Ohio vote repeals union limit law

A law limiting collective bargaining powers of Ohio unions has been defeated in a special referendum, according to the Associated Press. The vote on the law, which had not yet taken effect, attracted a high turnout for a non-presidential election. More than $30m (£18.6m) from both labour and business interests were poured into the vote, which was watched across the US. Ohio Governor John Kasich had toured the state to promote keeping the law. Under the terms of the law some 350,000 unionised public workers in Ohio would have seen their collective bargaining rights limited. The bill included a ban strikes, scrapped binding arbitration and dropped promotions based solely on seniority. It did allow bargaining on wages, working conditions and some equipment. Echoes of Wisconsin Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, on the largest US unions, hailed the result, which he said was sealed by Republican and Democrat voters in both urban and rural areas. "Ohio sent a message to every politician out there: go in and make war on your employees rather than make jobs with your employees, and you do so at your own peril," the Associated Press reported him as saying. The Ohio issue has echoes of a bitter legislative battle in the state of Wisconsin earlier in 2011. In June the state Supreme Court upheld a law stripping most Wisconsin employees of their collective bargaining rights, appearing to end months of bitter debate and protest. The Wisconsin law, which also requires state government employees to pay more for their healthcare and pensions, was proposed last winter by the state's newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker.