Given that just a few short years ago (pre-market meltdown) Ohio’s taxpayers were on the hook for $46.5 billion due to its underfunded retirement system, one would think that November 8th’s decision to Vote YES on Issue 2 would be a no brainer.

After all, if you’ve got a system where union bosses have been able to put every single Ohio citizen (now) $6150 in debt, why would you want to keep it?

Moreover, if you’ve successfully ridden yourself of the system, why would you want to return to it?

Yet, that’s the issue that Ohioans have to decide when they go to the polls on November 8th to vote on Issue 2: Do Ohio’s taxpayers really want to dive back into the soup bowl only to serve themselves up to union bosses (again)?

Issue 2 on Ohio’s November 8 ballot poses a simple question to voters: Should SB5, Ohio’s government reform effort to get control back from union bosses, be allowed to go into effect?

As fellow RedState contributor Kevin Holtsberry explains:

Issue 2 is a result of a union led attempt to repeal Senate Bill 5 – legislation which brought much needed reform to Ohio’s collective bargaining laws.  A yes vote allows these important reforms to go into effect which will give much needed flexibility to government at all levels and will remove barriers to merit based management.

A YES vote on Issue 2 gives Ohio’s taxpayers the ability to see SB 5 go into effect. And, in the words of Building a Better Ohio:

• It allows an employee’s job performance to be considered when determining compensation, rather than just awarding automatic pay increases based only on an employee’s length of service.
• It asks that government employees pay at least 15 percent of the cost of their health insurance premium.  That’s less than half of what private sector workers are currently paying.
• It requires that government health care benefits apply equally to all government employees, whether they work in management or non-management positions.  No special favors.
• It asks our government employees to pay their own share of a generous pension contribution, rather than forcing taxpayers to pay both the employee and employer shares.
• It keeps union bosses from protecting bad teachers and stops the outdated practice of laying off good teachers first just because they haven’t served long enough.
• Finally, it preserves collective bargaining for government employees, but it also returns some basic control of our schools and services to the taxpayers who fund them, not the union bosses who thrive on their mismanagement.

While voting YES on Issue 2 should be a fairly simple decision, unions and their allies are spending millions to fear monger and deceive Ohio’s taxpayers into believing that it’s in their best interests to return power to union bosses.

However, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Kevin O’Brian notes:

Senate Bill 5, now on the ballot as Issue 2, gives Ohio taxpayers the opportunity to re-establish control over local government spending. It sets right the relationship between the people and their employees, after 28 years of unions having an unwarranted upper hand.

Ohioans, on November 8th, you can either VOTE YES on Issue 2, or you can succumb to union fear mongering and serve yourselves (and your state) up on union bosses’ platters.

Related:

• OEA Employee: “OEA’s attitude is about power”
• Union Bosses Use Soldiers as Props
• Ohio Union Lies, Half-truths, and RACISM!
• Ohio Union Video: Class Warfare 101
• NEA Attacks Ohio Union Reform
• Union Bosses Don’t Answer to You

Note: If you’re not following Jason Hart‘s work (above) on Issue 2, you really need to.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com