Hundreds Support Ohio Home Care Workers’ Right to Bargain

Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich and his allies are attempting to blame and punish low-income workers for the state of the economy. Ohio Field Communications Coordinator Andrew Richards reports on a candlelight march and rally in support of the workers’ right to bargain. 
The light from hundreds of candles lit up the facade of Cincinnati’s City Hall tonight as workers and community members came out to support home health care and child care providers and to protest Gov. John Kasich’s plan to strip away their rights to bargain for a better life. .
Child care provider Ella Hopkins told the crowd she performs an important service for her clients.

Thousands of working families depend on the public services we provide so they can stay in their jobs and in job training programs.  Quality child care is a key part of having and keeping a job. Having a union has enabled us to provide better services and more choices. Every time we hear unions put down, we should hold our heads up.  Dr. King did, and so must we.

Teresa Law, a home health care worker, called out Kasich for his anti-worker statements and for his attempt to silence her and thousands of other low-wage workers.

Why is John Kasich singling me out and trying to take away my voice? I struggle everyday to make ends meet in this tough economy.  I do this work, not for the money, but because I love the patients I take care of.  It frustrates me to hear that Gov. Kasich is trying to take away my voice and make it even harder for me to support my family and the clients I assist.

Just days before the nation celebrates Martin Luther King’s birthday, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker reminding the crowd of King’s commitment to social and economic justice.

 As we look back at the legacy of Dr. King, we recall that he traveled to Memphis more than 40 years ago to defend and uphold the dignity and value of all work, and all working people. Tonight we affirm our commitment to those principles and that moral vision. Tonight, we’re calling on Gov. Kasich to put aside the politics of division and to move forward with new priorities to rebuild jobs and our communities.

“Instead of working to create good jobs for Ohioans, Gov. Kasich wants to scapegoat working families for the economic crisis and deliver political paybacks to his corporate friends,” Paul Schwietering said. Schwietering, an unemployed electrician, has been looking for work throughout the Midwest for the last two years.

We need leaders who will listen to the needs of working families and work to create an economy that works for all. 

The candlight rally is part of the annual AFL-CIO King Day celebration, which began yesterday in Cincinnati.