"As Ohio goes, so goes the nation" has taken on new meaning after this week's election. The people of Ohio used their citizen veto decisively to repeal legislation that would have stripped police officers, teachers, firefighters and other public workers of their right to bargain collectively.
It is the first time in the nation's history that collective bargaining rights have been upheld on a statewide ballot. And it is a clear sign that Americans understand we can't rebuild the economy without rebuilding the middle class.
The opposition to the legislation's partisan overreach went well beyond public employees and union members. More people voted to repeal Senate Bill 5 in November 2011 than voted to elect John Kasich governor a year earlier. That message should not be lost on the legislators who voted to pass it.
Election results from Maine to Mississippi and from Ohio to Arizona demonstrated that voters were fed up with politicians who thought they could exploit a tough economy to advance extremist agendas. The public is crying out for leaders to help get the economy back on track for all Americans.
In Ohio, voters saw the public services that public workers provide as being essential to their communities -- whether it was the cop on the beat or the teacher in the classroom. And, implicit in that is the acknowledgment that employees having a voice in their work is a way to ensure and improve the quality of vital public services.
Collective bargaining is a good way to do that. It recognizes that those who do the work should be trusted, not silenced. Throughout Ohio, teachers unions have negotiated provisions to reduce costs; improve teachers' skills throughout their careers as well as more effectively evaluate them; and ensure that our students have safe schools and the subjects they need, such as art, music and physical education. Throughout the country, collective bargaining is the vehicle by which some of the best approaches to school reform are taking root, such as the model teacher improvement programs in Pittsburgh and New Haven, Conn., and, in California, the ABC Federation of Teachers' collaborative approach to closing student achievement gaps.
The citizens' actions in Ohio and elsewhere show that the public understands that America's economic crisis was not caused by the salaries and benefits earned by hard-working people who serve the public, but by greed and recklessness at the top of the economic ladder. Public employees in Ohio already have given up $1 billion in economic concessions -- the public wants those at the top to share responsibility, as well. Americans want tangible solutions, not scapegoating and stripping people of their rights and voice -- whether in the workplace, as in Ohio, or at the ballot box, as in Maine, where voters beat back efforts to curtail voting rights.
On my frequent travels around the country, most recently talking to people in Ohio as part of the incredible grass-roots effort that connected labor and the broader community, I have been struck by how people from many different walks of life are coming together around common priorities and the common good. They want elected officials to focus on creating jobs, not undercutting working people. They share a belief that the American dream should be available to all and that our leaders must help us achieve that ideal, not stand in its way. It's the same sense of injustice and unfairness that has inspired people to occupy public spaces from coast to coast, and to demand changes in our economy to level the playing field for ordinary Americans.
These values transcend economic, political and geographic lines. And while they are associated with those coming to be known as the "99 percent" -- the teachers, students and parents; the jobless and the underemployed; homeowners and those who have lost their homes, all of whom share a deep love of our country and a commitment to making it better -- it will require robust, coordinated and sustained efforts to secure the basic dignity and economic opportunity to which we are all entitled. Victories like this week's vote in Ohio mark a historic milestone toward achieving this goal, and are a reminder of what is possible when communities unite around important ideals.
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/120308399.html
Since Judicial, Legislative and Administrative sectors of government are "Domestic Enemies" of the nation all are to be impeached (Article 1, section 4), being treasonous are entitled to be killed and only 2 people are require to agree to achieve it (Article 3, section 3). I disagree with capital punishment therefore they should spend the rest of their lives on "death row" for their actions, however, I suggest they loose all retirement benefits, half of any savings they have secured while in office should be put into Social Security and they made to live off their remaining savings or SS.
We should not allow treason in government to go unpunished &, since the "faithful execution of the laws" (Article 2, section 3) falls to presidents, all presidents, beginning with Reagan, should loose all retirement and security benefits with Bush and Obama living their natural lives out on Death Row for the present state of the nation. http://www.change.org/petitions/eliminate-capitalistic-military-regime is a means of it.
- here is an excerpt:
"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters. "
FDR - 1937.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15445#axzz1ditogZgX
Now I think it is time that the Military get the same pay, benefits, and rights that the cop on
the beat and the teacher in the classroom gets. Why are a large number of lower ranking
military families receiving food stamps? Why does an enlisted man / woman after 20 years
only gets 1500 dollars a month in retirement pay. Why do they, in most cases have to travel
hundreds of miles to receive medical treatment from the VA? yup - I think it's time military
people get the same pay and benefits that an art teacher in a middle school gets, or how
about what a rookie cop gets in small town USA.
But hey they voted for it, so they will live with it.
“Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.”
“And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year, because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.”
“This is not to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary. These are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay.”