Vote on Ohio Collective-Bargaining Law Nears

Rodney Wagoner, left and his wife, Wridder Wagoner, demonstrate against a new Ohio law restricting the bargaining rights of some public employees, including teachers, at an appearance by Gov. John Kasich, who supports the measure. The couple works for the Service Employees International Union. The law has drawn opposition from organized labor across the state, including teachers' unions, and has sparked furious door-to-door and online campaigning.

—Carrie Cochran/The Enquirer/AP

Ballot measure centers on limits on collective bargaining of teachers, others

By Sean Cavanagh

The 2012 presidential election is a year away, but perennial battleground Ohio is hosting an impassioned political campaign this fall with national overtones, centered in a debate over the collective bargaining powers of teachers and other public employees.

Voters will go to the polls next week to decide whether to support or repeal a new, Republican-backed law that would greatly curtail the ability of teachers to negotiate over working conditions, wages, and benefits.

Teachers’ unions and other critics of the law have organized a broad effort to undo the measure, known on the ballot as Issue 2 , and are attempting to reach voters through door-to-door campaigning, televised and Web-based advertisements and messages, and other means. Opponents of repeal, who include Republican Gov. John Kasich and many business leaders, are fighting back with outreach efforts of their own, which attempt to dispel what they say are...