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One of the worst things about working at the statehouse as a legislative aide is that constituents assume you have a lot more money and power than you actually do. In reality, most LAs are overworked twenty-somethings making $35k a year, exempt from most legal worker protections
So you’re subject to a lot of abuse every day from constituents (and, too often, from members) who blame you for things you have no control or influence over. You deal because you believe in the work, that people should have access to their reps, but it’s grueling and thankless.
So for the Speaker of the House to publicly blame LAs for his own (much higher-paid) admin’s incompetence all over twitter yesterday is such a fucking betrayal of the bipartisan staff who works for him. It’s punching down, it’s abusing the massive power differential, it’s gross.
@HouseholderOH promised to implement a nonpartisan HR department when he took over to start to address the widely-known exploitative and abusive working environment at the Statehosue for lower staff.
Yesterday demonstrated not only that broken promise, but that he’ll gladly use LAs as cannon fodder for his personal agenda and reputation.
The only way Statehouse employees will EVER get the treatment they deserve is by organizing and unionizing. It won’t be given to them.
The only way Statehouse employees will EVER get the treatment they deserve is by organizing and unionizing. It won’t be given to them.
Every single friend of labor in the Statehouse, Democrat and Republican, should be loudly and publicly supporting the voluntary recognition of a GA staff union. They should be working to change the Ohio Revised Code that exempts general assembly employees from legal protection.
