Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

(The following appeared on The Plain Dealer website on February 23, 2011.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. Ohio could lose a significant portion of its $171 million in yearly federal transit money if state legislators adopt a proposal that would curtail collective bargaining powers for transit workers and other public employees.

Federal law forbids the Federal Transit Administration from dispensing money for transit operation, acquisition or improvements without Department of Labor certification that the collective bargaining rights and work conditions of affected transit employees have not been diminished.

Ohio House Democrats and union groups fear the Republican-backed proposal to overhaul Ohio's collective bargaining rules was written without taking the federal law into consideration.

"This appears to be another example of Republicans rushing things through without fully thinking them through or without properly vetting them," State Rep. Jay Goyal, a Democrat from Mansfield, said.

Because of the way the federal law is written, a decline in bargaining rights and working conditions for transit workers may disqualify Ohios transit authorities from getting FTA funds.

A Feb. 16 letter from the U.S. Department of Labor confirms the policy. 

Ohio got $171.3 million in Federal Transit Administration money during fiscal 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The full story appears on the Cleveland Plain Dealerwebsite.

Thursday, February 24, 2011