This past weekend, nearly 350 OCSEA activists attended the OCSEA Bargaining Council to elect the 2024 OCSEA Bargaining Team. The Team includes 24 OCSEA leaders representing every OCSEA bargaining unit as well at OCSEA's three executive officers. See the Team list below.
Now that the Team has been elected, our next steps will be to start building a winning strategy around our theme: Fighting to Win! For the elected team members, that means working hard before the start of bargaining to take a deeper dive into the bargaining survey results. Over the next several weeks the team will be homing in on the priorities of the membership in an effort to create bargaining proposals and come up with strategies and tactics that match those priorities.
But the Bargaining Team can’t do this alone. They can’t demand our priorities and make gains at the table without the full participation of the OCSEA membership. While the Bargaining Team is busy these next few weeks, we hope all our membership will get busy too. We need EVERY member to take an active role in this year’s negotiations. Without a massive showing of solidarity and just plain union strength, management will never feel the pressure to agree to the Teams’ demands.
"This is going to be a bargaining session like no other," OCSEA President and Chief Negotiator Chris Mabe told leaders at Saturday's Bargaining Council. "We are in a position like we’ve never been in before. The State has money and their coffers are loaded. State employees were overlooked and cast aside during the COVID pandemic and now the credit card bill is due!" he declared.
Elected Team member from Bargaining Unit 3, Wilson Humphrey, couldn't agree more. "This is our chance to get back the respect we deserve," said Humphrey, a Juvenile Corrections Officer at Circleville Youth Center. "We've gotta fight like hell for the safety and health of our union members in our most dangerous facilities," he said.
"We've got a lot of work to do to dive deep into the top priorities of our members," said Melissa Yank, Bargaining Unit 14 Team member, a Software Development Specialist from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. "We've got to prepare a winning strategy so we can fight at the bargaining table to win at the kitchen table, on the issues that mean so much to members. I'm ready to fight that fight!" said Yank.
2024 Bargaining Team
- Bargaining Unit 3: Wilson Humphrey, Bill Homer, Doug Korba, Brian Miller, Bill Rager & Carl Vanbibber
- Bargaining Unit 4: Marcus Harris & Deborah Weaver
- Bargaining Unit 5: Jeff Condo
- Bargaining Unit 6: Michael Sheeter
- Bargaining Unit 7: Scott Buckridge, Lisa Schroeder & Toni Tuck-Newsome
- Bargaining Unit 9: Shirley Hubbert, Willis McClure & Damon Neal
- Bargaining Unit 13: Treva Knasel
Bargaining Unit 14: Cathy Deck, Roschelle Holcomb, Leslie Tilton & Melissa Yank
Keep connected! Double check your contact information right now!
Member transparency is a TOP priority to the 2024 Bargaining Team, so making sure we have the correct contact information on file will ensure you get all the bargaining information you need. As we head into bargaining, there are a few things you can do to make sure you stay connected during the bargaining process. The first is making sure your contact information is up to date with the union so you get all the bargaining updates throughout the process. This includes double checking your personal email, home and work address and cell phone number.
PERSONAL EMAIL IS KEY! Bargaining news is for members' eyes only!! Make sure you have a good personal email on file with the union. Update your contact information in your member-only MyOCSEA profile by logging on at OCSEA.org/sign-in or send it to OCSEA's webmaster HERE. You can also call the OCSEA Member Resource Center (MRC) at 1-888-OCSEA11 (627-3211) to make sure you have a good personal email on file.