Kasich signs collective bargaining overhaul bill

Gov. John Kasich has made it clear that dismantling Ohio"s nearly 30-year-old collective bargaining law will be a top priority of his administration.

He has repeatedly called for the elimination of  binding arbitration, often used to settle police and fire department salary and benefits disputes that he says are costly and bankrupting cities.

"You are forcing increased taxes on taxpayers with them having no say,” Kasich said in December before he took office.

Kasich also said that public employees who go on strike over labor disputes should automatically lose their jobs.

"If they want to strike, they should be fired,” Kasich said last year. "I really don't favor the right to strike by any public employee. They've got good jobs, they've got high pay, they get good benefits, a great retirement. What are they striking for?”

The Republican governor on Thursday signed Senate Bill 5, a GOP-sponsored measure introduced this year that scales back collective bargaining for public workers. Among other things, the bill eliminates binding arbitration and prohibits all public employees from striking.

Democratic and union leaders, who have staged protests at the Statehouse with thousands of workers, have condemned the bill as an attack on the middle class and have vowed to overturn it.

But Kasich, whose recently unveiled budget proposal slashes state aid to local governments, has promoted the legislation as a tool for communities to cut costs and maintain services.

Based on the bill"s approval, we move the Kasich-O- Meter for this promise to In the Works.