Ohio groups for, against Issue 2 hit streets to make last-minute pitches

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Jeanne McGinnis and Leo Almeida walked house-to-house Sunday along the brick roads of Columbus’ German Village neighborhood, knocking on doors and reminding voters to head to the ballots on Tuesday.

McGinnis and Almeida were among the volunteers, reaching out to voters on behalf of a union- and Democrat-backed coalition trying to kill Ohio’s new union law.

“There were people who died to create unions, and people have been trying to bust them ever since,” McGinnis, 58, a retired telecommunications worker, said. “The middle class is suffering and becoming nonexistent.”

Just miles from the International Association of Fire Fighters union hall where canvassers gathered before going door to door, volunteers for a business- and Republican-backed coalition fighting to preserve the law were busy calling voters.

Volunteer Julie Klusty said she was tired of what she called the “miseducation” of voters by groups opposed to the collective-bargaining law. She said the law will save the state money.

“I think the unions are out of control,” she said. “There is union thuggery going on.”

Signed by Gov. John Kasich in March, the law would limit some collective- bargaining rights of 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police and other state public workers. Voters will decide its fate by casting a ballot on state Issue 2. A “yes” vote will preserve the law; a “no” vote will repeal it.

The law outlaws strikes by state workers, institutes a merit pay system, requires workers to pay at least 15 percent of their health-care premiums and 10 percent of their wages toward their pensions, eliminates seniority as the only factor in determining who gets laid off and prohibits bargaining on issues such as grievances, promotions and minimum staffing rules.