The Midwestern state of Ohio, a labor stronghold, assumed center stage Wednesday in America's fight over collective bargaining rights for public workers as the state Legislature passed a bill that was in some ways tougher than that seen in Wisconsin.

Amid shouts and jeers in both chambers, the House passed a measure affecting 350,000 public workers on a 53-44 vote, and the Senate followed with a 17-16 vote of approval. Republican Gov. John Kasich will sign the bill by the end of the week.

Senate President Tom Niehaus threatened to clear the chamber ahead of final legislative action on the bill as pro-labor protesters shouted insults at senators and threatened to unseat them in the next election.

Chants of "Shame on you!" filled the elegant, high-ceilinged chambers where legislators are accustomed to hushed tones and self-imposed decorum.

Contentious debates over restricting collective bargaining have popped up in statehouses across the country, most notably in Wisconsin, where the governor signed into law this month a bill eliminating most of state workers' collective bargaining rights.

Wisconsin's Republicans pushed through passage of the law earlier this month despite three weeks of massive protests that topped 70,000 people at the state Capitol and a boycott by Democratic state senators.

Opponents immediately filed a series of lawsuits that resulted in further chaos that might not end until Wisconsin's Supreme Court weighs in.

The anti-union measures aim to strip away workers' rights to collectively bargain for anything except wages. Conservatives argue that such measures are needed to balance budgets and pare down deficits. But opponents say it's union-busting.

The Ohio bill has drawn thousands of demonstrators, prompted a visit from civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and packed hearing rooms in the weeks before the Senate passed an earlier version of the measure.

Unlike Wisconsin's measure, the Ohio legislation would extend union restrictions to police officers and firefighters.

The overall response by protesters in the industrial state, despite its long union tradition among steel and auto workers, has paled in comparison to Wisconsin. Ohio's largest Statehouse demonstrations on the measure drew about 8,500 people.

That difference has been attributed to the proximity of the populous University of Wisconsin campus to the state capital.

Democrats, including former Gov. Ted Strickland, and unions have vowed to mount a campaign to overturn the measure through a referendum in November. Some Republicans also loudly opposed the bill.

The Ohio measure affects safety workers, teachers, nurses and a host of other government personnel. It allows unions to negotiate wages but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. It gets rid of automatic pay increases, and replaces them with merit raises or performance pay. Workers would also be banned from striking.

Kasich has said his $55.5 billion, two-year state budget counts on unspecified savings from lifting union protections to fill an $8 billion hole. The first-term governor and his Republican colleagues argue the bill would help city officials and school superintendents better control their costs at a time when they, too, are hit with budget woes.

Most Republican lawmakers promoted the bill as necessary to aid the state's ailing economy through cost savings and government flexibility in negotiations.

"This state cannot pay what we've been paying in the past," said House Speaker Bill Batchelder.

Democratic State Rep. Robert Hagan took issue with the notion that the bill was aimed at saving money.

"Don't ever lie to us and don't be hypocritical and don't dance around it as if it's finances, because you know what it is: It's to bust the union," Hagan told his fellow lawmakers.

The roughly four-hour House debate on the bill began with boos, shouts and laughter from protesters in the House chamber who oppose the legislation, prompting the House speaker to slam his gavel to bring order.

Democrats offered no amendments to the bill in either chamber, saying it was too bad to fix. In the House, they delivered boxes containing more than 65,000 opponent signatures to the House labor committee's chairman.

Kasich has said he won't make a spectacle of the moment he signs the bill because he knows its passage is difficult for union supporters.

"We think we have a program here that's going to allow local governments to deal with fewer dollars, it still protects the right of collective bargaining on things that we think are legitimate and will help people be able to cope in a period of time when we do have fewer resources," Kasich told reporters Wednesday at a separate bill signing.

___

Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.