Protesters chant in front of Statehouse, challenge Senate Bill 5
Published: Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Updated: Saturday, June 16, 2012 00:06
 "Photo: Mitch Andrews / Lantern Photographer")
Mitch Andrews / Lantern Photographer
Protesters in oppositon of State Bill 5 flood the 3rd street entrance of the Ohio State House in downtown Columbus, Ohio, early in the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2011.
A dense crowd formed around the east and south sides of the Ohio Statehouse Tuesday afternoon to protest a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining for state workers.
As of 1:40 p.m., the doors remained locked and protesters stood outside chanting, "Let us in."
"We are willing to stand out here to talk," said Steve Nash, a firefighter from Solon, Ohio, standing in 27-degree weather and light snow. "And if (Gov. John Kasich) is not willing to come out, then that proves why we need collective bargaining."
Nash, 46, traveled with others about 160 miles from Northeast Ohio on Tuesday to protest Senate Bill 5.
Garry Nemeth, another Solon firefighter representing Local 2079, said they were here to protest what they say is "an assault on unions, an assault on collective bargaining and an assault on the middle class."
Another protester, Bernard Ravasio of Steubenville in eastern Ohio, traveled two and a half hours to "stand up for middle class families and workers."
"They wouldn't want to stop at public sector employees," said the 61-year-old member of United Steel Workers. "They would want to go into the private sector later."
Senate Bill 5 would eliminate the collective-bargaining abilities of state workers and replace them with a merit-based system. Negotiating power of police officers, firefighters and teachers would be restricted. Police and firefighters still would not be able to strike. Teachers could still go on strike — but schools would be able to hire permanent replacements.
Republicans tout the bill as an effective way to create jobs and "set the table for economic growth."
"We have to give local government officials a way to be more efficient and more effective in the delivery of services," Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Monday night in an interview with Fox News' Bill Hemmer, "and we have to give them the flexibility they need to manage their costs, including labor."
Democrats, on the other hand, call the bill a direct attack on the middle class, saying it will be a detriment to public servants.
"Senate Bill 5 … would strip away collective bargaining rights, hurt the middle class, kill jobs and destroy communities," former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland wrote in a blog post Saturday on the Ohio Democratic Party website. "This fight … (is) about whether or not we will be a state that stands up for the middle class."
20 comments
Which is exactly why the best of the public sector workers will LEAVE this state. All you will have left are people who will do, or say anything to get the job, and people who can't leave. Then, you will have more quotas for tickets, more discrimination, more public workers who don't care, more of them on the take, less quality, less equality...and all under the guise of "merit pay," and "flexibility to manage," which are buzz words that many of you out there have bit onto hook, line and sinker.
Power to the people
the Colleges. HOW TRUE THAT IS TODAY. JUST LOOK AT WHAT THE PROFESSORS AND TEACHERS ARE TEACHING IN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEMS! When I met William Hearst in California in 1966 He told our group that the Press would and could create Public Opinions.
is a member of the 
