WKSU News: Ohio advocates rally against bill in Michigan

Monday, December 10, 2012 Ohio advocates rally against bill in Michigan We Are Ohio, the group that helped defeat Senate Bill 5, is organizing Ohioans. by WKSU's SIMON HUSTED	Reporter Simon Husted

Labor advocates from Ohio and across the nation are heading to Michigan’s capital Tuesday morning to try to persuade the state’s Republican Governor to reject a “right-to-work” bill.

The organization that helped defeat Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 last year is one of the groups organizing the rally. We Are Ohio spokesman Dennis Willard says the GOP lawmakers behind Ohio’s failed effort to curtail public-sector collective bargaining are connected to the lawmakers who pushed this bill through the Michigan legislature last week.

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“The opposition in the legislatures in Ohio and in Michigan to these anti-worker laws are bipartisan,” “Republicans are joining Democrats to vote against these laws. Unfortunately extreme politicians are bullying these laws through the legislatures. First in Ohio and now in Michigan.”

If Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signs the bill Tuesday, it would make most union dues voluntary. Willard says laws like these cut benefits and pay for middle-class workers.

Ohio Senate Bill 5 was overturned in a voter referendum. The Michigan law exempts it from a referendum.