For months now a union and management team has been working on improvements to an Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services agreement to protect workers who were able to telework after office closures and consolidations beginning in 2013. While management was unwilling to expand it, an agreement reached just four months ago allowed it to continue for those who currently telework.
"Now, in a complete and sudden reversal, management has sent a letter to the union declaring ALL teleworking will be phased out starting November 1."
"We are shocked," said OCSEA ODJFS Assembly President in an email to ODJFS union members. "Given the work that both sides have put in to talking about this and coming to a reasonable agreement, this is so out of the blue. We had a lot of give-and-take when we sat down at the table to negotiate and no one got everything they wanted, especially on our side. But all agreements are compromises. That’s why the union is especially taken aback by this sudden shift," she said.
If management gets its way and eliminates all teleworking, it could affect at least 190 ODJFS employees who were able to stay in their communities instead of moving to Columbus or commuting for hours a day.
"This is a slap in the face to our union committee who worked on this and to every teleworker whose input we sought and who trusted the process of negotiations to come up with a fair agreement that everyone could agree on," said Hill.
The union was blunt stating it smells a rat with this about-face. Ironically, OCSEA just featured a story about the agreement and the hard-working team in the latest issue of our union magazine! "Something just doesn’t add up here, but we will get to the bottom of it! said Hill. the ODJFS Assembly has been in touch with union teleworking committee members to determine next steps. To date, the union has made a demand to bargain and has requested rationale on this about-face.
As new information comes in, stay tuned the OCSEA website and look for further email updates. In the meanwhile, read the ODJFS Letter of Notice to Eliminate Teleworking.