Vorys on Labor : Labor Relations Lawyer & Attorney: Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease Law Firm: National Labor Relations

Ohio voters defeated Issue 2 yesterday by a vote of 61% to 39%.  If passed, Issue 2 would have permitted Senate Bill 5 to take effect.  According to one report, the ballot question saw the union "vote no" campaign spend heavily to achieve victory, to the tune of $24 million.

While the political fallout of the result will be debated for some time, and has already begun, the implications for the labor professional are considerably more clear.  The failure of Issue 2 means that current law continues in effect, including the dispute resolution mechanisms like fact-finding and binding conciliation for safety-related employees.  The only thing to monitor now is whether proponents of Senate Bill 5 will attempt to pass the pieces of it that received favorable polling response, such as the requirement to pay at least 15% of the cost of health insurance coverage, merit pay, and pension "pickups."

• Email This
• Print

Opponents of Issue 2 -- the ballot question regarding the public sector collective bargaining reform bill in Ohio -- got an apparent boost from some recently released polling data.  According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released on October 25, support for the reform law has declined.  The poll showed that 57% of Ohioans support the repeal of Senate Bill 5 while only 32% oppose repeal. The gap of 25% is an increase over the poll results conducted about a month ago.

Nevertheless, an interesting counter-point appeared later in the week, on the heels of the poll results. In a post on The Washington Post blog, Greg Sargent reports on an internal labor memorandum analyzing the poll results.  Among other things, Mr. Sargent quotes the memorandum as questioning whether a poll can accurately predict voter turnout for a ballot initiative and observing that polling on other ballot initiatives in the past has been inaccurate.

For the labor professional, the uncertainty about the law in Ohio will be resolved soon enough.  The general election is on November 8.

• Email This
• Print

Today, the Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee considered amendments to Senate Bill 5.  According to a report in The Columbus Dispatch, some of the changes considered include:

• Giving public employees the right to refuse to pay "fair share" fees to unions.
• Making some changes to impasse resolution mechanisms, primarily by providing an option of a public referendum on a union contract that could not be paid for without a tax increase.
• Clarifying that safety forces can bargain for equipment.
• Permitting public employees to speak to public officials during contract negotiations.

This afternoon, the House committee voted 9-6 in favor of the legislation.  The bill will move next to the House. 

Opponents of the legislation have not offered any amendments to it, maintaining that the legislation is so bad that nothing can fix it.  Rather, opponents seem focused on a ballot initiative, perhaps as early as November 2011. 

Meanwhile, pollsters have been active, asking Ohioians about their views on the proposed legislation.  The results are not favorable for supporters of Senate Bill 5.

• Email This
• Print

Senate Bill 5, the legislation that would substantially reform the public employee collective bargaining system in Ohio, has passed the Ohio Senate.  It now moves on to the Ohio House of Representatives for consideration.

The bill that passed in the Senate was significantly different from the bill originally introduced by its sponsor, Senator Shannon Jones (R).  Among other changes, the amended bill that passed:

• Restores collective bargaining rights for public employees of the state, state-supported colleges and universities, and any agency, commission, authority, or board of the state.
• Restores Ohio's Office of Collective Bargaining.
• Limits the ability of public employers to agree to any contract that requires public employees to pay less than 15% (rather than 20% as in the bill as introduced) of the cost of health insurance.
• Changes the definition of "supervisor" as it relates to faculty members at a state college or university.
• Alters, from the bill as introduced and from current law, the procedures that come into play upon an impasse in negotiations.
• Prohibits strikes for all public employees, not just certain groups of public employees, as was the case under both current law and the bill as introduced.
• Expands the list of a public employer's management rights to include (among other things) the right to transfer or subcontract work.
• Requires a public employer to deduct union dues and fees, but only so long as the union has filed and maintained a report detailing its expenditures, and also imposes a suspension of dues payments as a penalty for a union that engages in a prohibited strike or similar conduct.
• Prohibits an hourly overtime premium rate that exceeds the rate required by the FLSA.
• Imposes limits on paid vacation, holidays, and personal days.

These are just a few examples of the changes contained in the bill, which passed by a slim 17-16 margin.  According to press reports, the Ohio House plans an aggressive hearing schedule and ultimately a vote in the next few weeks.  Governor Kasich applauded (pdf) the Senate's action in passing the the bill.  For their part, opponents are talking about a possible ballot referendum on the bill, taking their case directly to the voters.

• Email This
• Print