Good news out of Ohio tonight: It looks like Repub­li­can Gov­er­nor John Kasich and his pals’ plot to strip the Buck­eye State’s pub­lic work­ers has been resound­ing­ly halt­ed in its tracks in a major pro­gres­sive victory.

As of around 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacif­ic, Ohioians were over­whelm­ing­ly vot­ing down Issue 2, a ref­er­en­dum on Sen­ate Bill 5 (Kasich’s anti-work­er leg­is­la­tion). A mam­moth 63.8% of votes tab­u­lat­ed so far are against the mea­sure. with only 36.72% for. Well over three quar­ters of a mil­lion votes have been count­ed so far.

Issue 2’s fail­ure means that Sen­ate Bill 5 will be repealed.

S.B. 5 tried to ban pub­lic work­er strikes, weak­en unions by requir­ing them to pay work­ers who choose not to join their union, restrict the num­ber of days pub­lic work­ers can cash in upon retire­ment, and pre­vent unions from nego­ti­at­ing on cer­tain ben­e­fits on behalf of their work­ers. S.B. 5 shared many sim­il­iar­i­ties to the un-Amer­i­can leg­is­la­tion ram­rod­ded through the Wis­con­sin state­house by Scott Walk­er and Repub­li­can legislators.

Fol­low­ing S.B. 5’s approval, Ohio’s union move­ment launched a sig­na­ture dri­ve to force a pub­lic vote on the leg­is­la­tion, which has just tak­en place. The results speak for themselves.

We extend our con­grat­u­la­tions to the peo­ple of Ohio for reject­ing S.B. 5. This vote makes clear what pro­gres­sives have been say­ing for months: Ohioians do not sup­port John Kasich’s war on work­ing families.

POSTSCRIPT: The White House has released a strong state­ment from Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden hail­ing the out­come of Issue 2.

“Tonight the peo­ple of Ohio deliv­ered a gigan­tic vic­to­ry for the mid­dle class with their over­whelm­ing rejec­tion of a Repub­li­can attempt to strip away col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing rights,” Biden said. “Fun­da­men­tal fair­ness has pre­vailed. By stand­ing with teach­ers and fire­fight­ers and cops, Ohio has sent a loud and clear mes­sage that will be heard all across the coun­try: The mid­dle class will no longer be tram­pled on. The peo­ple of Ohio are to be congratulated.”

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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3 replies on “Ohioians voting overwhelmingly to restore collective bargaining rights for public workers”

  1. Stu­pid peo­ple mak­ing stu­pid deci­sions. Unions bought the vote through fraud­u­lent adver­tis­ing. Medi­oc­rity stands tall in Unions eyes. Can’t wait to see who is going to BUY the elec­tions in 2012.

    1. What about the adver­tis­ing that helped elect John Kasich last year? Was that “fraud­u­lent”, too? Or was that adver­tis­ing — some of it paid for by the likes of Rupert Mur­doch — okay by you because it bol­stered a right wing candidate?

  2. Pingback: Morning Rundown for November 9th, 2011

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