We are in a fiscal crisis, and Ohio must find a way to balance the budget. But why are our public employees, including the firefighters who put their lives at risk to put out our house fires, and the teachers who nobly educate our children, being scapegoated as the cause of this crisis?
Teachers, firefighters and police had nothing to do with the financial malpractice that caused the Great Recession of 2008. They are public servants who, despite a popular myth perpetuated by proponents of this bill, earn less money on average than their counterparts in the private sector.
And also contrary to the myths promoted by Senate Bill 5 supporters, public employees are not the reason for our current budget crisis. If we eliminated every public job in Ohio, we would save only $2 billion, not nearly enough to balance the $8 billion deficit.
Senate Bill 5 would do nothing to help us balance the budget. Just look at the states that already ban collective bargaining in the public sector. Those states have budget gaps that are on average about 16.7 percent higher than Ohio’s.
And labor unions have been willing partners in helping the state deal with the crisis. Public employees have made huge sacrifices. They pay more for their health care, they’ve taken work furloughs without pay, amounting to roughly 10 percent of their annual salaries, and they’ve taken four pay freezes in the past nine years.
So if this bill will not help Ohio balance its books and unions are willing to make concessions, why pass it? After all, collective bargaining and binding arbitration have led to a more stable public workforce, virtually ending the labor strikes that crippled our communities in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Unions are not the enemy to progress. Studies consistently demonstrate that communities with strong union households tend to be more stable, have higher median incomes, and a higher quality of life than communities with no unions. And any look at the American economy over the past 20 years shows a direct correlation between the weakening of the middle class with the weakening of labor unions.
But, to the wealthy corporate interests who hope to control American democracy, unions represent the only force capable of amassing enough money to help counter their efforts.
The public employees affected by this bill live and work in our communities. They represent hard-working, middle-class families who struggle to make ends meet. They are not wealthy and do not bilk the taxpayers. They are our friends and neighbors, and they are the people we rely on for quality schools and safe communities.
Senate Bill 5 will jeopardize critically important jobs in our communities while doing nothing to help our fiscal crisis. It will serve only to satisfy long-held political goals while demolishing a key foundation to a stable, growing economy. I hope you’ll join me in urging our state legislature to reject this destructive bill.
Jocelyn Bucaro of Liberty Twp. is chair of the Butler County Democratic Party.