Thread: SEIU Protesters Disrupt Ohio Senators’ Dinner, Accost Rest

SEIU Protesters Disrupt Ohio Senators’ Dinner, Accost Restaurant Workers

Posted on March 4, 2011 at 5:18pm
by Meredith Jessup

Ohio’s fight over collective bargaining spoiled dinner for a number of Republican state lawmakers Wednesday evening.

Easy Street Cafe

Following the state Senate’s vote to limit the bargaining power of public employees, a group of union protesters burst into a local eatery and confronted a small group of GOP senators who were having dinner. The Columbus Dispatch reports: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/co ... cs&sid=101

After the vote on Senate Bill 5, seven Republican senators, including President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, grabbed dinner at the Easy Street Cafe. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... ate-senate As the lawmakers neared the end of their meal, a group of five to 10 union supporters angry about the passage of the bill hours before burst into the restaurant and began shouting.

The commotion eventually led to pushing and shoving with the restaurant staff and owner, before police arrived to calm the situation as a police helicopter hovered overhead. No senators were involved in the physical altercations, and no charges have been filed.

“It could have (gotten physical),â€

[quote]“It was planned,â€