Kasich And GOP Wants “Reasonable” When It Comes To Public Workers Not Legislators

image of Ohio Gov John Kasich

Starting with the false notion that breaking public worker unions will help the state recover from the 2008 economic melt down, Ohio Governor John Kasich and the Ohio cheap labor conservative Republicans are supporting state Issue 2 (aka Senate Bill 5) by focusing on being “reasonable” and getting public workers to pay into their pension and health care plans. Of course Kasich and his Koch brother funders hope you will ignore the real damage Issue 2 will do to public employees and the fact that Kasich and the GOP leadership at the state house are making money hands over fist.

In a recent ad, Gov. Kasich talked about being reasonable:

(Voice-over) “Gov. John Kasich has developed reasonable reforms to control the cost of government, protecting our taxpaying families and promoting job creation.”

(Kasich) “We ’re simply asking our government employees to pay their fair share, 10 percent of their pension and 15 percent of their health insurance — something most other Ohioans already do.”

Campaign Ad Watch: Reasonable, Make Ohio Great

As the Dispatch story points out:

Another strike against the RGA’s strategy: Senate Bill 5 is about far more than the health-care and pension contributions Kasich talks about in “Reasonable.”

One Ohio blogger called SB-5 “collective begging” because it would allow employers to have the last word on contracts. That would mean instead of the current binding arbitration done now for impasses, a government unit could say, with the provisions of SB-5, “that’s it. This is what you get. Negotiations are over…”

That kind of control by employers is fine when you are making minimum wage at some fast food place but not for a majority professional class of workers like nurses, safety forces, and teachers. Also most public employees are paying 10% or more into their pensions and 15% or more into their health care plans.

Then today I read this article at Daily Kos about an Innovation Ohio report:

Though fiercely critical of ‘double dipping’ by other public workers, 12 House and Senate members who support SB 5 are themselves double-dippers (one is a triple-dipper), and collect legislative salaries in addition to state pensions. Perhaps the biggest single double-dipper in Ohio is House Speaker Bill Batchelder, who receives over $100,000 in a PERS pension, on top of his $94,500 annual legislative salary[.]

Kasich’s senior staff average over $110,000, and the Senate President recently gave several of his top staff substantial retroactive pay increases.

Ohio Republicans pushing anti-worker bill are raking in state money

I guess IOKIYAR

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