With the Governor signing S.B. 5 last night, we move onto the next phase of our effort to stop this assualt on working people - a referendum, or Citizens Veto of the law
Over the past few weeks thousands of teachers, firefighters, policemen, nurses, electricians and other union affiliates from across Ohio swarmed the Statehouse in protest of the union reform measure, including members of AFSCME, and the powerful Ohio Education Association.
The next step will be for the Govenor to file S.B.5 with the Secretary of State (SOS) and then 1,000 Signatures are needed - before a referendum petition may be circulated, the referendum committee must write a summary of SB 5 and submit it to the SOS and Attorney General both offices will then issue a certification that the summary is “fair and truthful”.
The SOS and AG have 10 business days to act. If the AG states that the summary is in his opinion not fair and truthful, the committee may repeat the process and/or challenge the decision in the Ohio Supreme Court. There is no limit on the number if times the process may be repeated, but it takes time away from the 90 days the committee has to circulate a referendum petition. The 90 days begins the day after the law was filed by the Governor with the SOS.
If this unscientific poll of Dispatch readers is any measure, the public are going to support us overwhelmingly.
But we don't need to rely on unscientific polls however. A Poll conducted by Public Policy Polling just 2 weeks ago found
Kasich is clearly on the wrong side of public opinion. 51% generally have a favorable impression of labor unions, and 37% a negative view. 57% of Ohio voters side with the unions over Kasich, who is backed by only 36%. 65% think government workers should have at least the same amount of rights they have now, including 18% who think they should have more rights.
So you are fire up and ready to go - what can you do?
- Be patient. It's going to take 10 days or so for the first part of the process to play out. We might see some partisan shenanigans from the SOS and AG, but we hope they act fairly and with professionalism.
- Talk to your colleagues, family and friends about the damage S.B.5 will do and how we are going to repeal it. We have a section of our website dedicated to providing you with information you can use, from facts and figures to talking points. Take a moment to visit it. Share that link, print out the material. Feel free to use it.
- Sign up for our email so you don't miss out on ways you can get involved. We will need lots of help collecting signatures, making phone calls and disseminating information to counter lies supporters of S.B.5 are sure to spread.
- Join our growing Facebook team, and follow us on Twitter.
Let there be no doubt that we will place a referendum on the November ballot and we will repeal S.B.5 and send a powerful message that the middle class fights back.