On the recordNovember 10, 2011
on Tuesday, Ohio, my State, made history. Overwhelmingly, Ohio voters made a simple choice between what is right and what is wrong. They answered the question at the heart of any election: Whose side are you on? Tuesday, Ohioans showed they stood with teachers and firefighters, with police officers and nurses and librarians, and other public workers and the middle class. They showed they want leaders focused on creating jobs rather than taking potshots at people who teach, who plow our roads, who guard our prisons, who teach our children, and who safeguard our public health. They showed they are ready to rebuild what was once a national consensus: that our Nation's strength is rooted in the strength of our middle class. There used to be a consensus among educators and elected officials, community leaders, and business leaders that our economy is designed to build a strong middle class, to help people become part of that middle class. We used to see that consensus on Medicare and Pell grants, on civil rights and women's rights, on tax and economic policy, and we used to have that consensus on collective bargaining rights. Rights earned at the bargaining table provide a path to the middle class for millions of workers who belong to unions and millions of workers who do not belong to unions. Collective bargaining is the tool we have had in this country for three-quarters of a century for labor and management relations in a democracy.…





