And when more than 9 percent of the workforce is unemployed and the state is $8 billion in debt, we can’t afford to waste time. For the sake of our families and our state, it’s time to lay down the shovel and stop digging the fiscal hole even deeper.
So what do we need to change? State and local governments must have more flexibility to manage their workforces in this tough economy. Many public union contracts have grown so big and complex that they’re consuming more and more of your limited tax dollars needed to provide basic government services.
Inevitably, the need for more revenue has led to a call for higher taxes, especially at the local level, and government just keeps getting bigger.
These public-sector contracts have also created a growing disparity between the public and private sectors.
As The Columbus Dispatch recently said in an editorial, collective bargaining agreements often demand “wages and perks that most taxpayers do not have and never will have. As outlined recently to the legislature ... these perks include ... double-dipping, massive sick-leave payouts, longevity pay, cost-of-living raises greater than inflation, ... and early-retirement and job security that far exceeds that in the private sector. This is hardly a case of exploited labor. If anyone is being exploited, it is taxpayers. The problem is that management – the taxpayers – have too little power.”
We have heard many examples of local governments struggling to manage in this crisis. And here are some of the issues:
• A Cincinnati City Council member testified recently that union contracts have caused his city’s employee costs to grow at about 18 percent annually. He said the problem with these public-employee contracts is that, once they’re approved, they’re never reduced — even when tax revenues decline: “...they’re simply built upon and made more generous.”
• A city council member from Troy testified that his public safety director had to pay $58,000 for one person’s unused vacation and sick time. That’s $10,000 more than Ohio’s median annual income.
• In the City of Toledo, where tax revenues fell by $28 million in two years, one department must lay off 75 lower-level employees before they it can lay off even one supervisor.
Certainly not all contracts contain this sort of stuff. But these things rarely happen in the private sector, but they’re common practice in government employment.
In the private sector, the average worker pays 23 percent of his or her health care benefits, while some city workers in Ohio are paying less than 9 percent. Some school district employees in Ohio still do not contribute anything to their health care premiums.
These are just a few of the examples of why it’s time to reform public-sector employment in Ohio. Government must start living within its means and operating by the same standards of efficiency, accountability and performance that private-sector companies live by every day.
What would SB 5 Do?
The bargaining process for local government employee contracts would include new requirements for transparency and accountability, effectively giving taxpayers a seat at the negotiating table.
And both sides of a contract would be required to publicly disclose more information about their demands. Taxpayers would then have the ability to understand those demands in clear terms, allowing them to provide input and accountability.
The bill also makes improvements to the timelines of the negotiating process, making them more realistic and helping to avoid indefinite disputes.
In addition, the bill preserves important protections for our public employees. State and local workers could still negotiate contracts for wages and work conditions (including safety equipment, according to federal law).
Employees will also keep health care and pension benefits, which would be determined outside of the collective bargaining process and negotiated on behalf of all employees, including management equally.
The bill only asks that public employees pay their fair share — 15 percent — of the health care premiums.
Public employees will also continue to be protected by state civil service laws, which prevent discrimination based on religious, political or personal affiliations.
Senate Bill 5 is not an effort to balance budget deficits with one piece of legislation. It is a first step in an effort to begin curbing government spending that we can no longer afford.
Our public employees are decent, honorable, hard-working people, and they have recently given up pay increases and benefits. But, the issue remains: They have been promised pay and benefit plans that are financially unsustainable going forward.
Everyone knows that change is hard, and these changes impact a lot of people. But government has got to start living within its means. Anything less will lead to greater bigger deficits — and deeper unemployment — down the road.
The bottom line is we can’t afford not to act, and we must do so in a fair and thoughtful way. Every public employee needs to realize that without these changes, their jobs are less secure because government cannot continue funding commitments it can’t keep.
Senate Bill 5 will (1) get government under control, (2) give state and local governments the tools to more effectively manage their costs to their revenues, (3) help prevent tax increases and (4) bring the public sector in line with the private sector when it comes to the cost of doing business.
What’s next? We need to reform the public pension systems, lower Ohio’s high tax burden, reduce business regulations, fix our prison sentencing guidelines, and create a sustainable state budget for the next two years to foster job growth and economic recovery, to name a few things.
Above all, we must make thoughtful decisions that protect the interest of every Ohioan. Many of you have told me personally or in writing that you know something has to be done, and I appreciate your confidence in getting something started that is fair and in an open process, and most importantly by “laying down the shovel.”
As always, if you have thoughts and concerns, please contact me at sd10@senate.state.oh.us or (614) 466-3780.
Chris Widener represents the 10th District in the Ohio Senate.
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