Ohio, New York following Wisconsin’s lead

The state of Ohio is about to pass legislation limiting collective bargaining for government employees:

Ohio’s legislature on Wednesday passed a Republican measure to curb the collective bargaining rights of about 350,000 state employees, and Governor John Kasich said he will sign it into law.

Its passage marks another success for Republicans who are pursuing measures in several states to limit the rights of public-sector unions. Unions are a key constituency of the Democratic Party.

The story’s a little light on details, but:

If the bill is enacted, Ohio would become the biggest U.S. state so far this year to impose sweeping collective bargaining curbs on public sector unions.

And:

While Wisconsin has gained more national attention, Ohio is far more important to the union movement. It has the sixth largest number of public sector union members among all U.S. states, twice the number of Wisconsin. With many auto and steel and manufacturing plants, Ohio is also a union bellwether.

Although the bill doesn’t affect those auto and steel and manufacturing workers, just the government employees. Kind of an important distinction, mainstream media.

While Ohio is currently governed by even bigger Republican majorities than Wisconsin, New York has a split legislature. And yet:

The New York state legislature on Thursday passed a $132.5 billion spending plan, closing a $10 billion deficit with no new taxes or debt and instead relying on harsh cuts to education and healthcare.

…”Tonight the legislature not only passed an on-time budget, but a historic and transformational budget,” (Gov. Andrew) Cuomo (D-NY) said.

The budget, which cuts total spending by 2 percent, also calls for the layoff of 9,800 state employees unless public employee unions concede $450 million in savings in pay and benefits.

Which means we’ll be seeing this sign:

In Albany any moment.

UPDATE – Also:

Wisconsin’s public union fight is the battle of the century in American politics. But while the governors of Wisconsin and Ohio have led the pushback, it’s possible that the public-pension battle could shift in the future to California—with or without the participation of its governor, the endlessly recyclable Jerry Brown. Even in this bluest of states, the ground is shaking beneath the unions.

Plus, I learned what “the gods of the copybook headings” are.