Issue 4 – Mandated Paid Sick Leave Removed from November Ballot
As reported in a previous OAHU Legislative Week in Review, the top issue for concern for Ohio’s business community has been Issue 4, the mandated paid sick leave ballot initiative proposed by the Service Employees International Union, among others. Today, SEIU announced that they were removing the issue from the November ballot.  The proposal would have required all Ohio employers with at least 25 employees to provide seven paid sick days to employees working at least 30 hours per week and a pro-rata amount for those working less than 30 hours per week.  A recent NFIB economic study determined that passage of Issue 4 would have resulted in the loss of 75,000 Ohio jobs.  Below is an article referencing SEIU’s press conference on September 4 and a copy of the press release issued by Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits, the business lead coalition opposing Issue 4.

Sick Leave Backers To Pull Issue From Ballot
A coalition pushing a ballot initiative that would have provided seven days of paid sick leave for certain Ohio workers said Thursday it will remove the issue from the fall ballot.

Service Employees International Union District 1199 President Becky Williams said the Coalition for Healthy Families will ask to have the proposal taken off the ballot.

Ms. Williams said the decision "was not easy nor made lightly," but was reached after "it became clear that a shrill and vitriolic ballot campaign marred by misinformation and disinformation would be impossible to avoid."

SEIU has been a primary force in pushing the issue that would provide the annual benefit for Ohioans who work for companies with more than 25 employees.

Ms. Williams was to appear at a morning event with Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to discuss the matter.
Earlier in the summer, Mr. Strickland looked to broker a deal between backers and key opponents in the business community, but couldn't forge a compromise that would have required legislative action. He and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher subsequently said they would oppose the proposal that has been designated as Issue 4.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 4, 2008

John C. Mahaney Jr., treasurer of Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits, today issued the following statement:

The withdrawal of Issue 4, the economically damaging government-mandated sick leave issue, from the ballot is good news for Ohioans, who would have been put at a large competitive disadvantage by this ill-advised legislation.

In withdrawing the issue, the SEIU cited its desire to avoid a campaign of vitriol and disinformation.  It should know.  It has framed this issue from the beginning as an anti-business, class warfare issue in an attempt to divide Ohioans.

The real reason it was withdrawn is that it was so bad that no major state leaders, from the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to the House Speaker and Senate President, could support it.  Neither could any of Ohio’s newspapers, regardless of usual political leaning. It was slipping significantly in polls, and SEIU knew it couldn’t win.

Issue 4 was a massive, unwanted and unwelcome intrusion into Ohio economic life that threatened all employers and employees, but small employers and their employees in particular. It would have cost Ohio workers 75,000 jobs.

We are grateful to Gov. Ted Strickland, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and Ohio Senate President Bill Harris for their strong efforts in connection with this issue. We are also grateful to the more than 2,000 local business, political and non-profit leaders, representing all of Ohio’s 88 counties, who already had joined our coalition to fight the issue.

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