Kasich Pledges Overhaul Of Public Employee Collective Bargaining

Following is a few very disturbing statements made by our States Governor Elect concerning prevailing wage and public employee contracts. If this doesn't scare you, not much will...

Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich voiced support Thursday for potentially sweeping changes in state labor law that could deny public employees the right to strike, free local governments from binding arbitration, and restrict payment of prevailing wages on construction projects.

"I really don't favor the right to strike of any public employee, OK? That's my personal philosophy," he said at a news conference.

"How practical that is to implement, you know, but my personal philosophy is I don't like public employees striking. They have a good job, they've got high pay, they've got good benefits, a good retirement. What are they striking for?" the former congressman said.

He said use of binding arbitration to resolve collective bargaining disputes with police and fire departments was unacceptable because of costs it imposes on local governments.

"When there's a labor dispute they bring somebody in from Kokomo, Indiana. He comes in to Ohio, he imposes a settlement on our cities, he goes back to Kokomo, and we pay the bill. Our local governments don't want that. It drives up the costs," Mr. Kasich said.

Gov.-elect John Kasich

He said the administration would examine ways of mitigating reductions in funding that local governments might experience in the future by making it easier for them to cope with such cuts.

Mr. Kasich was asked whether legislators had originally enacted binding arbitration provisions as a way to avert strikes of police and firefighters.

"If they want to strike, they should be fired," he said.

"You can have a change in the law that says - and again, these decisions are not finally made - there are ways to say that you are not going to strike and we're going to continue negotiations without a binding arbitrator. There are all kinds of ways to do it," the governor-elect said.

"What I know is our cities are facing bankruptcy. If you talk to the mayors of cities, Republicans and Democrats alike, Democrats will tell you off the record that we can't stand binding arbitration," he said.

"We are going to have collective bargaining reform. It's just a matter of how far we go," he said.

Mr. Kasich, who takes office Jan. 10, also told reporters he would prefer to repeal the state's prevailing wage law in its entirety.

Franklin County Engineer Dean Ringle, standing nearby, agreed that elimination of prevailing wage could result in a 20% increase in the amount of roads paved and bridges repaired.

Mr. Kasich said prevailing wage, which reflects union pay rates, for public construction projects drives up the cost of college education as well.

"I had a guy come in to see me who's involved in building dormitories around the country. He told me that if we just got rid of the prevailing wage ... he said, John, you would save 30 to 40 percent - I mean, it's just his theory, I don't know if it's true - on building dormitories," the governor-elect said.

"Now when you build a dormitory it costs people money. So if we could figure out a way to change this prevailing wage law - I prefer to repeal the whole darn thing - but if we can make progress in some areas we could allow people to provide more services at a lower price," he said.