“Right to Work” Introduced in Ohio; Beaten in New Hampshire

Legislation that would make Ohio a “Right to Work” state for public employees was introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives and referred to the Finance Committee.

Representative John Becker is behind the bill, which would — among other things — eliminate the ability of public sector unions to collect fair share fees from workers who do not want to belong to the union in their workplace but want all of the wage hikes benefit improvements negotiated by the union.

House Bill 53 also would change some civil service provisions for workers. It has not been scheduled for hearings and currently has only about a dozen co-sponsors.

“So-called Right to Work” legislation comes up every legislative session because some of the representatives are strongly opposed to unions,” said OAPSE Director of Political Action and Legislative Affairs.

“However, Speaker Cliff Rosenberger (R-Clarksville) has said that HB 53 is not a focus for leadership. He has referenced the battle over SB5 in 2011, when we took RTW to the ballot in the form of Issue 2 and beat it back with 62 percent of the vote,” Weston said.

“Of course, we will be watching closely and keeping our members informed of any action on HB 53.”

Twenty eight states have RTW legislation on the books. But in a bit of good news, the New Hampshire legislature recently voted RTW legislation down with the help of 29 Republicans were went on the record against the anti-worker measure.

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