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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2011 > February > 27 > Entry
Guest column: Reform, don’t eliminate, collective-bargaining law
This commentary is written by Eric Spicer, a captain with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
I’m a Republican and a member of the management team of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, so my views might seem strange. But I believe the public employee collective-bargaining process works.
President Ronald Reagan used to say that if you agree with someone 80 percent of the time, he or she is your friend. I certainly agree with Gov. John Kasich more than 80 percent of the time, and I’ll still be a supporter after this process is over.
I just think he’s wrong on collective bargaining.
I’ve seen the issue from all sides. I’m a former president of a local Fraternal Order of Police, and I was an FOP Ohio Labor Council board member. Today, no longer a member of the union, I negotiate from the other side of the bargaining table and oversee personnel who are members.
Collective bargaining is good for workers. There’s no doubt. Wages are increased, better workplace conditions have been bargained for and retirements are secure. But the process is also positive for management and the community, especially where public safety professionals are concerned.
In just the past five years, there have been about 4,000 police and fire contracts negotiated, with only 85 ending in binding arbitration. In half of those cases, management prevailed.
With these stakes, perception versus reality is everything. Remember that before 1983, strikes by public safety employees were illegal, but incidents of “blue flu” and “red flu” were common. Binding arbitration was imposed to end those job actions.
The result is that public safety professionals have always been on duty. That’s no small thing. In fact, Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin exempted public safety personnel from his proposed changes specifically because he’s worried about communities being unprotected.
Most people seem to focus on the budget ramifications of the changes. But new rules here in Greene and Montgomery counties won’t help close the budget gap in Columbus.
What people aren’t focused on are the essential parts of contracts that result from collective bargaining. Did you know that, in some parts of Ohio, bulletproof vests aren’t a “right” for law enforcement? They’re a negotiated contract requirement.
We talk about collective bargaining and binding arbitration protecting public safety professionals and their families financially, but it also protects them in a very real way. The state made a covenant with public safety workers when it took away the right to strike. One protection for Ohio’s protectors was swapped for another protection in the form of binding arbitration.
I strongly believe that Senate Bill 5 would shatter that covenant and lay the groundwork for endless litigation and open the possibility for communities to be left unprotected. As a conservative, I know this will result in much higher costs. For all these reasons, I’m an unlikely member of the Protect Ohio Protectors coalition (www.protectohioprotectors.org). The coalition represents more than 35,000 police and fire professionals — and at least one member of management.
But it doesn’t appear that we’re alone. A recent independent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University found that — by a 17-point margin — Ohioans oppose changing the collective-bargaining rights of local government employees like police officers and firefighters.
Firefighters and police officers face life-and-death situations every day. It is only fair that those who protect Ohioans every day continue to receive protections that have worked for both sides for nearly 30 years.
Let’s not exchange a system that needs reform for a system that has already been proven not to work.
The time for reform is now. However, that does not mean reckless repeal based only on wishful thinking. If our leaders don’t take the opportunity and responsibility to fix this system, we all will bear the expense of them getting it wrong.
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