Ohio members show union solidarity withinformational picket

A cold, snowy day was no deterrent to more than 200 members of the Federation of Franklin County Children Services who are fired up over contract negotiations, reports Lisa Zellner, communications director for the AFT’s Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT).

The workers, represented by the OFT’s Professionals Guild of Ohio (PGO), an affiliate of AFT Public Employees, orchestrated the informational picket Feb. 24 to show the union’s solidarity. Less than a week earlier, PGO and the agency’s bargaining representatives declared a negotiations impasse ignited by wage and health benefits.

“Right now, county employees are not required to pay for their health insurance,” says Gary Seigerst, PGO’s executive director. “They want these guys to be the first.”

Specifically, management wants the 550 children services workers represented by the PGO to contribute $280 a month toward their health insurance. “These employees are not making $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 a year,” says Seigerst. “With the health insurance proposal, [children services employees] are looking at a significant decrease in take-home pay.”

The agency also wants to keep its options open on wages, negotiating raises annually each year of the three-year contract. For the first year, the agency has proposed a 2 percent wage increase.

The Columbus Dispatch, which ran a story about the informational picket, reported that the average annual salary for the agency’s social workers is $36,620 and $28,727 for clerical employees. But Seigrest notes that starting wages for bargaining unit members range from $8 to $12 an hour.

The Federation of Franklin County Children Services contract expired Jan. 31, 2004. At press time, the local was organizing a second informational picket for March 31.