While throngs are protesting a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining for state employees, a local city councilman said Ohio can gain more by tackling other issues.

Harry Brady, who is also a business representative of the carpenters union, said such issues include the illegal immigrants' dilemma and the illegal use of the 1099 IRS reporting form.

Illegal immigrants are taking jobs which Ohio residents could do and not have to worry about unemployment, Brady said. Immigrants who are in the country illegally aren't only migrant farmers but are in fields such as masonry and manufacturing, he said.

"There's an issue right there that I'm sure would produce more money for the state," Brady said. "The fact of the matter is what they stand to gain from (fighting the collective bargaining bill) in savings pales from what they could gain if they collect on the illegal immigrants. Make sure they're fined like they're supposed to be. They continue to not put money into the economy."

Brady also said the illegal use of the 1099 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reporting form is also a big problem. To avoid payroll taxes, companies at times classify employees as subcontractors.

"Companies don't pay their share of taxes," he said.

The IRS requires businesses, including not-for-profit organizations, to issue a Form 1099 to any individual or unincorporated business paid more than $600 per calendar year for services.

"Why aren't we going after these problems, which would give us a whole lot more of return," Brady said he would ask of fellow Republicans.

Brady said protesters who are converging at the Ohio Statehouse in protest of the collective bargaining bill are demonstrating advocacy.

"If anything, it should show people that the American public is tired of being pushed around," he said.

According to a Columbus Dispatch story distributed through a wire service, many had to stand outside in the cold; Ohio State Patrol officers locked outside doors, fearing for the safety of those that had already entered the statehouse. The Reflector posted the story on its Facebook page and a few readers commented.

"It's a shame how the government is always trying to bust unions," Michael Conley wrote. "Every company should have a bargaining unit."

Former Huron County Democratic Party chairman Patrick Saunders wrote that the protest wasn't just a "public works" event, as depicted by the "mainstream media."

"The reality of it is that a huge number of them were private sector active and retired unionists and another chunk were ordinary people who do not want to see the right to organize lost for anyone," Saunders wrote.