We Are Ohio

Right to Work is WRONG

Labor United In Opposition To Higher Ed Proposal

Columbus – Over 70 labor organizations have signed on to a letter addressed to Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and members of the Ohio House of Representatives opposing Senate Bill 83 and House Bill 151. These bills would prohibit strikes and limit bargaining subjects for unionized workers at Ohio’s public colleges and universities.

“Over 70 labor organizations have come together in opposition to Senate Bill 83 and House Bill 151. We are sending a clear message: a threat to one union is a threat to all,” said Chris Mabe, Chair of We Are Ohio. “These bad bills will affect roughly 10,000 campus union members, but that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of thousands of workers all across Ohio who are prepared to stand up and fight for our most fundamental collective bargaining rights.”

To read the full letter and see the list of organizations that have signed on click here.

We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that includes public and private sector workers and employees, autoworkers, police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, pastors, small business owners, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, local elected officials and business leaders, students, Moms, Dads, family members and your neighbors.

One Person One Vote Campaign Files Lawsuit Alongside Ohio Voters 

Challenging August 8 Special Election for Special Interests

COLUMBUS – One Person One Vote, the citizen-driven, grassroots, non-partisan coalition dedicated to preserving majority rule in Ohio, filed a lawsuit today in the Ohio Supreme Court challenging the $20 million August special election being held at the behest of special interests.

“Our complaint asks the Ohio Supreme Court to call this election what it is: illegal. Just five months ago the General Assembly specifically prohibited all statewide special elections in August. Secretary LaRose explained that August elections have “embarrassingly low” turnout and are bad for taxpayers, election officials, voters, and the civic health of our state. To that end, the General Assembly revised Ohio law to allow elections only during November, March, or May and they’ve done nothing since that time to change the law. Constitutional amendments may be voted on in November, March or May – not August – and we’re confident the Court will agree.” said Dennis Willard, spokesperson for One Person One Vote.

“The question every voter should be asking themselves is – why August, when there was already an election scheduled for November? The answer is simple: because that’s what special interests wanted. Special interests spent millions lobbying for an August election – which will cost taxpayers $20 million – specifically because that’s when turnout is the lowest. This is an illegal special election for special interests. Period.”

Read the complaint here. Case No. 2023-0630. Note: Ohio Supreme Court site may take a few minutes to update.

The Protect One Person One Vote campaign is a citizen-driven, grassroots, non-partisan coalition representing millions of Ohio voters that has come together to protect the sacred principle of one person one vote, and preserve majority rule in Ohio. 

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For more information:

Dennis Willard

614.209.8945

dennis@precisionnewmedia.com

Important: Everything You Need To Know About Lauren Bowen, The Anti-Worker Hypocrite

Lauren Bowen is the mouthpiece for the anti-worker Fake Freedom Foundation, a front group bought and paid for by anti-worker, anti-union billionaires like Betsy DeVos, the Koch Family, the Bradley Foundation and others.

Lauren Bowen is making harmful claims about hardworking teachers and school administrators.
She blames teachers and at-home learning for kids’ depression and low test scores, even suicides. Yes, suicides.

Here is what Lauren Bowen recently wrote: “at least educators will get a two-week reprieve while displaced students continue to deal with the real epidemic caused by two years’ worth of enforced distance learning — lower test scores, reduced motivation, depression, substance abuse and even suicide.”

Click here to give Lauren Bowen a piece of your mind right now.

Lauren Bowen is a hypocrite. She supports online charter schools that have distance learning like ECOT and attacks public school teachers who want to keep their students, families, our communities and themselves safe.

The Fake Freedom Foundation is a front group that is willing to do and say anything to appease their true masters.  

It’s wrong and horribly cruel to imply that Ohio’s teachers – the men and women who spend every day educating the next generation – are failing our kids.

Click here to give Lauren Bowen a piece of your mind right now.

‘Right To Work’ Group Threatens To Sue Ohio Over Union Fees

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public sector unions cannot mandate fees for employees who aren’t members, even if they’re covered by collective bargaining deals. But Ohio’s largest public employee union says the threat is unnecessary – and went to the wrong agency anyway.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation sent a letter to state Treasurer Josh Mandel, demanding a halt to mandatory “shop fees” being deducted from non-union members’ paychecks.

But Chris Mabe with the Ohio Civil Service Employees Union says the Treasurer’s Office doesn’t handle such issues. And he said the OCSEA had already sent its own letter to the state after the “Janus v. AFSCME” decision.

Read the full article here.

Fresh Proof That Strong Unions Help Reduce Income Inequality

New evidence shows that unions played a major role in reducing income inequality in the United States in the decades when organized labor was strong.

But it also demonstrates that the decline in union power since the 1960s — which may be exacerbated as a result of a recent Supreme Court decision— has contributed to the widening gap between rich and poor.

The new insights come from a working paper, “Unions and Inequality Over the Twentieth Century: New Evidence from Survey Data,” by four economists: Henry Farber, Daniel Herbst and Ilyana Kuziemko of Princeton, and Suresh Naidu of Columbia. They establish that unions have constrained income inequality far beyond their own membership ranks.

While the scholars can’t pinpoint the precise mechanism at work, they speculate that unions have indirectly increased pay at firms nervous that their own employees might organize. Unions have also lobbied for higher minimum wages and pushed to hold down executive salaries. They have also advocated for broader access to health care, countering a key channel through which income inequality can harm all of society.

Read the full article here.

We Are Ohio. Standing strong, supporting workers.