Oh, it warms my heart to see people in Ohio organizing against Issue 2.
On Friday, Governor Kasich attempted to host a meeting with union leaders to compromise on Issue 2/Senate Bill 5. The union leaders were to be represented by We are Ohio, but they refused to meet with Kasich. We are Ohio said they would not meet with Kasich, but apparently, Kasich didn't believe them.
The press waited for 30 minutes before they decided to head back to the office. There are some amazing pictures out there of the table with the name tags and no one sitting. [Image above:Kasich sadness taken from EntertainmentCleveland.com]. Kasich said he was disappointed that no union representatives were willing to meet with him, because he was willing to negotiate.
We are Ohio said:
"Today workers representing We Are Ohio and our 1.3 million supporters continued their call on Governor Kasich, Senate President Niehaus and Speaker Batchelder to repeal all of Senate Bill 5, the unfair and unsafe bill that hurts us all. We Are Ohio called on these leaders to first repeal all of Senate Bill 5 to ensure a fresh start to the process."
Building a Better Ohio (the anti-workers' group) of course came out with this gem:
"Despite the rhetoric, Ohio's government union bosses have consistently demonstrated their unwillingness to be part of a meaningful solution. Their political allies failed to offer a single amendment to the bill. They walked away from efforts to open a dialogue earlier this summer. Now, they've arrogantly refused, once again, to even have a conversation about the possibility of resolving this debate outside of a bitter, costly ballot fight."
If Issue 2 is defeated this November then it completely overturns Senate Bill 5 and protect workers' rights. At this point we don't know if Kasich will try to have another meeting with union representatives, but We are Ohio are standing firm. They are taking it to the polls.
Linkage:
http://betterohio.org/ (on the front page, there is a flash player show with a white teach teaching an interracial class, with a banner saying "How Issue 2 is keeping the best teachers." I'm going to vomit.)
