining measure. But during today’s press conference, Kasich stressed that he wasn’t afraid of voters overturning the bill in November. The deadline to remove an issue from the ballot is August 30th.

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http://americansocietytoday.blogspot.com/ American Society Today

Good reporting, Ida. Good work at getting the story out quickly. It seems like the Governor and the Republicans are realizing that Senate Bill 5 is not supported by the voters of Ohio. It also seems like a ploy to somehow change people’s minds on the issue by trying to portray the unions as unreasonable. It is unfortunate that the politicians were unwilling to listen to people’s concerns or compromise when they pushed the bill through in the first place. It does seem too late to work out a compromise on all of the complicated areas that this bill addresses in less than two weeks.
http://americansocietytoday.blogspot.com/p/sb5.html
http://www.facebook.com/people/Thomas-Miller/100002163332066 Thomas Miller

STAND STRONG OHIO___WISCONSIN IS BEHIND YOU!!!
Drtelling

The majority of Ohio realizes that changes MUST be made and that SB5 is a good start. We simply cannot allow union money to force the bankruptcy of Ohio. PLEASE! Face reality..unemployment is growing, business is moving out of Ohio and our kids are forced to move elsewhere if they want to be gainfully employed! The private sector employees would love to have the options union workers enjoy AFTER SB5!!

runnergirl1903

Taking away people’s rights never advances anyone.
Feedjake57

You must not be good at math. By far the MAJORITY of Ohio knows this is not good for Ohio.

Bob

They never wanted to negotiate. This is just a sorry attempt to make the unions in ohio look bad. The unions wanted to negotiate in March, Kasich said it was not time for talking and time to do something. Now it’s time for the voters to do something.
Rick

With NAFTA and free trade signed by Bill Clinton our jobs went south and to places like China. Those supporting free trade want to see an end to collective bargaining and unions. They want to see labor standards in the U. S. equalize with those of third world countries. One thing they didn’t tell you is the World Bank went into these third world nations first like loan sharks assuring poverty with loans these countries could never pay back resulting in a constant taxation of the poor in third would countries resulting in poverty. As a result our economy will never get better until our country’s minimum wage equalizes to that of Mexico. Like Russ Perot said, “…In the mean time with deals like these you’ve wrecked the country”.
Johnrosco

Hello. Who passed SB 5? You the people did. Is it really necessary to print garbage like that statement or are you just trying to shed light on stupidity.
Applefeathers79

What are we hiding? Speak up. Don’t wait to have to read it on the ballot.
Tjbartol

Is there something about pay raises to certain high political people in this bill? I have heard such a rumor and would like to have it reported on. Also, will fire and police protection, including purchase of necessary equipment and personnel be limited by Issue 5?

Anonymous

Re: raises:Nope. You can read the bill summary here: http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/analyses129/11-sb5-129.pdf

Re: fire and police protection: SB 5 says that personnel issues such as staffing levels will no longer be part of collective bargaining. But equipment issues related to personal safety are still in.

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