Fight SB 5

We need your help. Repealing Senate Bill 5 will require a minimum of 231,149 signatures that must be collected to file the referendum petition. This is equal to 6% of the total vote for governor in 2010. In addition, the signatures must meet a minimum distribution requirement of 3% of the gubernatorial vote in 44 counties. And we only have 90 days.

Yes, I want to help!

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Sample Letter

Dear Elected Official,

I am writing today to urge to you vote against Senate Bill 5. In today's difficult economy, we need to focus on providing Ohio's children with a quality education. We all know that a solid education will make them more valuable and attractive to employers in this tough job market. Senate Bill 5 seeks to undermine the quality preparation students receive in our schools.

Children need teachers to focus on them and their classrooms. Allowing the union to represent teachers frees them to do what they do best: TEACH.

Collective bargaining allows educators to have a voice in improving opportunities for Ohio's students, better classroom resources, and improved teaching and learning conditions.

Like all public employees, educators are an integral part of the fabric of Ohio's communities. Senate Bill 5 weakens Ohio. Rather than creating jobs, this legislation will hurt local communities, weakening Ohio's economic outlook.

I am proud to be an educator in state of Ohio. Please ensure that Ohio continues to attract well-qualified, dedicated teachers by voting against Senate Bill 5.

Sincerely,

Why We Care

• S.B. 5 is a jobs killer. It will only weaken the Middle Class by destroying good, working-class jobs that families and communities depend on.
• S.B. 5 will hurt businesses. Stores, gas stations, restaurants and other merchants in communities across the state will be forced to lay off workers. Or worse, they’ll have to close their doors, because Middle Class Ohioans will no longer be able to afford to patronize those establishments.
• Public Employees are our neighbors. They are firefighters, cops, teachers, prison guards, snowplow drivers, and social workers, to name a few. But they are also coaches, athletic and band boosters, church members, volunteer firefighters and charitable givers.
• Public employees are taxpayers. Public employees pay their taxes just like everyone else. Every payday, they pay the same percentage of income tax as every working Ohioan.
• S.B. 5 won’t balance the budget. Even if EVERY state employee was fired, it would barely save the state one-fourth of its gaping $8 billion budget deficit.
• S.B. 5 is part of a larger agenda and public workers are scapegoats. It’s a fact! S.B. 5 won’t balance the budget. It’s clear that anti-worker forces are using this to harm the Middle Class and kill jobs and the union rights they depend on.

Talking Points

S.B. 5 TARGETS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR ELIMINATION

• Children need their teachers to focus on them and their classrooms. Allowing the union to represent teachers frees teachers to do what they do best: teach.
• Taking away the union’s role in support of teachers will mean teacher salaries would be dictated by state politicians and education bureaucrats.
• Senate Bill 5 will hurt our local schools and kids because taking the unions out of the picture will make it easier for politicians to lay off teachers and cut funding for schools across Ohio.
• Collective bargaining allows educators a voice in improving opportunities for Ohio’s students, better classroom resources and improved teaching and learning conditions.
• Teachers know best what’s needed to improve student learning, and collective bargaining gives allows them to focus on teaching rather than time-­‐consuming employment issues.
• Educators, like all public employees, are an integral part of the fabric of Ohio’s communities.
• Senate Bill 5 weakens Ohio. Rather than creating jobs, this legislation will hurt local communities, reversing Ohio’s positive economic outlook.
• Ohio’s collective bargaining law has created a framework for problem-­‐solving that has made strikes rare. Local teachers associations negotiate effectively to avoid disruption for student learning.
• In a tough economy, with Ohio facing a major budget deficit, we must focus on the essentials. Nothing is more essential than giving our children a quality education that prepares them for good jobs.

Studies and facts about collective bargaining

The public does not support attacks on working families:

A January 2011 Quinnipiac poll showed that Ohio voters oppose limits on collective bargaining by public employees by 51% to 34%, a 17 % margin.

Ohio’s public employees make less than the private sector:

A Rutgers University study for the Economic Policy Institute released in February 2011 finds that similarly educated public employees make less than their private sector peers.

Looking at total compensation (wages and nonwage benefits), Ohio public employees annually earn 6% less than comparable private sector employees and 3.5% less on an hourly basis than comparable private sector employees.

Collective bargaining did not cause Ohio’s budget deficit:

Policy Matters Ohio recently released a study showing that states without public employee collective bargaining are facing the same large budget deficits as state with collective bargaining.

Collective bargaining supports high quality education:

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2008) suggests that students in states with CB perform better than those in states without CB: reading and math (4th & 8th grades; average freshman graduation rate).

Senate Bill 5 Facts

Senate Bill 5, introduced by Senator Shannon Jones (R-­‐Springboro), proposes to end collective bargaining for state and higher education employees and drastically curtail bargaining rights for K-­‐12 educators.

Ohio’s educators and working families are aggressively opposing this bill.

What’s at stake?:

Collective bargaining allows educators a voice in improving working and learning conditions and opportunities for Ohio's students. This bill would take Ohio backwards and harm students, working families and local economies throughout the state. In today's difficult economic times, we all need to be focused on the essentials.

Nothing is more essential than giving our students and children a quality education that prepares them for good jobs.

Senate Bill 5 does the following:

• Eliminates collective bargaining for state employees and employees of state higher education institutions.
• Does not allow K-­‐12 school employees to collectively bargain on salaries or healthcare.
• Eliminates public employee salary schedules and step increases and replaces them with an undefined “merit” pay system.
• Permits school boards to govern healthcare benefit plans for employees and requires public employees to pay at least 20% of their healthcare costs.
• Eliminates continuing contracts for teachers after the bill’s effective date.
• Eliminates teacher leave policies in statute and requires local school boards to determine leave time.
• Eliminates experience as a sole criterion for Reductions In Force (RIFs).
• Allows public employers to hire permanent replacement workers during a strike.
• Prohibits school districts from picking up any portion of the employee’s contribution to the pension system.
• Allows a public employer in “fiscal emergency” to serve notice to terminate, modify or negotiate a CBA.
• Abolishes the School Employee Healthcare Board.

What can you do to help support students, working families and local communities?:

The elected officials that represent you need to hear that you oppose Senate Bill 5 and the effort to eliminate collective bargaining.

We need to highlight that collective bargaining benefits students, and you'd know that the best because educators are serving the students every day.

Also, please recruit your colleagues to help fight this extremely harmful legislation.

You can do this by calling the education hotline. Call 1-888-907-7309, and let legislators know how you feel.