Update: Cleveland Heights Teachers Union to Hold Rally Monday

Updated 1:21 p.m. Monday: The Cleveland Heights Teachers Union scheduled a rally for today, the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, to reaffirm its opposition to Senate Bill 5.

The rally was going to be in the Cleveland Heights High School courtyard, but due to rain, it will now be in the auditorium. 

The controversial bill that reduces the rights of public workers, including teachers, firefighters and police officers, to collectively bargain and strike passed both the Ohio Senate and House. Gov. John Kasich signed the bill into law Thursday. 

Union president Tom Schmida said the event was scheduled on April 4 to commemorate King, who was speaking on behalf of sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, TN, when he was killed. 

Other groups around Ohio have also planned rallies Monday, including Stand Up For Ohio, which has been actively speaking out against Senate Bill 5 and describes itself as a "coalition of community, labor, civil rights and environmental groups" campaigning for union rights and good jobs. 

"I think it’s important that we regroup and look toward the next steps," said Schmida, who has protested the bill at rallies in and , and organized groups of teachers to join him.

Schmida that one of those next steps is walking door to door to collect signatures to help put a statewide referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot. Opponents have 90 days to round up 231, 147 signatures, or 6 percent of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, from 44 counties. Schmida said they must be careful to follow the procedure outlined by the state. 

"If this law is enacted, it’s going to set us back, set the state back," he said. "I still contend that it will have no significant impact at all on the financial crisis the state is in."

The 45-minute rally will begin at 4 p.m. today at the  auditorium. Schmida said several will speak, including students and union officers.