'Right to work' in Ohio? GOP lawmaker wants voters to choose

COLUMBUS – Undeterred by the acrimonious fight over Senate Bill 5, GOP Rep. John Becker wants voters to choose whether Ohio should become a right-to-work state. 

On Monday, Becker, R-Union Township in Clermont County, announced six proposed constitutional amendments that would restrict unions' ability to organize, pay for operations and recruit new members.

“It’s about freedom for the workers – that nobody should have to support the union," Becker told The Enquirer. "When there is mandated membership, there isn’t much motivation for the unions to be accountable." 

Among the proposals:

• Pass private-sector right to work: No worker at a private business would be required to join a union. Under the current system, employees cannot be forced to join unions. However, state law allows collective bargaining agreements to require "fair share" payments, which are less than union dues.
• Create public-sector right to work: No worker paid by taxpayers would be required to join a union. In both public- and private-sector right-to-work proposals, a person who opts out of the union would not be entitled to the benefits of collective bargaining.
• Eliminate prevailing wage: Repeals state law that requires a negotiated hourly wage for skilled trade workers on public construction projects. The wage, which is set through collective bargaining agreements with unions, includes vacation, pensions, health insurance and other items. 
• Eliminate required union dues: Prohibits state and local government from withholding union dues. Unions also could not spend workers' money on political activities without workers' consent.
• Ban project labor agreements: Eliminates the requirement that states and cities work with unions on construction projects. 
• Union recertification: Requires annual votes by public-sector workers to grant their unions permission to negotiate contracts on the workers' behalf. A similar law passed in Iowa was seen as a move to bust unions.

Republicans, such as Becker, have tried for years to weaken Ohio's unions, which typically support Democratic candidates. Ohio's GOP-controlled Legislature narrowly passed Senate Bill 5, which limited the collective bargaining rights of Ohio's public employees. Shortly after, voters defeated it, 62 percent to 38 percent.

"Nobody wants a repeat of SB 5," Becker said. "There’s just a lot of fear involved."

Becker got the message: Ohio's leaders don't want to pass another SB 5. So Becker proposed constitutional amendments to let voters decide. If Ohioans vote all six down, that will put the matter to rest, he said. 

Still, union members are frustrated with Becker's latest attempts to restrict their ability to negotiate wages and projects. 

"Why does Rep. Becker hate working-class Ohioans so much?" asked Tim Burga, president of Ohio AFL-CIO. "Because when you look at what he's doing here, he's not leaving anybody out of his attacks."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, has said businesses aren't clamoring for right to work, so he has not supported proposals like Becker's in the past. 

"I don't have them say, 'Well, you know, if you only had right to work.' I just don't hear anything like that," Kasich told The Enquirer's editorial board in 2014. "We have a pretty good labor climate here. You're not seeing a rash of strikes."

Still, Becker argues that Ohio is falling behind the 28 states with some form of right-to-work legislation. Nine of those states passed constitutional amendments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Ohio is becoming more of an island in the region, said Don Boyd, director of labor and legal affairs for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Business owners haven't told Becker that right to work is a key factor in their decisions, but the lawmaker said it's implied when companies such as Amazon take their cargo hubs to Northern Kentucky instead of Wilmington, Ohio. (Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed right to work into law earlier this year.)

Rep. Brigid Kelly, D-Hyde Park, disagreed. When Kelly talks with Ohioans in her office or on their porches in Cincinnati, she said, they don't mention right to work. 

"Ohio is doing well without right to work," said Kelly, who also works as communication director for United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 700. "We want to build a strong middle class in the state of Ohio, and this issue is not the way to do it."

Source: Cincinnati.com