Wishing you a safe and joyous Holiday from your Union
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
We write today to wish you a very Happy Holidays! On behalf of your elected union officers, State Board of Directors and OCSEA staff, we wish you a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and a joyous New Year. We hope your holiday season is filled with happiness and great blessings with family and friends.
We're so excited to see that our chapters across the state have been getting back together this month for holiday gatherings after a long COVID hiatus. This has allowed so many of our brothers and sisters to meet in person and celebrate true solidarity and friendship as well as their accomplishments and goodwill. We thank those chapters that have used this holiday season to give back to their communities. Chapters like Grafton Correctional Chapter 4710 that participated in a coat, hat and glove drive for a local school and ODNR Central Ohio Chapter 2515 that raised funds for the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association goodwill program. These are just a few of many.
As a union, we're definitely looking forward to the year ahead as union organizing continues to gain much needed steam and workers lead the way in rebuilding what the workplace should look like. The world is paying attention, and we couldn't be more proud as a growing number of workers see the value in fighting for a unified workplace voice and respect and dignity on the job.
Here at OCSEA we're going to be putting a lot of focus on training and union building over the next year. It's no secret that Ohio's public workforce has lost a lot of valuable public employees and union members through the pandemic and as the result of retirements. It's time to rebuild! It's time to get back to basics with trainings on Union 101: everything from contract interpretation, steward training, leadership skill building, union history and more. We look forward to growing with you over the next year and beyond and building the next generation of union leaders. See some New Year's resolutions below that can help you kick off the New Year right!
We know how hard our members work each day, so we also want to take a moment to thank you for your work as a public service worker, and we hope you can find some time over the holidays to relax and recuperate. And for those who work during the holidays, as always, we say, Thank You for all you do to keep Ohio safe and well!
In Solidarity,
President Chris Mabe
Vice President Rocky Jolly
Secretary-Treasurer Kathy Gersper
OCSEA's offices will be closed on December 23-December 26 for the Christmas holiday as well as December 30-January 2 for the New Year's observance.