(The following appeared on the Washington Post website on March 2, 2011.)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of union supporters descended on the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday to protest a proposal that would dramatically curtail bargaining powers of government workers, as the state becomes the latest flash point in the fight over union rights.
Like their counterparts in Wisconsin, protesters here accused lawmakers and Gov. John Kasich (R) of trying to use a budget crisis to destroy public-sector unions. Government workers did not cause the crisis and should not bear the brunt of it, protesters said.
But unlike in the standoff in Wisconsin, Democrats don’t have the numbers to walk out and delay a vote. Supporters said that a measure, which would go further than the one in Wisconsin by also affecting police officers and firefighters, could emerge from the state Senate on Wednesday.
In Columbus, state officials estimated that 8,500 union supporters gathered on Capitol Square, where they listened to speeches, cheered and displayed signs urging defeat of Senate Bill 5, which would restrict collective bargaining, block strikes and do away with binding arbitration for more than 300,000 firefighters, police officers, teachers, and other state and local government workers.
The full story is on the Washington Post website.