“Ohio’s budget problem is a revenue crisis, caused by a weak economy and ill-advised tax reductions that have deprived the state of needed revenue,” said Amy Hanauer, executive director of the left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio. “Eliminating collective bargaining is not going to solve a revenue crisis.”
Proponents are clear that the gains negotiated by public unions during much of the past three decades are unsustainable and must be reversed.
“Senate Bill 5 is cornerstone legislation in that it will eliminate restrictions that are placed upon elected officials at all levels of the state,” said Ray Warrick, a tea party member who testified in favor of the bill.
Taxpayers aren’t willing to shell out more money; they want systematic reforms, said state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., sponsor of Senate Bill 5.
Union leaders warn that Jones’ bill could lead to labor strife, favoritism, unsafe conditions for police and firefighters, and — in the long run — make it harder to attract the best candidates for public sector jobs.
Plenty of voices have weighed in on both sides, but here are some of the specific changes that could come because of Senate Bill 5:
Safety forces
The bill would eliminate binding arbitration and outlaw strikes by all public workers — leaving employees with little leverage, according to James Cox, Dayton Firefighters Union Local 136 president.
“Binding arbitration has worked for us and the city because it forces both sides to sit down and work out safety and wage issues,” Cox said. “This will eliminate that goodwill built up over the last about 30 years that has almost always led to a contract we can agree on.”
Dayton police Lt. Randy Beane, who heads the police union, said his members are concerned that they’ll see pay cuts and an erosion of basic rights. Police officers used to be stuck with split shifts or had to rotate between first, second and third shifts.
“You were at the whim of management,” Beane said.
Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan disputes claims by some that the city will compromise on worker and citizen safety if Senate Bill 5 passes. While Riordan wouldn’t discuss the city’s negotiating strategy, most expect a re-examination of work rules within union contracts, such as overtime and sick pay. Currently, a regular city employee earns eight hours of sick time a month, while a firefighter earns 24 hours.
Local 136 and the city are currently in arbitration over wages, health care costs and a rule that fire trucks be staffed with at least four people. The city wants to be able to assign fewer at stations with the lowest call volumes — a move that would save on overtime costs.
The two sides have battled over the “four-man staffing” rule for about 15 years. In 2003, the city tried to implemented a three-man rule, but the firefighters blocked it in court and won in arbitration.
Cox said the union is prepared to go to court again over the issue. “We have told the city manager if there is a fire engine operating in the city of Dayton, it will have four people on it,” Cox said.
Health care
Senate Bill 5 would take health care off the bargaining table for public employee unions and require workers to pay at least 20 percent of the costs.
That issue alone would impact most public employees.
At the state level, workers pay 15 percent of their health insurance premiums, according to the state Department of Administrative Services and Ohio Civil Service Employees Association. At the K-12 level, it’s 9.9 percent, according to a 2010 survey by the School Employees Health Care Board.
Local government officials are hoping to do more large-scale pooling if health care is moved off the bargaining table. Currently, health care plans are negotiated as part of 3,290 separate union contracts statewide, including 318 agreements in Montgomery, Miami, Greene, Warren and Butler counties.
If jurisdictions agreed upon a uniform plan, they conceivably could use their large combined numbers to leverage better prices.
The School Employees Health Care Board, created in 2005, explored the idea but so far has only managed to impose “best practices” such as wellness programs to squeeze out cost savings for school districts. Currently, Ohio school districts average 275 employees, while 198,000 people across the state work for schools.
Schools
Springboro school board member Kelly Kohls testified in support of Senate Bill 5, saying it would untie the hands of management to cut teacher health care and salary costs and shift some of that money to restore busing, supplies and other items.
The average teacher’s salary in Ohio is $56,000 a year.
“While collective bargaining has placed a stranglehold on the districts, the districts have had no choice but to place their children at risk with no busing, reduced education quality with no field trips and materials and supplies, and extracurriculars (that are) out of reach for most,” she told senators.
Bill Leibensperger, vice president of the Ohio Education Association which represents 128,000 teachers, warned that without teachers’ ability to speak on issues such as class size, districts will try to save money by cramming many more kids in a single classroom.
“If this bill were to pass, it would bring on an era of chaos in public education,” he told state senators.
No one doubts there will be huge changes. Educators have been visible in the huge crowds protesting the bill at the Statehouse in Columbus.
State workers
The deal announced by the Republican Senate caucus last week allowing collective bargaining on wages did little to ease tension between lawmakers and Ohio’s 61,500 state employees.
Once the current union contracts end on June 30, 2012, negotiated rules over sick and vacation leave, bumping rights, seniority systems, grievances and hundreds of other items could be wiped out for troopers, prison guards, computer programmers, food inspectors, nurses, scientists, accountants and other state workers, including those at public colleges and universities.
How much those benefits are cut remains unclear.
Ohio Department of Administrative Services Director Bob Blair, who is responsible for negotiating and implementing state union contracts, said the Kasich administration would examine the agreements and do “some revisions.”
But, said Blair, “Obviously, we are not going to go to zero on sick leave. Obviously, we wouldn’t go to zero on vacation time either.”
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