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Thousands protest Senate Bill 5 as Kasich delivers State of State address

bradley.321@osu.edu

Published: Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Updated: Friday, June 15, 2012 23:06

protests

Thomas Bradley / Lantern Photographer

Thousands of protesters fill the lawn of the Statehouse Tuesday afternoon in protest of Senate Bill 5 and Gov. John Kasich's State of the State address.

Protests

Thomas Bradley / Lantern Photographer

Firefighters and other protesters file into the Statehouse before Ohio Gov. John Kasich began his State of the State address.

protests

Thomas Bradley / Lantern Photographer

Police required protesters to leave all signs at the door of the Statehouse.

Protests

Thomas Bradley / Lantern Photographer

Thousands of protesters fill the lawn of the Statehouse Tuesday afternoon in protest of Senate Bill 5 and Gov. John Kasich's State of the State address.

Thousands of protesters flooded the lawns in an attempt to drown out Gov. John Kasich as he gave his State of the State address.

After encouragement from protest leaders, hundreds of protesters filed into the Statehouse at about noon today. The protesters were in opposition of Kasich and Senate Bill 5.

Led by firefighters, Democratic party members gathered in all corners of the Statehouse. Boos and chants including "kill the bill," "we won't quit," and "cut your wages," echoed throughout the Statehouse.

 

SB 5 is an overhaul of a 23-year-old collective bargaining law, which gave public employees, such as firefighters, teachers and steelworkers, the right to bargain for their wages, hours, working conditions and benefits.

While many protesters filled the house, thousands remained on the lawn during the address.

One of those was Karen Scott, a librarian from North Olmsted, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Scott opposes SB 5. She said she is willing to work with Kasich to improve Ohio's future.

"There is a misconception that librarians are overpaid and receive huge benefit packages," Scott said. "This is not true, for the last two years we have experienced layoffs and received no raises for two years now."

People not only from Ohio, but from around the country were at the Statehouse.

Dolline Moton, a resident of Florida, came to Columbus to support the workers of Ohio.

"I'm in support of the workers, I am against the bill," Moton said.

One firefighter, Michael Tippett of the Worthington Fire Department, said he was in opposition SB 5 for one main reason.

"It takes away my right to bargain, it takes away what I have bargained for," Tippett said. "We started our union 20 years ago."

Mike Carroll, a member of United Steel Workers and a resident of Mansfield, Ohio, said he is at the protest to try and stop his governor from attacks on working families.

"This bill affects all working families in the state," Carroll said. "It drives down wages."

Carroll said the jobs Kasich claims SB 5 will create will be minimum wage jobs.

"You can't support a family on minimum wage," he said.

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22 comments

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Anonymous
Mon Mar 14 2011 18:17
thay thought thay just well get read of the last of the middle class it all rich and poor now. a lot of none union jobs. theat people worst then slaves. here in the usa.
Anonymous
Fri Mar 11 2011 17:51
Wake up Ohio, merit pay increase for police will be judged on how may tickets you write!
Anonymous
Wed Mar 9 2011 18:52
the person who went to many different types of schools and didn't meet with success at any place....his/her opinion is not valid because he/she is smarter than everyone...and that would be unfair to everyone else.
congratulations on your top business school, maybe you work so much because no one wants to be around you.
Anonymous
Wed Mar 9 2011 18:44
do you really believe that teachers can fix society? In reality, people need to value the fact that they can 1. send their kid somewhere during the day, 2. be happy that their kid will learn something besides what's on TV and/or Youtube/Facebook and 3. be somewhat relieved that their kid is most likely in a safe place (away from offenders of all/many sorts).

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys!

Anonymous
Wed Mar 9 2011 06:40
I wish teachers would spend as much time teaching as they do whining about $$. Maybe there wouldn't be so many illiterate, ignorant people in the world! Here is a bumper sticker for you...Read an illiterate email, blame a teacher!
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 22:14
Ohio wants jobs???? STOP retire rehire. I can NAME several young people who would love to teach in Ohio but can't because so many retired teachers are rehired back at 10 years salary. You want a savings in state funds and to secure STRS???? Make the retired folks pay back into retirement. If you draw social security, get a job and make so much - you have to pay some back to social security. My school district currently has 2 rehired teachers, 1 counselor, 1 principal, and now the super (who only took a 5000 dollar pay cut - but his total new salary will be about $160,000.00) Not to mention this district is making cuts like many other districts but have they have only been teachers and aids. However, the sports games will continue because that is all people really want their child to be a great athlete and never a great inventor. Just look to see if sports ever get cut, but science departments will.
Mr. Teacher Business Man
Tue Mar 8 2011 22:10
I have had a unique opportunity of working both in the private sector and the public sector. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in both business and eduction. I have had the unique experience of seeing many qualified personnel in both areas, and some incompetent in both areas. My thinking is that teaching is a much more noble career than my management information logistics career. Every day, I work extremely hard to prepare lessons, make activties, grade & update grades online, update my webpage, collaborate, meet/call/email parents, and too many other things to mention. I am afraid that the middle class will be affected in a negative way (no matter what career line serves you) once this bill passes. I am not excited to see the complete privatization of schools take place...we all know that students that come from families that are not financially well-off will not be able to provide for this type of education. Classism exists and it is quite a dirty topic. Maybe we should think about flipping expenditures on private institutions (such as jails) and use those funds to support children so that they may not end up in prison one day. Think about this...it costs 3x as much to keep a prisoner in jail as opposed to a fund a student in a public school. America needs to respect the fact that human life has dignity, and the cost of a quality education is something that we cannot afford to use as a scapegoat for a financial problem that started somewhere else.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:59
It is easy to criticize what you do not know. I can give a mountain of examples of how I perceive other professions as lazy, incompetent, and wasting millions of taxpayer���s dollars. Until I spend time in their shoes, I refrain from making judgments that are untrue or that make me look like I am uneducated. Because I have had experience in the education profession, I know what it actually entails. I know the countless hours of unpaid overtime they do on a daily basis. How they have to fight for their students to receive what they need. Because I know this first hand, I fear for my own children's education and future more than any of my own loses. I know how the public school system will fail with enormous class sizes and how my children will not receive the education and attention they deserve. Unfortunately we have to sit back and watch it all fail before others will see the same. The false information that has been given has fulfilled its purpose to convince you to support senate bill 5. I challenge you to go into schools for an entire day and see exactly what goes on in schools during this day and age. I challenge you to see who you are giving all the power to in the school system.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:56
SB 5 passes - Ohio will no longer be our home. We will move south to better weather. If I have less money and no job security, best place to be is in a warm place.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:53
Shame on Kasich. He blames the states problems on the unions and in the next breath he saysthat the unions only represent 14% of the work force. Vote out the Republicans that vote for this bill
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:52
Notice how many of the posts below who are against teachers, use very poor grammar and spelling. There is a direct correlation!
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:51
There were 40 people supporting SB5 and about 4000 people opposing it. That's a 100:1 ratio. You almost had to feel sorry for the Tea Partiers huddled on the north steps, who had a brief press conference and then left. Compare that to the entrance of 1,500 firefighters led by a pipe and drum corps, who filled the west steps and whose voices were heard echoing through the Rotunda and into the House chamber where Kasich spoke.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:51
Notice how many of the posts above who are against teachers, use very poor grammar and spelling. There is a direct correlation!
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 21:04
I went to public schools and I can count on one hand the number of high quality teachers I had. I then went to private high school, and again I can count on one hand the number of high quality teachers I had. I went to college (top business school in the country) again I can count on one hand the number of quality professors I had.

So please, spare me the speech about how hard teachers work. I know what really motivates most teachers, you get to play tough with 6th graders. You get to feel important...with 8th graders. You get to sit around in a protected system with protected benefits and not worry about termination regardless of how incompetent you are. You get the entire summer off to lay at the pool, you get every holiday off, and you get every weekend to yourself. (I know a lot of teachers personally...I pay attention).

So now you want me to feel sorry for you?? Yeah I'm sorry...sorry about your luck.

So read this and weep...I'm not voting any more taxes for anything!! I'm working 70-80 hours per week, 7 days a week, every holiday, and all summer long. I'm busting my $%# just to keep my head out of the water...time you busted yours.

Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 20:48
Polls...and elections...show that the public sector does not have the support of most taxpayers. I loved the sign that said "if you can read, thank a teacher"....nothing against teachers, but it is their JOB to teach...they don't do it for free (far from it.) As a plumber, maybe I should bring a sign that says "If you toilet flushes, thank a plumber."
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 20:46
Kasich is a Patriot. Shame on those who say otherwise. Why should public sector workers receive better wages, benefits and other deals than the private sector?? Only those with a vested interest is keeping what they have....fair or not...are against SB5.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 18:19
Kasich is a mean spirited person who has no care for those who have worked so hard to gain the middle class. He is a total embarrassment to Ohio, especially when he got the concessions from State workers, but at the same time wants to take away their bargaining rights. The he passes o the cuts to his new employess on his staff. He should be voted out as soon as possible. What a disgrace to the people that he has hurt and cars less about it.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 17:33
Teacher in Ohio--I don't know where you teach, but I am also a teacher in Ohio and every day, I see my colleagues working their behinds off to teach, shape, support our future in this state. I am honored to work with some truly incredible, talented, hardworking people who go above and beyond every single day. If this goes through, who will teach our children? No one in their right mind would do this job for low wages and little to no respect. I love my kids and I'm passionate about my job, but passion will not pay my mortgage. My husband and I --both teachers--could potentially lose our home and much of what we have worked for if this goes through. You won't just have a couple of dud teachers per building--you will have a whole building full of them, because the good ones will either leave--or they will be fired because they will be too expensive to keep. Is this good for the economy? The answer is absolutely not.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 17:27
Any supporters there were far outnumbered by protestors. Polls show that overwhelmingly, people support the public workers and the middle class. This will be very clear once this issue is placed on the ballot for the people to decide.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 8 2011 17:24
Once again the bias left-wing media only reports one side of the story! I am a teacher in the state of Ohio and I have seen such waste in the past 30 years and it is not improving. We have way too many teachers in our schools along with a stagering number of aides. The "special" education classes has taken over our public education system at a huge expense to the tax payers. Check out your local schools and see how many "new" positions have been added in the past 10 years. It has to stop somewhere! I am afraid the party is over and it is time to pay the piper.
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