Ohio police and firefighters urge lawmakers to slow down effort to replace collective bargaining law | cleveland.com #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Ohio police and firefighters urge lawmakers to slow down effort to replace collective bargaining law | cleveland.com

Ohio police and firefighters urge lawmakers to slow down effort to replace collective bargaining law

Published: Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 11:48 AM Updated: Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 12:45 PM

By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer
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Terry Gilliam, Associated PressProtesters jam the Ohio Statehouse rotunda last week to voice their opinions on Senate Bill 5.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Leaders of Ohio's police and firefighters — facing a Republican effort to weaken their collective bargaining rights — called on lawmakers this morning to slow down and gather more information before rushing to replace the state's collective bargaining law.

Safety forces would no longer have the right to binding arbitration under the plan, known as Senate Bill 5. Additionally, collective bargaining rights to negotiate wages and other working conditions would be wiped out for all state employees and drastically cut back for workers in local governments.

"There is no compelling evidence or reason to change the way binding arbitration as it is today," Jay McDonald, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, said at a news conference this morning near the Statehouse. "The speed at which this bill is moving is, quite frankly, unheard of."

Thousands of Ohio's public workers in various lines of work are expected to join police and