COLUMBUS, OHIO – An overflow crowd of over 800 concerned Ohioans packed the halls of the Ohio Statehouse today in opposition of Senate Bill 5, a job-killing, anti-worker bill that would silence the voice of Ohio’s public servants. If passed by the Ohio legislature, Senate Bill 5 would eliminate collective bargaining for Ohio’s public employees and make it more difficult to attract and retain quality staff.
“Today, Senator Shannon Jones and her anti-worker allies jump-started their job-killing vendetta against Ohio’s middle class,” said Becky Williams, President of SEIU District 1199 which represents over 9,000 public sector workers in Ohio. “Reducing government, cutting taxes for the rich, and taking rights away from workers might sound good to Jones, but when you talk about taking safety forces off of our streets, educators out of our communities and leaving criminals unsupervised in our towns – it’s just not practical.”
While working under the misrepresented premise of “transparency” and “reducing the size and scope of government,” Jones openly admits that there will be no direct financial benefit to the taxpayers after her exhaustive one-year research of collective bargaining. To the contrary, a report published by Policy Matters Ohio found that “allowing public sector workers to bargain collectively reduces labor strife, reduce the likelihood of strikes and can lead to better training and higher productivity for public sector workers.”
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This type of rhetoric is dangerous, and extremely misleading. Their use of terminology such as Anti-worker and the such are manipulations of the basic facts. I know many hard-working people who routinely work circles around public workers as far as quality and it angers me greatly to hear that union represented workers are “working families.” It’s that kind of discussion that has created our bankrupt conditions that began 27 years ago.
Notice how many people showed up for this event. Those are your working families. The reason their voices get heard and the “real” working families get ignored are because the real workers are working. These people are just paid lobbyists. Groups like the OEA, Progress Ohio and many others have their members take off work to participate in these lobby events, and that’s how things became so messed up to begin with.
What’s better than sex? I’m talking about the kind of sex that people fantasize about in their deepest darkest secrets. It’s Senate Bill 5 otherwise known as SB5
Oh yes, SB5 is one of the most exotic, sexy pieces of legislation ever to grace paper and to come from the lips of a State Senator Shannon Jones. The dialogue and beauty of the text is enough to turn the coldest heart into a lavish, promiscuous, insidious romantic.
So what is this salacious document that I’m speaking so highly of? It’s the first, most aggressive legislation since the infamous 1983 act in favor of collective bargaining implementation, to be enacted in an attempt to stop the bleeding that public employees represented by unions are imposing on tax payers. For more than 27 years this law has remained unchanged and has strangled the State of Ohio in being able to create a positive business atmosphere that will attract business and bring jobs to Ohio. The organizations that stand behind the collective bargaining law of 1983 have little understanding of business and have over those 27 years helped create a complex puzzle that is straining the states pension system and a host of other labor related issues.
This bill is proposed by Senator Shannon Jones of Clearcreek Twp of the 7th District has the direct support of Governor Kasich and will take a major step in the direction of solving that puzzle by taking off the shackles that are draining the tax revenue flowing to the state from the caretakers of Ohio, the tax payers.
Listen to this guy. He’s why we need SB5. It’s people like him that go to those collective bargining rallies.
Among the many items in the bill the primary reforms are:
• Eliminates collective bargaining for state employees and employees of higher education institutions • Existing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) covering those employees expire according to their terms • Eliminates salary schedules and step increases and replaces them with a merit pay system • Eliminates continuing contracts for teachers after the bill’s effective date • Eliminates teacher leave policies in statute and requires local school boards to determine leave time • Eliminates seniority as a sole criterion for Reductions In Force (RIFs) • Removes healthcare from bargaining and instead permits school boards to govern healthcare benefit plans for employees • Requires employees to pay at least 20% of their healthcare costs • Allows public employers to hire permanent replacement workers during a strike • Limits bargaining for local government employees (including school districts) to issues of wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment • Eliminates binding arbitration for police and fire • Abolishes the School Employee Healthcare Board • Prohibits school districts from picking up any portion of the employee’s contribution to the pension system • Allows a public employer in “fiscal emergency” to serve notice to terminate, modify or negotiate a CBA While much of this bill will focus on the state, it will immediately bring transparency to localities. No longer will local school boards be able to blame the state for policies created and imposed on the districts. Step increases by teachers will now be considered raises, as they should be and school boards will be given much more independence on solving their own problems. Immediately SB5 will make changes to teacher’s contracts and benefits: • S.B.5 eliminates new continuing, contracts after the bill’s effective date. • The bill eliminates teacher leave polices from statute and instead requires local boards of education to establish general leave policies for employees who are not covered by a CBA. • The bill abolishes the School Employee Health Care board and instead permits boards of education to govern health care benefits for employees.
For all these reasons and more SB5 is a bold bill that has the kind of power to seduce business back to Ohio and once again make attractive enterprise not only in bringing jobs back to the state, but to reduce the impact of the syndicate style unions that feed directly off tax payer funds, particularly in education, and allows the money to go where it’s needed. Such a step has been needed for many years but lacked legislators and a governor with the kind of courage needed to implement it.
But like any great romance, there is always a jealous lover, the overly dependent jealous spouse that lives like a leech off the life it professes to love. Below is the press release from just such a jealous, over imposing leech of the state, the OEA. They quickly seek support from their members to attempt to strong arm the bold legislative movement occurring in Columbus. Read for yourself their words and bullet points below.
OHIO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OPPOSES SENATE BILL FIVE
For Immediate Release Contact: Michele Prater 614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469 Ohio Education Association opposes Senate Bill Five Legislation will weaken public service to Ohio’s children February 9, 2011 (Columbus) – The Ohio Education Association (OEA) is gravely concerned that the Ohio Senate is not making Ohio’s children a priority. In a tough economy and facing a major budget deficit, Ohio must focus on the essentials, and nothing is more essential than giving our children a quality education that prepares them for good jobs. Sen. Shannon Jones’ legislation, Senate Bill 5 (SB 5), proposes to drastically curtail collective bargaining rights, ban public employee strikes, end collectively bargained salary schedules for public employees. SB 5 targets all state workers and all Ohio higher education employees, including OEA members at Columbus State, Youngstown State and other public colleges and community colleges, as well as OEA’s State Council of Professional Educators (SCOPE) bargaining unit whose members educate incarcerated adults and youths. OEA believes collective bargaining helps educators pursue the classroom conditions, tools and support that contribute to the kind of high quality 21st century education essential to preparing students for jobs and successful careers. Collective bargaining is a problem solving tool that shapes working conditions and improves learning conditions. Since 1983, Ohio’s collective bargaining law has created a framework that has made strikes rare and short in duration. OEA affiliates negotiate effectively to avoid strikes and disruption for student learning. Senate Bill 5 serves to weaken Ohio’s entire middle class. Rather than creating jobs in Ohio, this legislation will hurt local communities stifling job growth.
OEA’s asks you to remember that: • Collective bargaining allows educators a voice in improving opportunities for Ohio’s students, better classroom resources and improved teaching and learning conditions • Teachers know best what’s needed to improve student learning , and collective bargaining gives them the opportunity to focus on teaching rather than time consuming employment issues • Educators, like all public employees, are an integral part of the fabric of Ohio’s communities. Senate Bill 5 weakens Ohio. Rather than creating jobs, this legislation will hurt local communities, reversing Ohio’s positive economic outlook • Ohio’s collective bargaining law has created a framework for problem-solving that has made strikes rare. OEA affiliates negotiate effectively to avoid disruption for student learning • In a tough economy, with Ohio facing a major budget deficit, we must focus on the essentials. Nothing is more essential than giving our children a quality education that prepares them for good jobs.
There isn’t a successful formula for collective bargaining in the entire world that has sustained itself over time. The attempts tried have everywhere proved dismal failures, and under SB5 our state government has taken the first bold step to get the state healthy again. The rhetoric of the shallow rooted, selfish protectionists of the status quo will continue to rant the statements similar to the OEA Press Release. But none of them have a real plan. They are scrambling instead to find a way to keep the ponzi schemes going just a little longer because the tragedy for them is that they built their whole lives around those ponzi schemes, and it’s evident now that they won’t get out of the scheme what they invested.
For the rest of us, that chose to work outside that insidious system, and work for ourselves, or companies not tied to collective bargaining, our investment in long term longevity over short term gain proved the wise path. And it is our strategy that must be passed on to the rest of the state for the state’s health and future fortune.
Like all good love-making, sex is best when not rooted in selfish aims, but the mutual benefit of both partners. And the good lover knows what their partner needs even if the partner is obscure to the fact. So the sex is best when not done for the benefit of the giver, but for the receiver.
And that’s why this bill is so sexy. It’s what’s needed even when all parties aren’t aware that they need it. When the bill SB5 is thrust forward into the canvas of Ohio History much to the dismay of the intended object, the real impact will be felt only when selfishness flees the proceedings and both parties work together for mutual bliss.
But as many of you reading this know, sex is not good when third parties are involved and act as agents and matchmakers. That has been the role of collective bargaining in the State of Ohio. And that’s why we need to bypass the matchmakers and head straight for the bed.
There were many residents that spoke well at the Mason School Board meeting on February 8, 2011. But none spoke quite so well as Mr. John Meyer. Listen to him speak in the video below.
For that speech, I am dedicating this post to Mr. Meyer as the first official “Warrior of the Week.” If more people stood up and spoke like Mr. Meyer, we’d have a lot less corruption, manipulation, and scandalous behavior. It’s when the community sleeps that improprieties are committed by public officials. Now the community is wide awake, and I politely tip my hat to Mr. John Meyer for his bold and articulate speech that solidifies the temperament of the community.
John was on a media tour the following day which is captured here. Click to listen.
On February 8, 2011 Stacy Schuler will resign from the Mason School District at the 7 pm school board meeting. Kevin Bright has made the announcement that he will recommend Stacy be fired, and the board will of course act on that request. And to make matters easier on herself, Stacy is resigning, much the way George Coates did. George so far has stayed under the radar even though his actions may be technically much worse.
Now, it would seem that the firing of Stacy Schuler should be a forgone conclusion. It shouldn’t even be a question. George Coates the assistant principal felt bold enough to take cell phones from students, apparently in search of nude pictures of the student body from text messages sent to boy friends and girl friends known as sexting. And we know that the assistant principal was sending Stacy nude pictures of himself, at a minimum. These employees felt so untouchable that they abused their positions audaciously. The union provides an unprecedented level of job security, and that leads all too often to various degrees of abuse.
So the announcement of firing Stacy Schuler sounds all too similar to me. The proceedings from superintendent to school board are extremely reminiscent of how levies are introduced to a ballot issue, or how busing and other services are reduced. The formal proceedings are only formalities designed to make the public feel like they are a part of the process, when in fact the real decisions have already been made.
And that’s what’s wrong with education broken down into its most simplified form, and why many people are looking to School Choice as an option to this kind of tyrannical monopoly. It’s the kind of issue I’ve spent thousands of words discussing here in a hope that this chronicle can provide others questioning public education, some sense of support, and a blueprint to defeat their own school levies in other districts.
The things I’ve brought up for years are not only coming out of my mind however. Traditionally the union strong-arm methods have successfully isolated dissent to a defensive position and used the press to radicalize those dissidents in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile those same political thugs capture the high ground of “defending the children,” and use that platform to negotiate lucrative contracts from the public. Doc Thompson had on a guest from the Kato Institute that validates with a professional opinion what many of us in the trenches are feeling. It’s a great interview so enjoy it.
When Stacy goes to court, it will be revealed that the activity within the Mason School System should be on a nationally syndicated soap opera of provocative tradition, not taken as a serious institution that has the aim of educating our students. When board members are engaged in affairs that are publicly known, and other teachers are caught doing despicable, and immoral acts that are known by many in positions of power, the public faces the moral dilemma as to what to do.
What often happens is parents kick the can down the road because their kids are only in the school system for a relatively short time and those same parents just want the system to stay in tact long enough for their children to get what they need from the system. The union knows this, and they calculate that each year some kids leave, and new ones enter and since nobody cares truly for the health of their neighbor, and their communities, unions use that sense of selfishness to conduct a stage play full of smoke and mirrors.
So when Kevin Bright makes his announcement, and publicly chastises Stacy Schuler for her terrible behavior, know that he and the school board are aware of much worse than what Stacy has been involved with. But they will throw Stacy to the wolves like a Roman Emperor throwing a thief to the lions in a gladiator arena to appease the crowd. Their intent is to get past this terrible episode so people forget and get back to their lives, and the school can put another levy on the ballot in November to cover the step increases that the union contract requires.
Ironically, and this gives you an idea how big this story is, this is a video from China showing the Mason School System attempting to distance itself from Stacy when just months ago all was well, cover ups and all.
I say cover ups because these stories were very well-known, and for the superintendent to not know about it is one of two things. He’s really out of touch and isn’t listening to anybody. Or he is just trying to keep the bad stuff hidden so there isn’t any interruption in revenue flowing into the school system. Both options are bad.
On Friday, the day the sex scandal broke out in Mason, my wife and I were meeting a couple from England for dinner. Now this is a couple that has been to our house many times and spent a lot of time in the United States. We’ve taken them to most of the restaurants in town at some point in time. Well, this particular Friday night was a special night for the wife and there was only one place she wanted to dine out of all the options available and that was Chick-fil-A.
I have been a fan of Chick-fil-A all my life. As a kid, my mom used to take my brother and me there in between video games at the arcade. The Middletown Mall had a Chick-fil-A inside the mall right next to the arcade and was a source of many, many childhood memories. I have watched Chick-fil-A become one of the most respected franchises in the United States, and that respect starts with the philosophy established by Truett Cathy, one of the few people in this whole world currently living that I truly admire. I admire Cathy because in a world that bends to the will of “pop” culture and all the ridiculous “progressive” arguments of the modern age, he has always run Chick-fil-A with integrity. That is why it is not a mystery that whenever you go to a mall food court, Chick-fil-A is almost always the busiest vender. When you visit a standing facility, the restaurant is constantly busy. And they manage all this business without ever working Sunday.
In a world driven by the market forces of McDonalds that has expanded food service to 24 hours a day 7 days a week, Chick-fil-A has always stayed to their philosophy and centered their food service experience around quality. That is why Chick-fil-A is one of the greatest American companies, and an example of what the United States should be aspiring to.
It’s not an accident, but a family formula that rests on the foundations of faith and firm belief in the power of a family that makes the company so successful.
Chick-fil-A has built one of the most successful companies in America keeping it clean when the trends have been to become steamier and flashier. Chick-fil-A does everything with class, and they are very active in mentoring programs sponsoring leadership.
Here is another of my favorite people, Tony Dungy. Anything he is involved in is successful and he has a great relationship with Chick-fil-A.
So what on earth could possibly be wrong with Chick-fil-A? It is in all respects of the word, successful.
I overheard my daughter’s boyfriend talking about chicken in our kitchen and Chick-fil-A came up. “They’re against gays” he said, as if somehow that term defined the company as a whole. That perked my interest. Chick-fil-A is such a clean company that they don’t have public relations issues. So why would the kid say what he did? He’s a twenty year old, so I thought about the sources he gets his information from, music, TV, certain internet sites that are appealing to young people, so I checked into the allegation and sure enough I found it.
Gay’s were boycotting Chick-fil-A because the company donated food to an organization that supports strong traditional family values, and by a strong family, it means between a man and a woman. But Chick-fil-A wasn’t trying to make a political statement, they were just trying to do something nice, yet, as is the progressive strategy which my daughter’s boyfriend reflected with youthful naivety, the goal is to tear down every organization so nobody wants to do anything nice for anybody in an effort at some utopian equality.
So who are these accusers of impropriety and what kind of people are they? Well, let’s meet a couple of them so we can see who these people are that are trying to shape public policy with their complaints.
What the hell was that? Who are these people?
Listen, I don’t care what people do to achieve a sexual organism. Girl-guy, girl-girl, a knot-hole in the fence, it doesn’t matter, because such things only consist of less than 5% of the human experience. People that think marriage and sex is somehow the same thing are out of their minds. It’s no wonder the divorce rate is so high in this country because people have forgotten what it’s all about. Same sex marriage is a non-issue. It’s a progressive strategy to undermine American Culture and rebuild it with something……………..progressive. Don’t believe me, go read Colonel Roosevelt. It’s out at book stores right now and is a great book. It’s all about the rise of the progressive experiment, which 100 years later is a dismal failure. An absolute, unmitigated failure, how do I know that? Look at the idiot in the gay video above! Is that what we are offering the future of this nation? Is that who we hand the reigns of this nation to? That dude just wants to suck a sausage. He’s not going to be reading the Federalist Papers any time soon.
Progressivism has produced people like this in the video below.
Dude, everybody does have a right. You have a right to eat there or not. But you don’t have a right to disrupt their business practice. If you want to boycott them, go ahead. Because you people are in the minority. That’s why Chick-fil-A is a tremendous success, straight up buddy, the law does not support such foolish claims. Progressives through these types of minorities that make so much noise seek to manipulate legislation to recreate law in their vision, and shackle the hands of good companies all across this country. Because of people like these last two jokers, American civilization has suffered greatly with this over sensitivity while our competitors continue to cut off the heads of political dissidents, cut off the noses of women who don’t completely cover their faces and thousands of unreported incidents every single day. What do you think they do with gays in places like Nigeria, and Iran?
Have a look!
Now compare that to this kid, a young, naive fellow warped with progressive ideas.
He has no idea what he’s saying. No perspective to what’s going on outside his little community. He believes it’s OK to criticize Chick-fil-A for supporting an organization the company personally wanted to support. These gay activist desires to control the behavior of the company, and that’s why the activists are hypocrites, and completely wrong. If they truly believed in rights for all, they’d support Chick-fil-A’s right to support traditional marriage while the rest of us are expected to support marriages centered around anal, and oral sex.
Chick-fil-A is one of the greatest examples of righteousness and equal rights anywhere on this planet. My friends from England knew that, which is why out of every dinning option available to us, they wanted to go to Chick-fil-A, because the food looks like what’s on the menu board, the employees are nice to the customers, the stores are always clean, and even though the company could make millions and millions and millions of dollars more if they were open on Sunday, the company closes to give that day to their employees families. All that care comes out in the final product and it makes the consumer feel good to spend their hard-earned money on a company that is truly good at what it does and is a reflection of what we all wish we could have as part of the American experience everywhere else.