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Thousands of Patriots Storm Ohio Capitol to Defend Their Labor Rights
Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich delivered his State of the State address today while thousands of protesters gathered inside and outside the state Capitol chanting, “Kill the Bill!” Laborers, teachers, firefighters and police officers rallied together in a united outcry against Kasich’s bill that is designed to take away collective bargaining rights for the state’s 350,000 public sector employees, referred to as Senate Bill 5. The bill cleared the Senate last week after Senate Republicans, in an act of unprecedented and legally questionable thuggery, kicked a member of their own team off his committee assignment in order to replace him with someone who promised to vote their way.
House Democratic Leader Armond Budish, of Beachwood explained that his party simply doesn’t have the votes to kill the bill.
Business Week reported:
“We’ll do the only thing we can do,” he (Budish) said. “We’ll fight like hell.” Budish’s comments came as he unveiled what House Democrats are calling their “Compact with the Middle Class.” As part of their legislative priorities, they pledged to push back against the collective bargaining legislation.
Watch the protesters chants here:
The AFL-CIO reported:
This morning before the speech, hundreds of members of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) marched to the Statehouse, led by bagpipers and holding signs opposing SB 5. On the statehouse steps, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger led the crowd in a chant “Kill The Bill” (See video above).
“It’s a dark time in Ohio,” Mike Castle, a Columbus firefighter told the Columbus Dispatch. “I voted for the man (Kasich), and it brings tears to my eyes to say that.”
During a rally yesterday Bill Melvin, a union maintenance worker for the state, told the Associated Press Kasich is wrong to blame state workers for Ohio’s fiscal problems. He said his pay was cut by more than half when he moved from the private to the public sector four months ago. He said he took an $18-an-hour pay cut when he switched jobs because of a decline in construction in the area.
The Dick Armey run Freedom Works (who offered “Citizen Lobby Training” during the healthcare debates which Freedom Works was adamantly against) backed Tea Party is planning to turn out to show support for Kasich’s bill, in what can only be proof that the Tea Party is indeed bought and paid for corporate shills rather than the grass roots movement of the people, for there are no people who truly love justice and freedom who can condone unilaterally killing workers’ rights to collectively bargain. While the Tea Party Republicans try to take cover under the guise of fiscal responsibility, the numbers show that the top ten percent are getting much richer, while everyone else’s incomes are practically stagnant.
When we take a look at the reality that pro-profit sectors are raising costs while public sectors are not, we can’t avoid the conclusion that privatizing the public sector will not save money for American tax payers, but it will make corporations very wealthy. The Republicans are actually attempting to kill union rights and pubic sectors all together in order to redistribute Americans’ tax dollars into the hands of private enterprise and they are using budget crisis brought about by their own tax cuts to justify their actions.
You can only stand against the unions if you believe that our tax dollars should go to help these poor, beleaguered über-rich instead of being funneled into the not-for-profit public sector. Of course the private sector wants to do away with unions and kill the public sector; corporations exist to make a profit and they can’t compete with a not for profit entity.
Making the effort to kill the public sector even more heinous is that while the government reinvests our tax dollars into the economy, many private entities hoard the money in offshore accounts, refusing to even pay what little taxes they are required to pay on their profits and this does nothing but depress the economy further. Our public sector workers are an important part of our economic recovery and of efficient, affordable services regulated by the government and accountable to the people.
These are dark days, but the soaring, united spirits of the workers across this country are fighting back in Ohio, as in Wisconsin, Michigan and other states where Republicans are attempting their final coup of our government.
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14 Responses to Thousands of Patriots Storm Ohio Capitol to Defend Their Labor Rights
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Rmuse
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Great article Sarah! The private sector (corporations) is the beneficiary if these anti-Americans get their way. Besides union-busting, privatization of government is a huge goal for Republicans. It doesn’t matter if it’s education, transportation, or janitorial; lower wages and no-bid contracts is the end-game.
It is heartening to see Americans finally saying enough. These are indeed dark times, but we are seeing little rays of light and it is about time. It cannot stay dark forever.
Shiva (Moderator)
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
This accentuates the fact that the GOP and tea party are losing votes. How low can you be to go back and vote for this man again if you are a working stiff?
These are the real patriots. Not the owned pawns that are told to call themselves Patriots.
Oldsun
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
Where were these people during the election last year? Wake people the GnOP just want to take you money and give it the the rich.
Phantom
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
You got it wrong; the G.O.P. wants to let the rich keep more of their own money than most people would like, but they’re not giving them money. It’s these government workers who want YOUR money. I mean, sure, they’re working for it(some in better ways than others), but they do have their hand in your pocket.
Reynardine
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
And exactly, Phantom, what do you expect these people who work for us to do? Labor for nothing? They do not have their hands in our pockets: we are paying them for indispensible services rendered. We, the citizenry, are doing this because, unlike those transnational captains of industry you seem to admire, we are fair employers, not skinners and cheats.
Shiva (Moderator)
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
If you are not making millions or billions, damm you for trying to get ahead. We tea party people hate the thought of just regular Joe’s making a decent living.
And all those laws they are passing dropping the rich peoples taxes. Thank god! They need the money so much more than us po folk do. After all, have you seen the price of cereal?
Sky
Mar. 9th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Not to mention when you provatize a service, your are
in fact taking our tax dollars and handing them
directly to a CEO. So in fact the Tea Party does stand
for taking tax dollars from the common people and
giving it directly to the rich.
Sarah Jones
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Yes, dear, they are giving them OUR money. They subsidize the oil companies with our money and if they privatize things like, say, courthouse guards, those companies that are for profit will be paid with our tax money – like when Walker did this as county board member, and ended up costing the county double the cost since he fired the union guards without authority to do so and then hired a UK company to replace them. Of course, since UK co is unregulated by our govt, they had a criminal in charge of security at the courthouse. Such are the perils of privatization. The people are now paying more for less money.
Sabadiah
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Dear Troll i.e Phantom.
The infrastructure in America is also known as the commons and business puts a huge strain on it.but that is expected. They pay taxes to have roads to their factories and electricity to keep it running. Simple. Pay bill-get serviced. A low tax rate gives these captains of industry a surplus of cash and they take risks with it or stash it away in tax shelters where it sits-not usefull to anyone. 2 trillion ( a million times a million times 2). It would be better to burn it, at least we could keep warm in winter. When you raise tax rates on the wealthy and close loopholes, they start to look for write offs and voila, they reinvest in their business which creates demand, jobs and trickles up the chain and every body see’s a return. Since you watch fox this is probably going to hurt but taxes were 90% on the top earners under Eisenhower…a republican and things were looking up. Now go be a republican somewhere dumb, not here. Suck-it.
Paul
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Great Comment! Would love to borrow from it when I come across trolls.
TomandLou
Mar. 10th, 2011 at 2:24 am
Phantom you’re as deluded as the traitors your defending. I don’t know what you do for a living but if they are successful you may wind up making $3.00 an hour. Your future is at stake.There was another guy who did the same thing these thugs are attempting to do and it wound up as World War Three.Do some research it might open your eyes.
Reynardine
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
That is what the public needs to understand:
(a) privatization means taking what belongs to all of us and giving it away to a special few of us;
(b) the special few earn their (authentic sourdough from Alaska) bread and (prime, aged Brie) cheese by charging as much and giving as little as possible.
Reynardine
Mar. 8th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
I just went over to the CNN Freedom Project blog, a worthy endeavor that exposes the various guises slavery takes around the globe today, from forced prostitution to debt bondage to the enslavement of child domestics. The articles are conscientious and well- written. And the commentary?… Ephesians told servants to obey their masters, so Jesus approved of slavery! There was quite a lot of that sort of thing. In my experience, these trolls extolling the unconscionable are test balloons, and when you combine that with the co-ordinated assault on worker’s rights, the omens are disquieting (slaves already exist on the U.S. Marianas, even though the constitution is supposed to follow the flag).
Anne
Mar. 9th, 2011 at 9:50 am
I wonder if the people in Ohio have any recall efforts aimed at Gov. Kasich and his Republican henchmen who supported this travesty. It’s good to see that just as in Gov. Walker’s case, Kashich made a huge error in judgment that will be costly to Republicans in that state, even if they win this battle.