Who are the businesses making threats to children?

Gongwer, March 12th, quoting Governor John Kasich

"I think what's going to happen in Cleveland (if the legislation doesn't pass), I've been told the business community is walking away," Mr. Kasich said. "They're not going to support levies; they're done; they're finished with what's happening there."

These businesses that the Governor references ought to step forward from behind the skirt-tails of the chamber of commerce. People have a right to know who is making threats towards their children's future so they can decide if that's a business they wish to continue to support.

Lots of SB5 news from around the state

Yesterday, police from all around the state held mass efforts to protest SB5. It garnered a lot of local press coverage. Here's a sampler of some of those stories;

• Toledo police and fire rally against SB5
• Valley police tie Police Memorial Week to push against SB 5
• Local law enforcement protests SB5
• Safety forces decry bargaining law, state budget cuts
• Police Memorial Week Begins With SB5 Protest
• First-responder unions meet on SB5

In related SB5 news, businesses seem to want to either back away form supporting the collective bargaining busting measure, or wholly support its repeal

• Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber CEO: 'Time to move on' from SB 5 debate
• Some small businesses pushing to repeal SB5

We should start seeing some petition signature counts in the next week or so. Don't forget to return your petition books once you are done, so the signatures you have collected can be verified and counted. There's only about 50 days left until the June 30th deadline!

Why Business Cares

If you own, operate, or work in a local business, public education is vital to your current and future success. Over 90% of Ohioans are educated in public schools.

Teachers and education support professionals (bus drivers, cafeteria workers, lab technicians etc.) provide the foundational education and learning environment for your current and future employees. Without a talent pool of educated employees, businesses would struggle to operate, innovate and adapt to an increasingly complex and competitive market place. By supporting public education you support the continued creation of this vital resource.

Teachers and education support professionals within public education also provide the majority of your customers’ foundational education. A quality education is undoubtedly the means to long-term prosperity and quality job creation. The greater that prosperity, the greater the business opportunities it creates for people like you.

• There is a clear consensus among researchers that education enhances productivity.
• Research indicates that quality public schools can help make states and localities more economically competitive.
• Public schools indisputably influence residential property values.

Just as importantly is the here and now. Those who work in the public education system are also your customers. They shop, order and consume services and generate word of mouth business, every day. Without these hundreds of thousands of professionals and their families contributing to their local economies, many businesses would suffer. It’s critical that local businesses continue to support public education and the jobs that help build future foundations for our prosperity. All our futures depend upon it.

Please support public education and those who work in it.

You can read the scientific research from Knowledgeworks on how public education positively impacts economic development

Public Schools and Economic Development

Chamber of Commerce risks massive backlash

Attacking your neighbors, friends and family is hard, attacking your customers is just plain dumb

Tea party members are squarely in its corner, and it's widely assumed that conservative corporate entities from inside and outside Ohio will pony up at the appropriate time.

But will the real leader of the pro-Senate Bill 5 movement please stand up?

Those opposed to Senate Bill 5 - the new law that limits collective bargaining for Ohio's public employees - have a political action committee, are gathering signatures and are identifying multimillion-dollar revenue streams to fund a referendum campaign this fall.
[...]
Kasich has said he will campaign in favor of the bill, and he used a campaign fundraising email last week to talk about his support of the bill. But he and his staff are deflecting questions about who will lead Senate Bill 5's defense.

Tea party officials and business people say they simply don't know, and Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine said preliminary discussions to answer some of these questions are under way.

Many businesses simply do not support S.B.5, and those that do may find themselves on the wrong end of a public relations backlash. Hundreds of thousands of people adversely affected by this extreme legislation are also their customers and neighbors. We see this playing out in microcosm in Youngstown

Three more companies have left the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber as a result of the chamber board’s endorsement of Senate Bill 5

As OhioDaily notes

What will it take for this Chamber to realize that they ought to be helping to strengthen businesses in this challenged area and not endorsing partisan bills that weaken its workforce?

Local businesses that threaten their customers are going to come under intense scrutiny, and for what gain?