March, 01 2011, 08:36am EDT
Kucinich Sends Support for Rally in Columbus against SB 5
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a strong advocate for workers' rights, today released the following statement in support of Ohioans protesting the expected passage of Senate Bill 5, a proposal to end the right of workers to collectively bargain for fair benefits and working conditions. Kucinich had planned on joining the rally in Columbus, but was required to be in Washington for key budget votes.
WASHINGTON
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a strong advocate for workers' rights, today released the following statement in support of Ohioans protesting the expected passage of Senate Bill 5, a proposal to end the right of workers to collectively bargain for fair benefits and working conditions. Kucinich had planned on joining the rally in Columbus, but was required to be in Washington for key budget votes.
"The Ohio Statehood Day celebration has been cancelled as the Ohio Senate moves to sharply limit the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of public workers. It's just as well. How can we celebrate a state's government which attacks the very people who provide service? How can we tell those who have dedicated their lives to public service that they have no rights except those which state officials will give them?
"The right to collective bargaining, to be able to negotiate wages, benefits and working conditions, is a fundamental right in a democratic society. The attempt to restrict those rights is anti-democratic and un-American. The attempt to pit workers against taxpayers belies the fact that the workers serve the taxpayers. The workers are taxpayers. Public workers dedicate their lives to teaching our children, to protecting our streets and homes, to caring for the elderly and the sick. Public workers are our friends and neighbors. They, like all workers, are struggling to make ends meet, trying to save their jobs, have decent wages and benefits, hoping to have health care and retirement security.
"Let us stand with the workers in Ohio and the workers in Wisconsin and in every state who are insisting on nothing more than to be accorded basic rights in a democratic society."
Dennis Kucinich is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008.
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