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FLOC’s Velásquez opposes Ohio SB 5: “Balancing the budget should not create a nation of low-wage workers”
Baldemar Velásquez released a strong statement opposing Ohio Senate Bill 5, which would “eviscerate collective bargaining rights” for employees of the state of Ohio. Velásquez is the president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO (FLOC), a union representing thousands of migrant farmworkers throughout North Carolina and the Midwest.
Stressing the importance of these basic rights, Velásquez said the bill would leave “working people “powerless, with no way to affect the most basic elements of their lives.”
He notes, that while there is a real need to address the Ohio’s fiscal situation, the bill “would only make up less than three percent of the deficit – and the cost of these small gains would be borne by further marginalization of the middle class. . . At the same time, Ohio has refused to consider touching the more than $800 million in tax cuts for its wealthiest citizens and corporations. Ohio’s strategy for deficit reduction is a sham if it does not include stopping these inequitable tax benefits.”
Farmworkers, a group excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, have never had the right to collectively bargain and have historically suffered some of the worst working and living conditions in the country. Pointing out that these two facts are not unrelated, Velásquez said, “the dismantling of collective bargaining for public employees will be one further step in marginalizing a growing group of citizens.”
“FLOC is vehemently opposed to this misguided law as we stand in solidarity with our colleagues, brothers and sisters in the ranks of public employment, and the citizens they serve.”
To see the full statement, visit: www.floc.com.
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