OAPSE

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OAPSE Scholarship Applications Available Now!

One of the benefits of being an OAPSE member is the opportunity to apply for $2,500 scholarships for college.

The OAPSE/AFSCME Memorial Scholarship Committee awards at least 10 scholarship each year to eligible high school students who are the children or legal guardians of OAPSE members in good standing.

To find out all the details about how to apply, click here.

All applications must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2022.

Applications are available to download at the link above.

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Happy Holidays and a Great 2022!

To: OAPSE Members

From: Executive Director Joe Rugola

Re: A Holiday Message and Looking Forward to 2022

Date: December 21, 2021

I hope and pray that this holiday season sees you and yours able to enjoy Christmas together. This Christmas and New Year finds us still facing the challenges raised by the COVID pandemic. While there is definitely the Christmas spirit in the air, there is also the cloud of uncertainty hanging over us. As we move in to 2022, one thing that is certain in our lives is the voice of OAPSE raised on behalf of our members all over the state of Ohio.

As OAPSE has done over nearly a century of work to improve the lives of our members, we will stay on the job fighting for better wages, benefits, and a secure retirement as well as the respect our people so richly deserve.

That is why, over the last three years alone, more than 7,000 workers in our public schools, DD’s, Head Starts, libraries and community colleges have signed up to be part of our union. Those workers know that regardless of the noise and lies generated by anti-union forces, OAPSE leads the way toward a more secure life for school bus drivers, custodial and maintenance workers, secretaries and clerical employees, food service workers and educational assistants in every county in Ohio.

Just in 2021, OAPSE negotiated more than 250 contracts with employers in Ohio winning wage and benefit improvements and salary bonuses in recognition of the heroes work done for our kids and the public in the face of the dangers passed by COVID. Our union also turned back efforts by just a few employers to lay-off our members during the pandemic. By taking our case to the courts and directly to the communities we serve, OAPSE sent a clear signal to employers everywhere that we would not stand for attempts to cut vital jobs and punish our people while protecting highly paid administrators. Enforcing our contracts and our legal rights has been, and will continue to be, the priority for our union regardless of the challenges we face.

We have also made real progress in securing more funding from both the state and federal governments to support the critical work our members do every day. Our years of work to reverse the Social Security Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) have also begun to bear fruit. Hundreds of members of Congress have signed on to support our fight and we will continue to push for the reversal of those laws which deprive our current and future retirees of thousands of dollars a year in benefits they and their spouses worked a lifetime to enjoy.

As you experience time with family during the holidays, know that your union, OAPSE, will always be at work to protect the livelihood you have eared.

God Bless You, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays!

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Get the 2022 OAPSE Convention Information!

It’s time to get ready for our OAPSE’s 78th Conference, to be held April 27-29, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus. We are looking forward to gathering in person after having to meet in 2020 by conference call.

“Now More Than Ever, I’m Sticking With My Union!” is the theme of the meeting, and we will be looking to tell YOUR story about why are a strong OAPSE member. More about that in the coming weeks.

For now, local union presidents should receive the official conference call letter, which contains information about delegate elections, hotel registration and parking, resolution deadlines and important dates to remember.

District officers should receive official paperwork and information about delegate elections, resolution deadlines, delegate rosters and district committee appointments.

If you do not receive conference information by December 15, please contact Kathy Malone at [email protected]. Please get the forms back to us by the deadlines so we can communicate with delegates and alternates.

We have negotiated special rates at the Hyatt Regency Columbus. Regular rooms (single, double, triple and quad) with tax and fees are $193.88, regardless of occupancy. Please book your room through our block by clicking here. That link will take you directly to the OAPSE page. When prompted, enter the code N5AQ for the OAPSE rate. If you need assistance with housing, please contact Joyce Snyder at [email protected] or at 1-800-786-2773.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

December 28, 2021 –     Elections of Local Delegates may begin

January 27, 2022 –        Deadline for submitting Resolutions

February 26, 2022 –       Deadline for Delegate Roster to be returned to the OAPSE/AFSCME State Office

April 5, 2022 –                Hotel accommodations cannot be guaranteed by the hotel after this date. Hotel information is sent out in the Delegate packets after the return of the Delegate Roster; therefore, it is critical that the YELLOW Delegate Roster be sent to the State Office before the deadline date.

April 27, 28 & 29, 2022 –      OAPSE/AFSCME Delegate Conference

We look forward to your participation in the 78th Delegate Conference.

 

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November Update from Executive Director Joe Rugola

To: OAPSE Members
From: Executive Director Joe Rugola
Re: November Update
Date: November 18, 2021
I hope this finds you well and that you are starting to see the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 crisis in the schools and public institutions where OAPSE members work. Make no mistake – COVID is still with us. Ohioans are still falling ill and dying. But as the adult vaccination numbers increase and more students and children receive shots, we hope to see community spread slow, resulting in the lifting of some of the COVID restrictions and a return to a more “normal” time.
That will be welcome news. Until then, OAPSE members will continue to step up and do the important work of delivering public services under difficult circumstances – getting our kids to school safely; cleaning and sanitizing buildings; providing nutritious meals; assisting students in the classrooms and on the buses; maintaining buildings and keeping buses running; making our libraries work for our communities; assisting those with developmental disabilities; caring for children at Head Start agencies; and providing support at community colleges.
COVID has challenged all of us. And OAPSE members have met that challenge. Throughout the pandemic, you have really stepped up and done whatever it took to make sure our students and our communities received critical services. Some districts have responded with appreciation for administrators, teachers and OAPSE members. In an ideal world, that appreciation would include financial compensation as a recognition of your hard work.
You should know that since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been working with employers to use federal funding linked to COVID to reward our members for the incredible response to a once-in-a-generation health crisis. Our regional directors and field representatives have been monitoring available federal dollars and working to persuade all our employers to apply for the funds and then spend them to benefit OAPSE members and the people we serve.
Deadlines and allowable uses for the funds continue to evolve. We will keep tracking the updates and working with employers to secure as much funding as possible. Your field representatives and regional directors will update local leaders as often as possible.
In other news at the federal level, OAPSE continues to fight to repeal the Social Security Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). We are working with the International union and supporters in our Ohio congressional delegation to move forward legislation that would eliminate these terribly unfair laws that target public workers in Ohio, particularly women.
As part of our efforts, we are telling the stories of our members in videos. You can see two of them below. We want to hear your story so we can show Congress that the GPO and the WEP keep OAPSE members from being able to retire with dignity after decades of service to children and families.
We won’t give up this fight. Join us by signing a petition (you can download one here) and sharing your story with us by emailing [email protected] your details.
Please also share your experiences about supply-chain shortages in your workplace and how you and your coworkers are overcoming this latest challenge. Below, you can see one example of OAPSE members in Canton being innovative and creative to meet the needs of hungry students. Let us share your story by contacting us at [email protected].
As some of you know, I’ve been working for OAPSE members for more than 44 years and have been executive director of our union for 34 years. We have had some challenging times over those decades – bad employers, privatization attempts, cuts to school and local government budgets. But these times are particularly challenging, with obstacles we never imagined. I am proud of your response to these challenges and honored to be part of the union that stands with you every day as you strive to make our schools, libraries, boards of developmental disabilities, Head Start agencies and community colleges the best they can be.
God bless and stay safe.
Repeal the Unfair GPO
Supply Chain Shortages are affecting Schools all across the US
The Unfair GPO

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OAPSE Keeps Fighting to Eliminate the Social Security GPO and WEP

OAPSE is keeping up the fight to win fairness for retirees who are penalized because of the Social Security Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). The GPO especially affects OAPSE retired women because it strips them of the Social Security survival benefits they should receive when their spouse passes away. OAPSE Executive Director Joe Rugola recently submitted testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Social Security, Committee on Ways and Means.

The testimony lays out the unfairness of the GPO in particular and gives examples of how it impacts OAPSE members who would like to retire but cannot financially afford to because of the loss of their Social Security survivor benefits.

Click here to read the testimony.

And take a look at the videos of our members who tell their stories about why they are still working in our schools after more than 40 years. They cannot retire because they face losing the Social Security benefits their late husbands earned. It’s not fair, and OAPSE is working to make things right for them and for all OAPSE retirees.

Keep watching our FaceBook page for more stories like these. And keep sharing them to get the word out about how the GPO and WEP must be repealed.

If you or someone you know is impacted by the GPO or WEP, please contact us at [email protected]. We want to tell your story and make Congress see that the GPO and WEP must be eliminated.