From Wall Street Journal:

Labor unions have rejected an offer by Ohio Gov. John Kasich to seek a compromise on a new law that removes most collective-bargaining rights for the state’s 350,000 public employees, as a fight over the legislation heads toward a statewide referendum in November.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kasich, a Republican, and the party’s leaders in the Ohio Senate and House made a pitch to public-employee union leaders to “avoid the bitter political warfare” over the law, known as Senate Bill 5. In a letter Thursday, however, unions said a “fresh start must begin with a full repeal of Senate Bill 5.”

Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Mr. Kasich, said the governor’s offer to meet with union officials Friday still stood. “We’re confident that there are reasonable folks who understand the value of restarting the negotiations that labor unfortunately pulled out from earlier, and we look forward to talking with them on Friday,” he said.

Republican House Speaker William Batchelder rejected the unions’ suggestion to craft a new law. “That dog won’t hunt,” said Mr. Batchelder, noting that GOP lawmakers offered to negotiate a compromise with unions in June but that effort failed.

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