[ back ]
Solon firefighter is on mission for union
(by Sue Reid - March 03, 2011)
Solon firefighter is on mission for union
By SUE REID
For nearly 14 hours a day on his days off the past two weeks, Solon firefighter Jim Nix has been on a mission.
The president of the 58-member Firefighters Local 2079 is vigorously protesting Ohio Senate Bill 5, which he said would drastically alter Ohio's collective-bargaining law. As part of his crusade, Mr. Nix has traveled to Columbus four times in the past two weeks and attended all hearings on the bill, as well as given his input to senators and other union representatives. He is in Columbus again this week, as S.B. 5 is set to be voted on at the committee level.
If the bill passes, "it will completely break all unions in the state, starting with the public sector and then going to private sector unions," he said.
As a result, Mr. Nix has worked to spread the word on the issue to the nearly 37,000 members of the recently formed Protecting Ohio Protectors Safety Coalition. The coalition is comprised of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, Ohio State Troopers Association, Northern Ohio Firefighters, Cleveland Patrolmen's Association and the Toledo Police Command Officers Association.
But it is not just for his fellow firefighters and police officers that Mr. Nix is speaking out, he said. It is also for all the teachers, service workers and state employees who will be directly affected by the bill's passage, he said. "We're all in this together. We all will suffer."
Proponents, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, have said they are looking to offset the $8 billion Ohio budget shortfall.
But for the bill's opponents, collective bargaining is a necessity that should not be taken away, Mr. Nix said.
He explained that collective bargaining is extremely important for the union, not just at contract time for pay and health benefits. He said there are items which affect firefighters and protect them under collective bargaining on a daily basis. They include bereavement pay, turnout gear, training, sick leave, injury, military leave and pregnancy and maternity leave, to name a few, he said.
Mr. Nix said, when he first heard of the bill, his reaction was, "Why the rush?" He explained that state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, the bill's sponsor, informed the subcommittee that it took more than a year and many drafts prior to introducing it two weeks ago. "A bill that took her a year, many drafts and has over 475 pages is trying to be passed in two weeks on an issue that has been in place and worked since 1983," he said.
"Basically, in 1983, they realized that having firefighters or police officers strike and not be there to protect the public was not the best way to handle things," Mr. Nix said.
"In the past five years, there have been about 4,000 police and fire contracts negotiated in Ohio, with only 85 ending in binding arbitration," Mr. Nix said. "In half of those 85 cases, management prevailed," he said.
"The protections under the Ohio Revised Code that have been in place since 1983 work equally and fairly for both sides."
That is contrary to what has been said about binding arbitration by some proponents of the bill, Mr. Nix said. Binding arbitration is a process in which a third-party, neutral arbitrator hears the story of both sides following an impasse in negotiations and reaches a "fair and equitable decision," he said.
That was the path that Solon's most recent contract negotiations took with its firefighters union. "This most recent contract went to arbitration with the union prevailing in most points and the city prevailing in others," Mr. Nix said.
Solon firefighters have been to fact finding twice in recent years.
Mr. Nix said he is informing all of his membership of the status of S.B. 5, as well as assisting other local police and fire unions that are in the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, including the Solon Police Department.
"Between e-mails and phone calls and trips to Columbus, I have been working non-stop," Mr. Nix said. He has put 1,400 miles on his truck, he said.
If the bill passes in committee this week, it goes to the Senate, and if it's successful there, it then goes to the Ohio House.
"If Kasich doesn't get it passed on all three, he will put something in the budget concerning this, and that budget must be finalized by April 1," Mr. Nix said. "Again, why the rush?"
[ back ]
