Rally against Senate Bill 5 held at Kent Stage
Tom Bird, a lawyer from Ravenna, speaks to the crowd gathered at the Kent Stage on Tuesday. Bird said not enough is being done to stop Senate Bill 5 and questioned why no protests were scheduled this week in Columbus. Photo by Valerie Brown
Nine speakers, some from unions and some not, came to the Kent Stage to encourage an audience of nearly 100 to take action against Senate Bill 5.
Students, faculty, Kent public employees and citizens listened as the speakers explained how the bill will affect their unions and themselves, as well as how it will affect non-unionized workers.
“We need to keep the issue in front of the public so that people will either write, call, e-mail their representatives and this legislation can be stopped,” said Tracy Laux, president of American Association of University Professors, Non-Tenure Track Unit.
Kent State’s AAUP chapter organized the rally to hold speakers to inform people of the issue at hand and help everyone understand what is happening, said Laux, a Kent state mathematics teacher.
Becky Higgins, president of North Eastern Ohio Education Association, came to Kent from another rally in Akron to speak.
Higgins, an elementary school teacher, said that the police, firefighters, teachers, support staff and public employees “make up the very fabric of the communities we live and work in.”
Cheers, whistling and clapping erupted in the audience when Higgins quoted one of her favorite English statesman philosophers, Edmund Burke.
‘“He who wrestles with us, strengthens and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.’ Well governor, you woke a sleeping giant and we are not going to be moved,” Higgins said.
David Schukert, president of Kent State’s chapter of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees said he feels like he will be letting down his grandfather if he does not rally.
Schukert said his grandfather participated in the first sit-down strike for Goodyear in Akron.
Elizabeth Richardson, assistant professor in the University Libraries, said this was the first rally she attended for Senate Bill 5, and if passed, the results could have an effect on her.
“It’s my duty to stand up for myself and all other working families in Ohio,” Richardson said.
Contact Caitlin Restelli at [email protected]