Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped work in our state, The State of Working Ohio: A Better Bargain report says "Ohioans are rebuilding and establishing new norms." The report released by Policy Matters Ohio on Labor Day says workers deserve a better bargain and that unions are a key factor to establishing new norms and giving working people the resources they need to move forward and rebuild in a post-pandemic world.
"The challenges of the past two years have made it unclear what normalization will look like or when it will come," says the report. But what must happens, the report recommends, is that we cannot return to pre-pandemic status quo: "a jobs landscape where corporations had wrested power from working people largely by crushing their unions and hoarding the wealth they create."
The report indicates what we all know, that "many Ohioans are paid lower wages and have lower living standards than their parents or grandparents had," ultimately stoking anger and resentment that has pitted workers against one another. The report makes recommendations on how those in power can actually use their power to make Ohio a place where everyone can thrive and Ohioans can reclaim stability.
"Winning that must start with workers reclaiming their power," says the report, which is why the report's number one recommendation is Help workers form and join unions. "To claim their share of the wealth they make possible, workers must be able join in unions. Employers use many strategies to undermine workers’ efforts to organize. Federal lawmakers should pass the PRO Act to protect and encourage those efforts. Ohio and local governments can use federal funds to bar contractors and tax-abated businesses from interfering with union activity," says the report.
The report also recommends that politicians use targeted policy tools to curb inflation, raise the minimum wage, invest in higher education, use unused federal stimulus to build a recovery for all Ohioans and more. READ THE STATE OF WORKING OHIO REPORT.