OCSEA members at the Ohio Treasurer's Office voted this week to ratify a three-year contract. Successful negotiations by the Treasurer of State union bargaining team resulted in major gains in telework language and a total salary increase of 12.5% over the next three years. This aligns with raises negotiated in the main state contract.

The union bargaining team addressed the most critical issues raised by members in the TOS survey conducted earlier this year. One of those major issues included telework. As a result, the ratified contract includes the addition of sub-article on telework that gives TOS union employees the opportunity to request a telework arrangement. If the request is denied, or a telework agreement is revoked, both the employee and the union is to be notified. The language also allows the union the opportunity to take a denial or revocation to the TOS Labor and Management Committee (LMC) for discussion. The language also gives grievance rights in regard to telework denials or revocations.

The 12.5% wage increase over the three-year contract includes 5% in the first year, retroactive to July 1, 2024; 4.5% in the second year to be received on July 1, 2025; and 3% in the third year to be received on July 1, 2026. As mentioned, this mirrors the increases in the main OCSEA state contract and is the largest for the TOS increase since the early 1980s.

The members of the union bargaining team included TOS employees from a diverse group of classifications. Those members were Christine Bannerman, Paula Dent, Wendy Kuhn, Ray McFarland and Grant Wise. The team calls this a successful and collaborative effort by both sides of the table that looked out for the betterment of all impacted members and classifications.

"We worked well together, the union and management, and that shows. We had the best interest of the members every step of the way," said Christine Bannerman, who served on the union team for the first time this year.

Steward and team member Grant Wise agrees. "We worked hard to make sure no one was forgotten during this negotiations, and that the real issues of the members were at the table," said Grant. "And as a result, we gained telework language, and a foundation of language that we'll continue to build upon."