WKSU News: Ohioans petition for the Right to Work

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Ohioans petition for the Right to Work Supporters of the labor bill hope to see the proposal on the state ballot in 2013. by WKSU's STATEHOUSE CORRESPONDENT JO INGLES	Reporter Jo Ingles

Ohio Gov. John Kasich

In The Region:

Now that the Michigan legislature has passed a “Right to Work” law, one of the backers of an effort to put the same type of legislation before voters, is hoping it will encourage more Ohioans to sign petitions to put it on the state ballot next year.

Maurice Thompson is with the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law. He says about 100 thousand signatures have been collected so far. He says the issue has been slowed down by politics.

Hear Thompson on Ohioans petitioning for the Right to Work

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The policy of Right to Work has helped ID, OK, and IN- the last three states to enact it- tremendously. So the policy issues aren’t really what’s going on in Ohio. Instead, it’s a lot of political jockeying. The Governor doesn’t want this on the ballot too close to his re-election campaign and the Democrats don’t want this on the ballot because forced union dues is the way their party is funded.

Thompson says his group will need 385,000 valid signatures to put the issue on the 2013 ballot. If that doesn’t happen, Thompson predicts it will be on the ballot in 2014 when Ohio Gov. John Kasich goes up for re-election.

Listener Comments:

Modern unions are unfortunately providing minimal value. In my experience, they cause more harm than good.

This was not always the case. Look to the Pullman Trial, for example. That was something of real value, a time when unions wanted to make sure that workers were not being abused.

In modern times we have an abundance of state and federal laws that protect workers, unionized or not.

Unions also were supposed to provide something of value to not only the workers, but also the employer - very much like the guilds of old. They would ensure that the workers were able to perform their duties.

This no longer seems to be the case. Look to the unions in Detroit for a good example of this. Automative workers found drinking heavily while on break before going back to the factory, completely drunk. The unions should have sided with the employers, the news media, and everyone else to throw these people out, but instead they defended their every inexcusable action.

What about the union which required Twinkies to be delivered on a separate truck than other Hostess products? This drove up the costs of production, which raised prices for the consumer and, in part, lead to the demise of the company.

And then, unions take the union dues of their members and throw the money at politicians that the members don't necessarily support. How does this benefit the worker?

Unions disrupt the free market, abuse the trust and money of their workers, inhibit employers of having a reasonable workplace, and, like parasites, have been known to destroy the very business that keeps them alive.

All people like me ask is that union membership be optional. Unions should always, ALWAYS be an option - there may come a time when they will once more be a force for good - but they should never be mandatory.

Posted by: Jon Miller (Madison, OH) on January 3, 2013 3:01AM

no thank you, ohio doesn't need your union busting race to the bottom. how about a petition for a living wage, rather than attempting to impoverish the workers of ohio?

Posted by: sue jeffers (kent oh) on December 21, 2012 6:12AM

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