John Kasich on campaign trail: No need for right-to-work law

This story was originally published May 26.

SANDY SPRINGS, Georgia – Gov. John Kasich says he still believes Ohio doesn't need a right-to-work law, even though he last week rescinded union rights for roughly 15,000 health-care and child-care workers.

The governor's increasingly moderate stance on unions had drawn criticism from fellow Republicans – whom he's courting as he explores a possible bid for president.

Kasich largely backed down from anti-union stances after a statewide referendum in 2011 overturned Senate Bill 5, which limited the collective bargaining rights of Ohio's public employees. Meanwhile, other possible 2016 presidential candidates such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker have embraced right-to-work measures.

But Kasich last fall downplayed the importance of passing right to work in Ohio, saying CEOs rarely bring it up when they're considering locating a business in the state. And, he says, he still believes that.

"We don't have any disruptive labor situations" in Ohio, so a push for right-to-work isn't necessary, he told an Enquirer reporter on the sidelines of a 2016-related luncheon in Georgia, itself a right-to-work state.

Kasich's move last week affected self-employed home-health-care and child-care workers who contract with the state, but aren't considered state employees. In a pair of executive orders, former Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, had allowed those workers to unionize and bargain with the state as regular state employees do – an argument that "has always been on shaky ground," Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said in a statement.

The governor promised to reverse the Strickland move in 2010, after he defeated Strickland. Back then, he told reporters he thought the collective bargaining rights forced workers to form a union and pay dues when they'd rather not. That's a standard argument made by supporters of right-to-work laws, which prohibit labor contracts that require all employees to join a union.

Kasich held off nixing the workers' union rights so they wouldn't lose health insurance coverage provided by the unions, he said Tuesday.

"Now they can get health care on the (federal health insurance) exchange, and it solves the problem," Kasich said. The workers' union contracts are set to expire next month.

The health insurance exchange exists courtesy of President Barack Obama's health care law, which Kasich has said he wants to repeal and replace with provisions he views as less intrusive.

He supports elements of Obamacare such as Medicaid expansion, which he embraced in Ohio. Even if other elements of the health care law were repealed, governments could make traditional insurance more widely available by changing the way people purchase insurance or by creating high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions, Kasich said Tuesday.

Still, the president of one of the unions that had represented the workers said Kasich was trying to silence their ability to fight for more funding for in-home health care. And Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper accused Kasich of playing "presidential politics."

"Ohio workers and families … should not have to pay the price for John Kasich's need to compete with the likes of Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal," Pepper said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kasich arm hires New Hampshire state director

Wonder how serious Gov. John Kasich is taking his possible presidential bid?

On Tuesday, while the governor campaigned in the Atlanta area, the Kasich-focused fundraising nonprofit New Day for America said it had hired a state director in none other than New Hampshire, the site of the nation's first primary.

Kasich has outlined a strategy for his possible campaign that would focus on winning New Hampshire instead of Iowa, hoping such a win would vault him into the top echelon of GOP candidates.

The newly hired New Day strategist, Paul Collins, has worked in Congress, for New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu and in the White House under President George H.W. Bush.

New Day for America already had a New Hampshire-centric makeup. John E. Sununu, a former U.S. congressman and senator, is a board member.