Published 09 Nov, 2011
Ohioans came out in full force Tuesday night and proved that an attack on workers’ rights was not going to happen and overturned Ohio’s SB 5 law eliminating collective bargaining.
In what was one of the most watched elections the nation has seen, with an outcome that could have set a domino affect of attacks on workers’ rights across the nation, SB5 was defeated with 63 percent voting to repeal the law!
SB5 eliminated collective bargaining rights of some 350,000 public employees.
Those public employees and other Ohio union members and non union members demonstrated that a voice on the job was a right not to be taken away.
The opportunity to vote on issue 2 was the result of an incredible grassroots effort, coordinated by We Are Ohio, to overturn the bill which was rushed through Ohio’s legislature this past March. In a matter of a weeks, nearly 1. 3 million signatures, five times the number needed, were collected to vote on a repeal SB5. Packed into a large semi, those signatures were then delivered on June 29th to the Ohio Secretary of State.
TWU members along, with other union members, participated in the collecting of signatures as well as canvassing, phone banking and volunteering in Ohio to ensure SB5 would be defeated. As a sign of solidarity for workers’ rights, people around the nation have also shown their support to repeal SB5 by writing letters and participating in numerous actions across Ohio.
The efforts by the people of Ohio and Tuesday night’s victory marked a monumental moment for all workers and the 99% across the nation. They have a voice and will continue to have that voice heard.