As we watched the turmoil in Egypt unfold in January, none of us had any idea that this same turmoil could erupt on US soil. It's happening in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio over something that has been in existence since the ninteenth century - collective bargaining. As Senate Bill 5 progresses through the legislature, key issues affect public education employees - not just teachers, or administrators, but support staff as well. At Marlington, we have done our due diligence and have made cuts over the past four years, our staff have taken wage freezes on the base for the past three years; next year being their fourth. We have negotiated contracts that we could support, but we will be forced to implement the following if Senate Bill 5 passes:
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Removes a provision granting specific authority to public school employees to collectively bargain for health care benefits.
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Makes the following inappropriate subjects for collective bargaining: (1) employer-paid contributions to any of the five public employee retirement systems and (2) health care benefits for which the employer is required to pay more than 80% of the cost.
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Prohibits a public employer that is a school district, educational service center, community school, or STEM school from entering into a collective bargaining agreement that does specified things, such as establishing a maximum number of students who may be assigned to a classroom or a teacher.
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Requires collective bargaining agreements between such an education-related public employer and public employees to comply with all applicable state or local laws or ordinances regarding wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment, unless the conflicting provision establishes benefits that are less than provided in the law or ordinance.
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Requires the parties to consider, during negotiations, the financial status of the public employer at the time period surrounding the negotiations for purposes of determining the ability of the employer to pay for any agreed terms.
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Prohibits the parties from basing the ability of the employer to pay for terms of the agreement on potential future increases in the employer's income that would only be possible by the employer obtaining funding from an outside source, including the passage of a levy or a bond issue.
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Requires merit-based pay for most public employees, including teachers, and nonteaching school employees and board and commission members, and makes other, related changes.
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Generally eliminates statutory salary schedules and steps.
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Abolishes the School Employees Health Care Board, the School Employees Health Care Fund, and the district to govern employee health care benefits in the same way as the governing board of any public institution of higher education.
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Limits public employer contributions toward health insurance premiums to 80%
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Requires boards of education to adopt policies to provide leave with pay for school employees and abolishes statutorily provided leave for those employees.
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Abolishes continuing contracts for teachers, except for those continuing contracts in existence prior to the effective date of the bill.
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Prohibits a public employer from paying employee contributions to certain retirement systems.
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Removes consideration of seniority and of length of service, by itself, from decisions regarding a reduction in work force of certain public employees.
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Makes changes to retention point provisions, including changes concerning the calculation of retention points and the layoff procedures when retention points for two employees are the same.
Bulleted information was taken from the legislature.state.oh.us website; Legislative Service Commission Bill Summary. I will leave you with a quote from John F. Kennedy on August 30, 1960 - "Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor." Respectfully, Sandy Moeglin
Sandra Moeglin
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