On last night’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart highlighted several Republican governors elected last year who have taken the lead in decimating workers’ rights in their respective states.

Of particular note is Stewart’s swipe at Ohio Governor John Kasich (of backwards-chair note above), who is leading his state’s GOP in their assault on working families.

The notorious SB 5, which would ban strikes and curtail the collective bargaining rights of some 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees, squeaked through the Republican-controlled Senate on March 2. Democrats have since worked to keep the bill bottled up in a House committee, but the Republican chairman has just scheduled a vote on the legislation next Tuesday, March 29. A vote by the GOP-controlled House would soon follow.

The House Democrats, led by former Speaker Armond Budish, are doing everything in their power to stand up for the middle class and fight this legislation. Democratic members are not content to simply register their “nay” vote when the time comes. On top of encouraging some of the more moderate House Republicans to join their stand, the Democrats have filed a lawsuit addressing the patently un-democratic lockout of Ohio citizens from SB 5 hearings, and they are collecting thousands of signatures on a petition they will deliver to the House GOP next week. On Monday, the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and the House Democratic Women’s Caucus will hold a press conference to discuss data demonstrating the disproportionate impact of SB 5 on women and minorities. 

Republican legislators in New Hampshire just passed through committee a draconian budget bill that damages workers’ rights even more than the Wisconsin GOP’s plan. The measure would force public employees to make major concessions at the bargaining table before their contracts expire or become at-will employees, whose wages and benefits can be altered at employers’ discretion.

And as if this attack on working families weren’t horrible enough, the proposed budget would also result in thousands of children and adults losing access to mental services. Additionally, annual aid to the New Hampshire University System would be slashed by $95 million.

New Hampshire Democratic legislators are outraged. 

"Their reprehensible budget proposal will increase property taxes, kill jobs and put the lives of countless Granite Staters at risk. It will be the death of the New Hampshire advantage and our quality of life through dangerous, heartless and unnecessary cuts," House Democratic Leader TerieNorelli of Portsmouth said at a news conference.

Ohio and New Hampshire Democrats join their colleagues in Wisconsin and Indiana in standing up to a seemingly coordinated assault on working families by Republican leaders in states across the country. Although GOP attacks show no sign of waning, don’t expect Democrats to buckle. Democratic state legislators know they have a responsibility to working families to keep fighting.