About 1,800 descend on Ohio Statehouse to protest collective bargaining changes

The Cleveland Plain Dealer VIA Cleveland.com ^ | February 17th, 2011 | Reginald Fields

[Jim from C-Town]

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Public workers jammed the Statehouse Thursday as the Ohio Senate continued to hear testimony on a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees and change the rights of local government employees.

The workers, many wearing bright red T-shirts, filled the Statehouse atrium and rotunda while others milled about outside. They voiced their opposition loudly, sometimes echoing into the Senate hearing room and competing with the speakers testifying in support of Senate Bill 5. The Highway Patrol estimated the crowd at 1,800.

[Jim from C-Town]

The State of Ohio takes on public sector unions. Gov Kasich may go farther thanthe Republican House and Senate.

Wisconsin is not alone! Ohio has $8 billion budget shortfall!

[Antoninus]

Employees with a siphon into the taxpayer’s wallets should NEVER have been allowed to unionize. Now we have to unravel this mess and prevent them from ever doing so again.

[I see my hands]

Where are the DC holiday goers?

[all the best]

Can we stop talking about the public sector when we mean government? “Public” somehow has taken on the connotation of noble and benevolent. Rather than public and private sectors I think coercive and voluntary sectors are way more accurate. Nothing is going to improve until we start telling the truth and calling things as the really are.

[WayneS]

Is the Ohio Statehouse located in a ravine?

[ridesthemiles]

Funny that both sets of protestors are wearing bright red t-shirts!!!

Pics from Wisconsin show red t-shirts there, also.

Co-ordinated? coincidence?? The plot thickens.

[Reagan69]

Fire them - there are lots of people looking for work and will do it for less.

[null and void]

Interesting that all the democrat legislators got on a single bus and left the state rather than vote.

I wonder if it was one of the buses used to import protesters from another state.

*sniff* *sniff* smells like a community organizer has been busy...

[Newton]

works for me. Just like Reagan did with the Air traffic controllers.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Probably fans of Chavez in Venezuela...birds of a feather.

[EBH]

pretty incredible...

[null and void]

Yeah. I find it incredibly stupid to put ALL the democrat legislators on the same bus.

What if it goes off a cliff or something? not that it would be a bad thing...

[Matchett-PI]

Obama is bussing in his goons from out of state to thwart the will of the people in Wisconson while Senate DemocRATS flee out of state in a short yellow bus to avoid voting on the bill.

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php?splash=false

[null and void]

Oh wait. It was Wisconsin that bussed out all the democrats. Sorry...

[gman992]

While everyone else was hard at work....

[WestwardHo]

It's kind of funny to visualize an uprising among the fat butt, government tit sucking, DMV employee types taking up arms with their coffee mugs.
This morning's FOX video inside the Wisconsin State House showed mostly your petty bureaucrat, chubby women.
I hope Gov Walker fires them all.

[Oldpuppymax]

Every public union employee/bureaucrat NOT at work should be immediately fired. Then they can protest, march and demonstrate all they want!!!

[chris_bdba]

I hope they hold to their plans and not let these 1800 union goons change their minds because there are many more Ohioians who support the changes.They have killed the golden goose and we are broke.How can they not understand the taxpayer has cried uncle and can no longer afford them?

[newzjunkey]

Employees with a siphon into the taxpayer’s wallets should NEVER have been allowed to unionize. Now we have to unravel this mess and prevent them from ever doing so again.

AMEN! Public employee unionization has been a bankrupting failure across the country from CA to WI to OH and beyond.

[flat]

WE NEED SOMEBODY TO CLEAN THIS MESS UP!