A Debate on the Ohio Senate Bill 2 Veto Referendum

On March 31st, 2011 Ohio Governor Kasich signed Senate Bill 5 (SB5) into law following heated debate and protests that drew national attention. Soon after a referendum campaign began to strike down SB5. The Political Action Committee behind the referendum, We Are Ohio, soon collected enough signatures to place a veto referendum on the ballot.

Issue 2 (the Ohio Collective Bargaining Limit Repeal) will appear on ballots November 8th as a veto referendum. The legislation would repeal SB5, legislation that impacts collective bargaining for Ohio’s 400,000 public workers. SB5 will impact a number of issues related unionized labor in Ohio. SB5 will remove the ability of unions to charge “fair share” dues to employees who opt out, the ability of public employees to collectively bargain for health insurance and pensions, a prohibition on public employee strikes, and increases in employee contributions for pensions and healthcare.