To prevent needed public education and local government reforms, Ohio's public unions are conducting a furious statewide campaign against Senate Bill 5. They must hope voters won't recognize the source of this opposition: union bosses build wealth and power by demonizing the wealthy and powerful.
You didn't hear it from me, but from Joseph Rugola, Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees:
“It is nothing less than an assault on working families struggling to get by from those with their Wall Street values. We will not engage in a contest of who can work for the lowest rates.”
In fiscal 2010, Joseph Rugola was paid $243,712 in dues taken from public employees. If "Wall Street values" are the source of Ohio's problems, what sort of values does Rugola represent?
"We need to have resources to run an effective campaign," Ohio Education Association Executive Director Larry Wicks told teachers a month before the union decided to charge every member $54 to kill Senate Bill 5. Wicks was paid $210,858 in member dues in fiscal 2010, but who's counting?
According to AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall, Senate Bill 5 is "about eliminating the middle class, not just in Ohio but in the country." A cartoonish example of class warfare; Lyall was paid $156,183 in member dues in fiscal 2010.
Carol Bowshier, Chief of Staff at the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, has played the same AFSCME tune:
"I think that there is nothing about this legislation at all that does anything to make workers benefit or the state benefit as a whole... you don't create a middle class by destroying the middle class."
Bowshier was paid $101,666 in dues in fiscal 2009, before being promoted to her current position. It's clear Bowshier, Lyall, Wicks, and Rugola enjoy the benefits of their privileged status - as it's clear Ohioans should take union rants against Senate Bill 5 with a block of salt.
Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart
Cross-posted at that hero and Columbus Tea Party.
The fact that the unions tapped their membership for money is the real issue here.
ReplyDeleteAt some point the union members themselves have to decide if the union is worth the dues. If there comes a time when dues are no longer automatically deducted from paychecks my bet is that union cash flow will suffer dramatic declines.
I wonder if those declines would result in the the top heavy administrative structure getting a much needed hair cut.
Nah.
You mean like how Kasich talks about austerity but pays "Wall Street" wages to his top aides that are grossly above what the previous Administration paid for the same positions?
ReplyDeleteYeah, Jai Chabria gets paid more for just being Kasich's "special assistant."
But this isn't a campaign of class envy by supporters of SB 5, right, Jason?!? LOL. What a joke.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the $20 million that has been "collected" to defend this cluster**** of a bill? Why no mention of where those funds are coming from? At least the unions disclose where their money comes from. Supporters of the bill hide behind their PAC and get hand jobs from the Koch brothers and corporations.
ReplyDeleteKasuck signed SB5 with the blood of the republican party.
Standard reminder to Ohio taxpayers: Modern is a dedicated union enthusiast who thinks unions should decide exactly how your government will work and how much it'll cost you. The thought of *you* having a say in the matter is deeply offensive to his Plunderbund sensibilities.
ReplyDeleteJason, but you are a shill for business who thinks no one should pay their fair share of taxes...how does that make you any different than Modern?
ReplyDeleteActually Jason, taxpayers have the ability right now to decide how the government works... It comes in the form of elections and levies. If citizens don't think that they should be paying what they do for public services, then simply vote no on levies and bond issues. Do research on who you are voting for for your local school boards and city councils. These are the people who negotiate with unions. You don't take away collective bargaining rights from people just because you don't like how the system works. That is why SB5 will be the end of the republican party as you know it in Ohio. That and the fact that you have given the keys to the car to the tea party. They're going to drive you guys off the cliff
ReplyDeleteThe usual store of nonsense from the left has arrived just on time.
ReplyDeleteModern, if that is the best argument you have in support of the rape of taxpayers by greedy government employees you should be drummed out of the liberal left. That's just about a weak as it gets. Is that the best you've got? Really?
Oh and Modern, this is an envy issue. Of course use meagre taxpayers are envious of the deal the gummint employees are getting. They not only get to fail at their mission, lord it over the citizens and generally waste our substance, they also get to retire 15 years before the rest of us on a penision funded by us.
Of course we're envious. And we're going to do something about it. Don't like? Call your momma to pick you up son.
Oh, and anonymous, what difference does it make where the money being spent by the opposition is derived. We KNOW where the money to support the campaign designed to enslave comes from US!
And don't kid yourself for a second the unions are seeking to turn us into serfs. They don't care about anything but their members. They clearly don't care about the long term health of the country. This makes them the equivalent of a parasite that is so stupid it will kill the host.
So by all means continue to support them. It shows you in such a good light.
And for the whining of the other anonymous about a "fair share of taxes". Oh really? and what do you actually KNOW about taxes? Did the exhibits provided by Jason teach you nothing? There is none so stupid as he who simply will not learn.
And of course you take away collective bargaining privledges from those who routinely abuse it. It ain't a right pal, and using the Lackoff Rhymes with terminology doesn't change the facts as they stand.
It ain't a right and the citizens of the state retain the right to order the state's labor force as they see fit.
What you've hit on, probably by accident, is the fact of union life: the good old defused payment VS focused benefit dynamic. The unions KNOW that the local elections matter to their parasitic dreams so they are all over them. Are citizens supposed to take even more time out of their lives to ward off these leeches? Hardly, it is far easier to simply eliminate the ability of the unions to suck us dry by eliminating collective bargaining.
yes, I'm royally ticked off. The unions will gladly turn my beautiful country into greece. Rather than sit idly by and watch our ruination, we are going to take arms against that sea of trouble.
Shame on you guys for speaking up for the greedy leeches among us.