Ohio right-to-work backers collect 100K signatures

10/15/2013

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Supporters of “right-to-work” restrictions in Ohio plan an Election Day petition push after gathering about one-fifth of the signatures they say they’ll need to make the November 2014 ballot.

Ohioans for Workplace Freedom tells The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/194aRx8 ) it has gathered 100,000 signatures so far. Petition drive coordinator Bruce Hull says the group is aiming for 500,000 to assure it has the roughly 385,000 valid signatures required. It hopes to have 10 to 15 circulators in each county on Nov. 5.

The group seeks a constitutional amendment banning mandatory union membership and prohibiting Ohio unions from charging dues to non-members. A pair of similar proposals stalled in the Legislature.

Democrats and unions have opposed the effort, calling it worse than a collective bargaining overhaul overturned by Ohio voters in 2011.