The last time our state was confronted with an unsafe, unfair attack on workers — Senate Bill 5 — voters in Ohio emphatically rejected the flawed law. We knew it would hurt the middle class; nonetheless, these same anti-worker forces are back. They’ve repackaged the same bad, undemocratic idea and deceptively labeled it “workplace freedom.” But Ohioans aren’t buying it, and you shouldn’t trust the lies they are spreading to promote their anti-worker agenda.
When you hear the tricky phrases workplace freedom and right to work, don’t believe them. They are complicated, controversial and confusing. They are wrong for workers, wrong for working families and wrong for the middle class. Some billionaire CEOs who put profits before people are behind this deception because it helps tip the balance even more in their favor at the expense of the middle class.
We already know the harmful effect this inequality has on working families. Don’t be fooled. When powerful corporate special interests win, it’s middle-class working people who lose.
Like Senate Bill 5, the so-called right to work means less freedom, not more, in the workplace.
You already have the freedom and right to work wherever you want, and no one has to join a union to get a job — that's the law in Ohio. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that mandatory union membership is unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act. The court ruled again in 1988 that despite the fact that unions are legally required to provide representation to both members and nonmembers alike, a nonmember is not required to pay union dues.
The Ohio Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act states public-sector unions are legally required to represent both members and nonmembers of the union, but “this arrangement does not require any employee to become a member of the employee organization,” i.e, union.
Moving more workers into part-time positions isn’t about freedom. True freedom means having a voice in the workplace. True freedom means workers can decide to join together and take action to improve workplace safety conditions. True freedom means a full-time job that still allows you to take a loved one to a doctor’s appointment or a child to soccer practice. True freedom is the ability to provide for and spend time with your family.
Some greedy people and their surrogates just want to strip workers of their rights and force families to work harder for lower pay and fewer benefits. In states where workers have limited rights, the average worker makes about $5,333 less, workers have less health care, pensions are lower and poverty rates are higher.
These laws do not create jobs. Six of the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates have stripped workers of their freedom in the workplace.
Taking away workers’ rights makes us all unsafe, also. Like Senate Bill 5, so-called right-to-work laws limit collective-bargaining rights and negatively affect our everyday heroes such as firefighters, nurses and teachers. These anti-worker laws restrict their rights to collectively bargain for necessary emergency equipment, patient staffing ratios in hospitals, smaller class sizes and safer classrooms. It is unsafe and wrong because it could eliminate protections for whistleblowers who are brave enough to stand up for food safety, speak out against toxic chemicals polluting our air and water, and expose waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
When workers can speak up on the job, working conditions are safer. There are fewer injuries and fewer tragedies that should have been avoided.
Workers in Ohio have the freedom to talk about safety issues without fear of being singled out, punished and, potentially, fired. The rate of workplace deaths is 51 percent higher in so-called right-to-work states.
Don’t be fooled by corporate CEOs who put profits before people, who ship jobs overseas, who offshore their profits to avoid paying taxes and who shift the burden to the rest of us.
We know the truth: America is powered by our middle class — the auto workers, nurses, construction workers, firefighters and teachers who help shape our future, keep us safe and drive our economy.
We have already said no once to an attack on working- and middle-class families, and we will do it again.
Courtney Johnson is a teacher at the Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School in Columbus and is a member of We Are Ohio.