President Obama sat down with a local reporter from Ohio on Tuesday and laid into the anti-collective bargaining bill signed into law by Gov. John Kasich (R) last month.
SB5, as the law is known, eliminates the right of thousands of state workers to collectively bargain for benefits and makes going on strike illegal. Democrats and union supports have vowed to fight the legislation at the ballot box, and they’ve said the issue has done a lot to fire up the base after big Republican wins (including Kasich’s) in 2010.
Republican supporters of SB5 say the law is necessary to balance Ohio’s budget. Obama told WKYC-TV the law unfairly puts the burden of cleaning up the state’s fiscal mess on state workers.
“I strongly disapprove,” Obama said of the Ohio law.
“Lets certainly not blame public employees for a financial crisis that they had nothing to do with,” Obama said. “And let’s not use this as an excuse to erode their bargaining rights.”
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