Did you know Ohio has a primary/special election on May 2? Make your voice heard! Register or make changes to your voter registration information by Monday, April 3! Election details below!

Military & Overseas Absentee Voting: Begins March 17

Deadline to Register to Vote: April 3

Early In-Person Voting: Begins April 4 and includes the Saturday and Sunday before Election Day.

Absentee Voting By Mail: Begins April 4

Election Day: May 2 (Polls Open 6:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.)

It’s a tradition that means so much to the leaders and members of OAPSE — the OAPSE Making a Difference (OMAD) community service event. This year, we will be at Crestline City Schools in May to distribute food to all the students in the district.

No child should go hungry. But OAPSE members who work with students and families every day know that hunger is a reality across our state. We wanted to do something to help the kids we care so much about. So, we started OMAD. Since the spring of 2014, OMAD has raised more than $140,000 through donations from members, locals, districts and staff and provided food to thousands of students across Ohio.

OMAD is only possible through those tax-deductible donations, and we are counting on you again this year to help make the Crestline event a huge success! For more information about OMAD and how to donate, check out https://oapse.org/oapse-making-a-difference/ and thank you for your continued support of OMAD.

The 100 members of Local 51 at Morgan Local Schools are celebrating their new contract, which includes wage increases of 6 percent in the first year of the agreement and 4 percent in the following two years for a total of 14 percent.

The bus drivers, aides, secretaries, mechanics, food service workers, custodians and secretaries went back to work Monday, March 13.

Local 51 was forced on strike March 1. All they wanted was fair wages and a decent contract so they can take care of their families while they take care of the students at Morgan Local Schools.

Check our Facebook page at facebook.com/oapseafscmelocal4 for frequent updates and send your messages of solidarity and support!

Below is information about a community rally and the issues Local 51 members are striking for.

More than 200 students, parents, and members of the McConnelsville community showed their strong support for members of OAPSE Local 51 Sunday (February 26) at a Rally for Fairness at Morgan Local Schools on the courthouse lawn.

Community leaders and union members called on Superintendent Kristi Barker and the Morgan Local Schools Board of Education to get back to negotiations and give the 100 members of Local 51 wage increases that will bring them in line with surrounding school districts. Some area districts pay as much as $9 more per hour for the same job. Local 51 represents bus drivers, classroom aides, health aides, mechanics, maintenance workers, custodians, food service employees, and secretaries

Secretary Tabitha Rushing is a former bus driver and spoke to the crowd about the critical role that school employees play in the lives of the students at Morgan Local Schools.

“We love our kids. And they count on us to be there for them and support them throughout their day. We know these kids. We build relationships. When we are out in the community, kids come up and hug us. When we are in the grocery store, they run up to us to say, “Hi,” Rushing said.

Rushing and the other Local 51 members are troubled about the school district hiring private companies to do their work if the district comes back from the so-called remote learning threatened by the superintendent.

“We know their allergies. We know the proper nutrition they need to learn well. We make sure no child goes hungry. But the people coming in from the private company hired by the district don’t know these kids, and they are just going to be thrown into the kitchens and told to feed our kids. It just won’t be the same, and the students are going to pay the price,” said Cook Brenda Roberts.

She apologized for being emotional, “but these kids are so important to us. We don’t want to be away from them. We just want fairness.”

She said employees are especially upset that the private replacements will be paid more than the cooks are making, according to advertisements run by the district.

Members of Local 51 have been working without a contract since July 2022. They make an average of $23,500 and are asking for wage increases of 6 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent over three years.

The workers are paying 20 percent more for their health care over the last two years, resulting in as much as $753 more annually.

Superintendent Kristi Barker started with the school district in 2020 with a salary of $125,000. She received an $18,000 raise in her second year and now makes $143,000. That’s a 14.4 percent increase in one year.

“With an average salary of $23,500, our members would see a raise of about $118 per month if we got the 6 percent we are asking for in the first year. And the additional health care costs eat up half of that. All we want is fairness and a living wage so we can take care of our families while we are taking care of the students at Morgan Local Schools,” said Local 51 President Tom Quaintance.

The union is calling on Barker to get back to negotiations and settle the contract to avoid a strike, which is set to begin Wednesday.

“She won’t even talk again until March 10 and is forcing students out of the classrooms and into ‘remote learning’. We want the school board and the superintendent to recognize how much this is going to impact our community and get back to negotiations so we can all move forward,” Quaintance said.

Nearly 200 active and retired members of Local 160 at Parma Local Schools know first-hand the value of their union after negotiating a deal to pay general monitors and special education assistants (SPEDs) more than $1 million!

We recently sat down with Local 160 members Julie Sisunik, Secretary (Union Treasurer); Elaine Crow, Classroom Assistant (Union President); Heather Holmes, Secretary (Union Secretary); Sharyn Ficyk, SPED (Union VP); Judy Payor, SPED; Tara Wallace, SPED; Jennifer Petrasek, SPED; Jodi Mika, SPED; and Tammy Pyatt, SPED, to hear about the deal and how it benefits the members financially and in the classroom.

Their story is below. And take a look at the video to hear from them how important this win is and how it has impacted Local 160 members. They’re sticking with their union! And they think you should, too!

In a huge win for members of Local 160 at Parma City Schools, nearly 200 current and former general monitors and special education assistants (SPED/Paraprofessionals) have received backpay and settlement payments of more than $1 million dollars.

This multi-year payout is the result of action brought by OAPSE and Local 160 when the administration was found to have violated contract provisions and did not pay members the appropriate negotiated rate of compensation when the members were found to be working without a substitute.   

The dispute involved premium pay compensation for these classifications who were found to be working short-staffed when normally a substitute was to be assigned. In this situation, the members were to be compensated an additional $10 per hour on top of their regular pay. The contract mandated premium pay for each employee who worked in a classroom setting or was found to be monitoring students without the full complement of staff.

The dispute between the parties began when the employer implemented an interpretation of the premium pay language by splitting the $10 per hour premium pay when there were multiple employees eligible. This resulted in premium pay compensation being less than the negotiated $10 per hour for each eligible member. 

After the implementation of the new premium pay language in the 2019-2022 contract and with no resolution, OAPSE Local 160 filed a grievance on August 25, 2020. The parties continued to try to resolve the dispute throughout the grievance process, but with no resolution, the union filed for expedited arbitration, and that concluded on April 6, 2022. The arbitration resulted in an opinion and award in favor of the Union. 

The parties entered into negotiations for an anticipated 2022-2025 successor agreement, and it was in that forum that both parties demonstrated a willingness to put differences aside and agreed to work together to resolve outstanding staffing issues and the additional work involved to finally bring a resolution that included backpay and moved forward the settlement on the premium pay language.

Together, they decided to remove the premium pay language from the contract and replace it with a $2,000 stipend for the 2022-2023 school years paid in three equal installments. Each year after, a $1,500 stipend will be provided in four equal installments to each general monitor and each SPED/Paraprofessional who work in these classifications.

The agreement also included back pay settlement for every SPED / Paraprofessional and General Monitor. As a result, nearly 200 active and retired SPED / Paraprofessional and General Monitor have received payments of $1,800 dollars for the 2020- 2021 school year and 2021-2022 school year – totaling more than $1 million dollars that has already been paid to OAPSE members for each of those two years.  

Local 160 President Elaine Crow credited the union and management for their resolve to work together to solve this problem and move forward.

“It was the working relationship between the Union officers and the District administration that was instrumental in resolving these differences. But more importantly, it shows the District’s recognition towards each OAPSE member for the job they do and recognizes that we are an integral part of the educational experience. We take a real hands-on approach in educating our students, and we make a difference at Parma City Schools.”

This year, for Black History Month, the national AFL-CIO is highlighting union leaders who are currently active making Black history across the labor movement. Check daily at www.aflcio.org for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today’s profile is OAPSE’s own Annie Anderson!