Cincinnati legislator Tom Brinkman introduced House Bill 377, Right to Work for the private sector in Ohio. Right to Work gives workers the right to choose if they want to be a member of a union. Everyone should be able to choose the groups they associate with, it shouldn’t be mandatory to join a group to have a job. Workers should have a choice. House Bill 377 gives Ohio workers that choice. Support the Bill today. Call your State Rep and tell them you support Right to Work in Ohio.
Right to Work has been a hot-button issue in Ohio since Senate Bill 5 in 2011. While SB5 didn’t have anything to do with giving workers the right to choose if they were a member of a union, many people thought that was a step in that direction. SB5 attempted to limit a union’s ability to collectively bargain for health care and pensions. SB5 also attempted to eliminate ‘fair share’.
From Jason Hart: In Ohio and other states without right-to-work laws, workers can be forced to pay fair share fees to a labor union and may dispute the “chargeable” portion of the mandatory fees by submitting a written complaint.
“We often find that, whether deliberately or unintentionally, union officials tend to cut corners a lot when it comes to deciding how much to charge nonmembers,” Semmens said.
“It’s an argument, we think, for Right to Work, because Right to Work makes it very simple. You have a right-to-work law, the choice is: pay the full amount if you want, pay nothing if you don’t want to support the union. You don’t have to go through the often complicated and cumbersome process of Hudson notice, ability to object, and all that sort of thing.”
In the past three years, three Midwestern states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana have given their workers the choice of whether or not they want to be a member of a union. West Virginia and Kentucky are currently considering Right to Work legislation. With the election of Matt Bevin in Kentucky, Right to Work seems to be likely. Learn more about the race between West Virginia and Kentucky to become the next Right to Work state in a report from Jason Hart. Twenty-five of our fifty states are Right to Work. It is a race to see which state will become twenty-sixth.
With House Bill 377, Ohio is in the race. The bill gives workers the choice to be a member of a union if they choose to become a member. No fees can be taken from a worker who is not a member. This bill only affects private sector unions.
From House Bill 377 – “(B) The policy of this state is that the negotiation of terms and conditions of private sector employment should result from voluntary agreement between an employer and the employer’s employees. Therefore, each employee must be fully free to associate, organize, and designate a representative, as the employee chooses, for the negotiation of the terms and conditions of employment in the private sector and must be free from coercion, interference, or restraint by the employee’s employer or an agent of the employee’s employer in designating a representative, self-organizing, or other concerted activity for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. (C) The policy of this state is that each employee must be fully free to decide whether to associate, organize, designate a representative, or join or assist an employee organization.”
If Right to Work is an issue that you think needs to be advanced in Ohio, a call to your State Rep is in order. The Reps need to hear from you to tell them that you support House Bill 377, Right to Work. A bill that gets five or six calls is a big deal to them. You may think someone else is calling, you don’t have time to call, but your voice needs to be heard.
Find your State Rep and give them a call today. Click http://openstates.org/oh/ to search for your State Rep. If you want to email them the House email addresses are repXX@ohiohouse.gov. The XX being the number of your district; 01, 10, 20, 30, etc.
