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Collective bargaining battles renew long-fought conflicts

Our reporters have been digging into how Senate Bill 5 would play out in five area cities who deal with a number of unions.

Union supporters rally against Ohio Senate Bill 5 at the Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The bill would end collective bargaining for state workers and weaken bargaining rights for police officers, firefighters, teachers and other local public workers.

Chris Stewart/Staff photographer Union supporters rally against Ohio Senate Bill 5 at the Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The bill would end collective bargaining for state workers and weaken bargaining rights for police officers, firefighters, teachers and other local public workers.

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Bob Bonham was one of the teachers who went on strike in the Huber Heights School District in 2006. State legislators are considering rewriting rules for public unions. Staff file photo

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 6:33 PM Sunday, February 27, 2011

It’ll be like hitting a giant re-set button.

If Republicans succeed in overhauling Ohio’s 27-year-old collective bargaining law, issues such as class sizes for teachers, sick leave allowances for state workers and staffing levels on Dayton fire trucks will come into play again, in some cases for the first time in more than a decade.

“It would just totally change the pay scale,” Springboro board President Don Miller said. “It’ll impact how we operate.”

In an attempt to show how the controversial measure will play out in local communities, the Dayton Daily News focused on five area cities — Dayton, Kettering, Xenia, Riverside and Springboro. Each deals with a number of unions and has long fought over issues such as sick leave, vacation pay, overtime and working conditions.

The bill has the potential to save taxpayers millions of dollars in health care costs and wages by shifting more of the burden from public employers to their employees. But just how much is saved depends on how the bill ends up and whether management decides to wipe clean or continue with hundreds of negotiated work rules.

In many local communities, the unions have already made concessions on pay and benefits during the economic downturn, and some fear the proposed law would foster an atmosphere of anger and hostility. Between 1978 and 1980, there were 183 public sector strikes in Ohio, or an average of more than 60 a year, even though such strikes were illegal. Since the collective bargaining act took effect in 1983, Ohio has averaged about eight public sector strikes annually, and in 2010 there weren’t any.

Matt Mayer of the Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank, said state unionized workers have perks that aren’t widely available in the private sector, such as banking of leave time, step increases and longevity pay.

Some local officials agreed to talk about the work rules they find most objectionable, such as binding arbitration, while others were clearly reluctant to wade too deeply into such tumultuous waters.

In a prepared statement, Kettering Superintendent James Schoenlein said, “It is difficult to have a calm, rational, or productive conversation on this topic in the midst of the current financial crisis.”

Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims, a Republican, said in an e-mail to tea party members that collective bargaining and binding arbitration need to be improved, but he added: “Maybe I have missed it but what amount of taxpayer dollars will be saved by going after our middle class working people here?”

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1624 or lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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