wwsa-oea.com Blog

Wisconsin recall sends message: Attacks on working people have consequences

Yesterday, two members of the Wisconsin State Senate—legislators who voted to hurt the middle class and silence the voices of public employees just like us—were defeated in recall
elections. This historic election sends a clear message that attacks on working people will result in irresponsible politicians losing their jobs.

The tide is turning, and the focus of the nation is turning to Ohio next.

Wisconsin’s elections also showed the extent to which outside special interests will go to protect elected officials who do their bidding. Despite the fact that all of the elections
occurred in districts where the incumbents had been elected with over 55 percent of the vote, two members lost and one more barely squeaked by with 52 percent of the vote.

Across the nation, there are firefighters, teachers, nurses, students, bus drivers, bridge inspectors, social workers and others cheering because in Wisconsin, the middle class is
fighting back—and starting to win.

It’s critical for the future of Ohio and public educators in our state that we win the 2012 elections and replace anti-public education office holders with leaders who understand and respect public education and educators.

We all know that the middle class is under siege in this country. From special tax giveaways to billionaires to brutal cuts in communities, it’s been a long, hard year for too many people who were already living on the margins. For too long, too many politicians in Ohio and throughout America have tried to move a political agenda under the guise of a “budget crisis.” Last night, it cost them two seats and a lot of former voters in Wisconsin. We’re seeing a similar shift among Ohioans who now see clearly who is really on their side.

The middle class in Wisconsin stood together against Scott Walker and his unfair attacks on public employees. This November, and again in the 2012 elections, we must stand  together, rally our friends and neighbors, and stand up for our students and each other.

Ohio’s educators, firefighters, police officers, nurses and allies in the public are more energized than ever before. We will need to continue, and even expand that energy and passion so that we can win these critical elections in 2011 and 2012 and take our voices back.

The Issue 2 campaign to repeal SB 5 is now underway. OEA members should contact their local presidents and labor relations consultants for more information on how to be involved in helping to repeal the law.

Editorials highlight problems with SB 5

Last weekend, opinion pieces were published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Columbus Dispatch highlighting the fact that the governor went too far with SB 5. Brent Larkin of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, “Nevertheless, some astute Republicans here privately concede that their odds of prevailing are diminishing. In fact, some Kasich loyalists already are downplaying how a defeat on Issue 2 would impact the governor’s political standing — a telltale sign that they fear the worst.” The Columbus Dispatch editorial suggests the following about SB 5, “It has nothing to do with improving Ohio’s economic well-being.”

To view the opinion pieces, click on the following links:

Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://mobile.cleveland.com/advcleve/pm_100800/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=pAAMNCJo

Columbus Dispatch: www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2011/08/07/meet-in-the-middle.html

OEA to Host Issue 2 Campaign Training for Members

In preparation for the November 8 election, the OEA will host special training sessions for members. Contact your LRC for more information on training dates and locations.

Help Bring Awesome Back to the Buckeye State

Join Stand Up for Ohio in rebuilding the American Dream of Good Jobs and Strong Communities at the Bring Awesome Back festival on August 20. The free, family event will be held from 12-9 pm at the Ohio State Fairgrounds located at 717 East 17^th Avenue in Columbus.

The festival will feature performances by Grand Funk Railroad, The Ohio Players, Nikki Giovanni, Over the Rhine, Happy Chichester, Two Cow Garage, Nick Tolford & Company, Ghost Shirt, Renee Dion, Last Call Cleveland, The Saints Drum Line, Those Guys and Ohio
Songwriters in the Round.

For details and to RSVP, visit www.facebook.com/StandUpForOhio

NO MEANS NO!

It’s official: Vote No on Issue 2 to repeal SB 5

The Ohio Ballot Board decided that a No vote on Issue 2 on the November 8 ballot will kill Senate Bill 5, Ohio’s controversial collective bargaining law. A vote yes for Issue 2 will be a vote to keep SB 5 on the books.

We Are Ohio, the coalition advocating repeal of SB 5, strongly recommended this outcome, which was also the recommendation of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

The ballot board decision was part of a dramatic two weeks of action on the effort to restore collective bargaining rights in Ohio for all public employees.

In other developments:

• On July 29, We Are Ohio reported nearly $7 million in  funds raised and in-kind contributions for this campaign finance reporting  period. Nearly 80% of the contributors made contributions of $100 or less. See http://www.weareohio.com/news/pr/072911.html
  for the full report, or go to https://contribute.weareohio.com/page/contribute/main to contribute.

• On July 21, Ohio Secretary of State Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that the SB 5 repeal will be State Issue 2 on the November 8 ballot. The other ballot questions are State Issue 1 – Judicial Retirement Age, and State Issue 3 – Health Care Freedom Act Constitutional Amendment. See the complete We Are Ohio news release at http://www.weareohio.com/news/pr/072111.html.

OEA leaders and staff celebrate OEA success at We Are Ohio reception during OEA Leadership Academy

We Are Ohio said Monday it anticipates the Secretary of State will announce
it has acquired sufficient signatures to place the repeal issue on the November
ballot.

“Based on preliminary results from 63 of Ohio’s 88 counties, We Are Ohio
enthusiastically reports to our nearly 1.3 million supporters who signed the
petition, that the repeal of SB5 will be on the ballot in November,”
spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas said. “Current county board results indicate
more than 800,000 valid signatures and that the 3% threshold has been surpassed
in all 63 counties that have reported thus far.

“While we look forward to the formal certification of our efforts from the
Ohio Secretary of State, we are confident that our historic achievement will
result in ballot placement.”

The Secretary of State’s office said Monday it will have to compile all the information provided by county boards of election and make a decision based on the results. It has until July 26 to certify the signatures.

The referendum needed 231,000 valid signatures in order to make the ballot.
They may have received that in Franklin and Cuyahoga counties alone. According
to numbers released by the Franklin County Board of Elections Monday, 104,301
of the 159,946 signatures submitted are valid. Cuyahoga County reported that
131,625 of the 213,038 signatures it received are valid.

Review of Recent Election Bills: Provisions in HB 194
& 159 Make It Harder to Vote

House Bill 194 (R-Mecklenborg): This bill makes harmful changes to
Ohio election law by making it more difficult for citizens to cast a ballot. By
limiting access to voting and making it more difficult for voters to express
their views, this legislation is designed to benefit one party’s voters and to
exclude others. The OEA opposed HB 194, which passed both the House and Senate on a party line vote; Republicans voting for the bill and Democrats against.
The bill was signed by the Governor Kasich on July 1, 2011 and is effective
September 30, 2011. However, efforts are underway by a group called “Fair
Elections Ohio” to collect signatures to have harmful parts of the bill subject
to a referendum on the November 2012 ballot. The OEA encourages members to sign petitions to repeal harmful sections of HB 194. In part, HB 194 will do the
following:

• Reduce time periods for absentee voting by mail and in
  person absentee voting
• Ban in person absentee voting on Sundays and every
  Saturday after the noon hour
• Ban in person early voting during the last weekend
  before the election
• No longer require poll workers to assist voters by
  directing them to the correct voting precinct
• Stop local Election Boards from sending absentee ballot
  applications unsolicited to all eligible voters
• Stop local Election Boards from paying postage on
  return absentee ballot requests or on the return of absentee ballots
• Make it more difficult for Election Boards to open
  extra offices in the community to make it more convenient to vote early
• Increase the amount of people voting in person on
  Election Day, bringing back the long lines of 2004 and the potential of
  multiple hour waits for Ohioans to exercise their Constitutional rights to
  vote
• Allow for more restrictive voter ID requirements in the
  future by providing that the provisions of HB 159 (photo ID requirement,
  not yet passed) prevail over any conflicting provision of HB 194

House Bill 159 (R-Mecklenborg): This bill would require voters to provide a state-issued photo ID in order to vote in person. It has been widely criticized by labor, minority groups, government oversight groups and others. The OEA testified against the bill, which passed the House on a mostly party-line vote, but has not yet passed out of the Senate. The Senate amended the bill to allow providing a Social Security number as an alternative and providing a free photo ID to those that do not have one (by request every four years). The bill is opposed
by Secretary of State John Husted. Go to http://aces.ohea.org to contact your legislators and urge them to oppose HB 159.

House Bill 86 Expands Earned Credits for Program Participation by Prisoners

House Bill 86 (R-Blessing; D-Heard) has been passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. It is effective September 30, 2011. The bill allows prisoners of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to earn one or five days of provisional earned credit towards early release, depending on the seriousness of the offense(s) for which they are incarcerated. Many offenses, including sexually-oriented offenses, are not eligible. Earned credit is accumulated through productive participation in specified prison programs or activities. Many of these
programs are provided by OEA members in the State Council of Professional
Educators (SCOPE) The OEA supports the earned credit provisions in HB 86.

DRC may deny some or all of the provisional earned credit days if it determines that the prisoner assaulted any other inmate, DRC staff, or prison visitor or committed any major violation of prison rules. The total number of days of earned credit a prisoner may provisionally or finally earn under the mechanism cannot exceed 8% of the total number of days in the prisoner’s stated prison term. The types of programs that may be available for earning days of credit are limited to education, vocational training, prison industry employment, substance abuse treatment, and other “constructive programs” developed by DRC.

Governor Kasich’s devastating budget proposal is currently in the Senate Finance Committee and is expected to be voted out of committee within a few days when it will then head to the Senate floor for a vote on what we expect to be Tuesday, June 7, 2011.  In order for us to make a final push to get critical changes to this bill before it heads to conference committee, we need as many OEA members as possible to join us in Columbus on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 to lobby on this bill.  Please click here to RSVP your attendance at the June 7, 2011 Lobby Day.

We have offered to provide buses to OEA districts if we have enough members coming to Columbus.  If you are interested in joining your colleagues on a bus from your area, please contact your district president to let them know that you are interested.  We will work through them to charter a bus if we have the numbers.  If there are not enough members from your district to fill a bus, we are willing to pay you for your mileage to attend.  Click here to let us know that you will be attending.

As you know, these are critical times for the future of public education.  The attacks on our public school system continue to bombard us daily.  The proposed state budget poses one of the greatest attacks yet to our students, schools and communities.  We encourage you to join us in force to beat back this monumental attack.  Click here to save your spot at Lobby Day on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

We hope to see you on the 7^th!

OEA Governmental Services

As the Senate nears a vote on the State Budget and the House considers a bill that would cost tens of thousands of Ohioans their jobs, it’s time for your voice to join the growing chorus in opposition to these destructive pieces of legislation.

A Senate vote on the State Budget is coming up soon, and Sen. Sawyer needs to hear from you. Legislative offices in the Capitol are once again beginning to be flooded with constituent opposition, but we’re not yet at the overwhelming level of feedback we need to really move these elected officials.

Take action now to help restore public education funding, remove SB 5 related provisions and preserve a fair retirement system.

In the House, HB 102 has passed out of the Commerce and Labor committee and could be brought to the floor soon. This bill will cost Ohioans jobs, threaten public safety and prohibit the use of project labor agreements.

HB 102 would enrich out-of-state contractors, with a track record of  poor work, at the expense of local skilled craftsmen.

Send a message that you demand the Legislature stop attacking working Ohioans, whether they work in public schools or on public construction projects.

Working men and women all over Ohio are banding together to stand up for each other and fight against attempts to silence our voices – from Senate Bill 5, the State Budget and House Bill 102.

OEA Governmental Services

Education Week (5/26, Rebora) reports on a new education documentary titled “American
Teacher” which asks, “why are teachers in the United States so undervalued and lately even disparaged?” It was “produced by author Dave Eggers and Nínive Clements Calegari, a former teacher who helped Eggers create the 826 National tutoring centers. The film was shown last night at an advance screening in Washington attended by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and assorted other government officials and policy mavens. … Narrated by Matt Damon, ‘American Teacher’ seeks to counteract popular misconceptions
about the teaching profession by showing, in a style of close-up realism, what teachers actually do and what their lives are really like-and how continued neglect of the profession may be jeopardizing the nation’s future.”

Below is the article from “Education Week”:

Film Depicts Hardships, Dedication of the ‘American Teacher’

By Anthony Rebora on May 25, 2011 1:24 PM

Researchers, policymakers, and parents tend to agree that effective teachers are the key to
high-quality schools—and, by implication, to maintaining an educated and thriving citizenry. So why are teachers in the United States so undervalued and lately even disparaged?

That’s the question at the heart of “American Teacher,” a new documentary produced by author Dave Eggers and Nínive Clements Calegari, a former teacher who helped Eggers create the 826 National tutoring centers. The film was shown last night at an advance screening in Washington attended by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and assorted other government officials and policy mavens. (Eggers, in brief remarks before the film, admitted that he “always gets nervous in D.C.”)

Narrated by Matt Damon, “American Teacher” seeks to counteract popular misconceptions about the teaching profession by showing, in a style of close-up realism, what teachers actually do and what their lives are really like—and how continued neglect of the profession may be jeopardizing the nation’s future. The film interweaves portrayals of five stellar K-12 educators from different parts of the country as they navigate daily challenges and try to manage the “logistics” of their lives. Examples of the teachers’ obvious professionalism and skill are set against, sometimes to comic effect, the
near-Dickensian nature of their working conditions. They are forced to buy their own supplies, work impossible hours, and endure sundry deflating injustices. There is a memorable scene in which one of the teachers, trying to get information about maternity leave, is forced to spend 18 minutes of her sole 20-minute free period on hold with the central office HR department. (Later, after a mere six weeks’ leave, she is shown frantically scrambling around her school trying to find a place to pump breast milk.)

But the film’s central theme is money. For all of the teachers profiled, the problem of how to make ends meet on their minimal-growth salaries is a grueling, intractable reality. Indeed, the film’s most moving sequence follows an award-winning Texas history teacher and coach named Erik Benner who, to provide adequately for his family, is forced to take a second job as a loader at Circuit City (and subsequently, when he is laid off from there, at Floor & Decor). At one point, Benner quietly admits to the sense of shame he feels when customers at the store recognize him and say, “I thought you were a teacher.”

The film intersperses the teachers’ stories with a host of troubling commentaries and statistics—some familiar—on teacher pay and workloads, rising attrition, falling student achievement, and the (apparently extreme) differences in the ways teachers are treated and supported in academically high-achieving countries like Finland, Singapore, and South Korea.

The combined effect is powerful—”How long can we let this go on?,” you wonder—and could generate some important conversations when the documentary is publicly released (expected this fall). As one of the teachers featured in the film said in a panel discussion after the preview, “I think it’s about time there’s a film like this.”

For a trailer of this video go to: http://www.theteachersalaryproject.org/production_news.html

OEA members in seven Ohio counties have already met their initial SB 5 petition signature goals in Ashtabula, Scioto, Harrison, Jefferson, Belmont, Vinton and Defiance counties. Ottawa, Lake and Franklin counties are on the way toward achieving their goals, with Ottawa County just a few percentage points away.

In early 2009, then-gubernatorial candidate John Kasich promised he would
“break the grip of organized labor on our schools.” That effort continued with his signing of Senate Bill 5. But Ashtabula County members of OEA are leading the way in the
effort to get members signing petitions, with more than  51 percent of them already signed, the highest percentage of any Ohio county.

Accessibility and information help Jefferson Area TA climb to No. 2
of all Ohio locals on SB 5 petitions

Many OEA local associations have had great success in collecting signatures during the SB 5 petition drive. Among them, Jefferson Area TA has collected signatures from 86% of its member voters, second highest in the state.

Jefferson Area TA President Sara Kreisher credits providing accessible trainings and circulator hours at appropriate times, using checklists to track members who have signed,
and following up with members who have yet to sign. According to Kreisher, the local’s 10 circulators got training at nearby Jefferson High School. They divided up times and schools and made petitions available before and after school business hours. After making the checklists, they held individual meetings with members who had not signed.

President Kreisher gives special recognition to Labor Relations Consultant Eric Urban who makes it easy to pick up and turn in petitions by providing clear instructions and frequent information to circulators. She says Urban has been instrumental in building support by organizing SB 5 rallies in the area, including one attended by Representative Casey Kozlowski (R – 99) at which members had a forum to ask questions of the representative and share concerns.

“SB 5 is a very important issue to our members, and leaders have done a great job communicating with them about the issue and how best to stay involved,” Kreisher says. “I am very proud of the way that our members have stepped up to participate.”

Top circulator Susan Hoffman credits team approach for success

Edgewood TA member Susan Hoffman is among the many OEA members who have joined the effort to collect the 231,149 signatures needed to repeal Senate Bill 5.

Hoffman, who ranks first among circulators in gathering member signatures and second in the total number of signatures gathered, says she became a circulator in an effort to fight the law.

“SB 5 attacks our profession and our livelihood,” the 28-year veteran teacher says. “It ultimately hurts education and our students by changing teaching and working conditions through things such as increasing class size and requiring teachers to teach to the test.”

Hoffman’s petition plan included asking a teaching colleague in each of Edgewood’s five schools to“host” an after-school classroom petition signing.

Hoffman set up for an hour-long petition signing at the middle school the first day, and followed the event with two signings at the high school on subsequent days, and then at each of the three elementary schools.

Key to her success in signing 125 members and netting a total of 190 signatures was support from colleagues and organization.

“Set up times and find people to help spread the word,” she says. “Ask teachers’ association representatives to help you.”

Hoffman believes she could have gathered more signatures, but because she had been encouraged to return her petitions within 10 days, she was working quickly. “It’s really important that everyone gets on board,” Hoffman says. “We need to get the
signatures and make sure this repeal is on the November ballot.”

Keep circulating petitions and please share your stories—and photos—with us! Email us at communic@ohea.org

Signature gathering to force Senate Bill 5 to a November citizens’ veto vote is going well, and the We Are Ohio coalition is on a strong pace. If the next 40 days see the sort of energy and effort we’ve seen so far, we will meet the requirements by the end of June.

We Are Ohio reported that they’ve received 214,399 signatures so far, with roughly 128,000 of those expected to be considered valid. Contained within that number is a strong showing from many OEA circulators and local associations.

We aren’t anywhere close to being done yet, but we are making strong progress. In order to ensure we meet all of the legal requirements, the coalition is planning to collect far in excess of the minimum, valid signature requirements so that there is no doubt about us making the November ballot. No one wants to risk our opportunity to repeal this bill on the legal interpretations of a handful of county elections boards.

Special recognition is due to circulators and local associations in Ashtabula, Scioto, Defiance and Paulding counties, where between 26% and 41% of members have already signed petitions that have been returned to OEA. In Vinton and Belmont counties, OEA circulators are having great success gathering signatures from the general public, in addition to gathering signatures from members.

The most successful local associations have gathered signatures from 70% to 86% of their members. Starting next week, we’ll be highlighting the top local associations and spotlighting a local association and a circulator of the week.

With about 1/3 of our actual signature gathering time elapsed, we are about 1/3 of the way to our goals. Some counties are coming along faster than others, and in no part of Ohio are we done collecting signatures. We know that in many cases, circulators have partially
full petition packets and are looking to gather a few more signatures before turning them in. This weekend presents a great opportunity to do just that.

Please push to gather some more signatures and, working with your Labor Relations Consultant, get those petition packets back in to OEA next week. We are shipping new petition packets out to LRC’s who have assigned all or almost all of their petitions to circulators in anticipation of you returning packets full or substantially filled with signatures.

Through the hard work of circulators and member-volunteers, we are making a
significant difference in this effort and working to ensure that all of the citizens of Ohio have a chance to repeal Senate Bill 5.