Message from President Parks: 
Stimulus action, negotiations paying off

April 8, 2009 - The union’s hard work at the bargaining table and its efforts to help get a federal stimulus package passed and ensure agency budgets are fully funded, is starting to pay off.

Just last week, the Director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections issued a memo saying that the anticipated layoffs of 500 Corrections employees would not be taking place after all.

“That’s a very specific result of the cost savings we negotiated in our three-year contract and our work on helping to get the stimulus bill passed,” said OCSEA President Eddie L. Parks.

“Thanks to OCSEA and the larger AFSCME family, the stimulus bill passed and has begun to inject some much-needed funds into state agency budgets. And while we know that the outcome of negotiations was not what most of us had hoped for, the cost savings of our negotiations plus the stimulus money is already having a positive effect on our members’ job security,” said Parks.

According to an article by the Columbus Dispatch, the union’s contract will save millions for the state, especially if all state employee unions adopt it, and even though a large portion of it will be returned in the third year.

Other agencies are also reporting that they too will be able to fully fund their current budgets and programs and in some cases, even add staff. The union is being told that additional employees will be needed in the Department of Job and Family Services where federal stimulus money will help bolster job programs for the unemployed.

 “We also know that the success we are having with maintaining jobs in spite of Ohio’s economic climate is a direct result of our political muscle. And that’s why our members’ involvement in the OCSEA/AFSCME political action committee is so important,” said Parks.

The stimulus bill has been a critical to the union's efforts in securing fiscal relief for public services. PEOPLE, the OCSEA / AFSCME political action committee, depends solely on members' voluntary contributions to make a difference in the Statehouse and on Capitol Hill on issues like agency funding, staffing levels, and legislation such as sentencing reform. No union dues are used for PEOPLE.

Read more about how the stimulus bill is affecting agency budgets, the outcome of contract negotiations and how PEOPLE efforts are making a difference, in the next issue of the union’s magazine, the Public Employee Quarterly, due out at the end of April.

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