Kasich: When Ohio union bill passes, I’ll sign it

COLUMBUS — Gov. John Kasich said Fri­day that he antic­i­pates the Leg­is­la­ture will pass a tough bill restrict­ing union activ­ity by pub­lic work­ers in Ohio and that he’ll sign it into law with lit­tle fan­fare, out of respect for the raw emo­tions sur­round­ing the bill.The mea­sure — which still has to go through the GOP-led House — would limit the bar­gain­ing rights of roughly 350,000 teach­ers, fire­fight­ers, police offi­cers and other pub­lic employ­ees. They wouldn’t be able to nego­ti­ate health care ben­e­fits or cer­tain other work­ing conditions.“The day we sign it, it’s not going to be some — you know, I don’t antic­i­pate some big deal because this is hard for peo­ple,” Kasich told reporters at a sep­a­rate bill-signing event. “And any­thing that’s hard, I want to be respect­ful of other people’s feel­ings, their thoughts and their emotions.”Unlike with sim­i­lar leg­is­la­tion being debated in Wis­con­sin, Repub­li­cans in Ohio man­aged to move the bill quickly through the state Sen­ate. The bill was nar­rowly approved Wednes­day on a 17–16 vote.“Glad it passed,” Kasich said, adding that he wasn’t surprised.