3/20/2011 4:00:00 AMCollective bargaining keeps playing fields level: Lynn Radcliffe
March 20, 2011, 4:00 AM
By Lynn Radcliffe, Plain Dealer guest columnist
I am part of a team of Cleveland schools staff who advocate for and with the parents of special-needs children when they raise concerns about the education or services children are receiving.
Just this past year, my supervisor and I handled and resolved more than 90 cases, many of them without the use of in-house or contracted-out legal counsel. Neither my supervisor nor I are attorneys. We just know what the laws are and the rights of the students and their parents.
What we do behind the scenes every day -- quietly and without fanfare -- saves the Cleveland schools hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. And I have the satisfaction of knowing I have helped kids focus on their education.
Because students are my top priority, it deeply disturbs me that our governor and politicians are dead set on passing Senate Bill 5, legislation that will disrupt my ability to provide the best assistance to students and their families.
I oppose this anti-collective bargaining legislation because I believe it will give employers a huge upper hand on implementing work practices that give way to at-will employees being treated unfairly when it comes to pay, hiring and firing, and treatment
in the workplace. Many before me have worked hard and even lost their lives to win the rights that protect public employees today. Because of collective bargaining, no one can fire me just because they don't like the color of my shoes. And because of collective bargaining, I can go to work each day knowing that I can fully be there for my students in a fair, stable working environment.
The manner in which Gov. John Kasich and his political allies are trying to ram this legislation through and their dismissive attitude toward public employees tell me that the voice of working people in this state doesn't matter to the politicians who support Senate Bill 5.
As public employees, we are the nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians, cops and first responders who provide critical services every day for our fellow Ohioans. We are not to blame for the current financial crisis, but we are willing to do our part to fix this broken economy.
We have taken pay cuts, forgone longevity payments, taken furlough days and increased the amount we pay for monthly health care premiums and doctor visits. Through collective bargaining, we sat down together and reached a mutual agreement with our employers on these issues.
We have also had to adapt to working with less staff and fewer resources. Yet politicians would point the finger of blame at us and our unions with one hand while handing out tax breaks to big businesses with the other. We refuse to be the governor's scapegoats and allow him to take the focus away from what really matters to the people of Ohio: creating jobs, allowing us to make a livable wage to take care of our families, and being treated with dignity and respect.
Radcliffe has been a support-staff person in the Division of Special Education of the Cleveland school district for almost 30 years and is a proud member of Service Employees International Union District 1199.