In mid August, the OCSEA/ODJFS Assembly notified the OCSEA membership of its complete and utter shock with the abrupt announcement that the Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services was eliminating teleworking within the Office of Unemployment Insurance Operations and the Office of Workforce Development. Ironically, OCSEA leaders and ODJFS had just finalized a labor/management agreement not less than four months ago to continue the teleworking for those employees who currently work out of their homes.
Following the announcement, impacted OCSEA teleworking members were encouraged to bombard ODJFS over email to express their outrage with the decision to eliminate teleworking. While the union is working very hard to make sure the impact on employees is minimal, the ODJFS Assembly is urging ODJFS union members and other OCSEA supporters to join in on this email campaign and let ODJFS know about their displeasure with this "bad faith" agreement as well.
Support ODJFS teleworkers email campaign
Please ONLY use personal emails and send emails on non-state time (e.g. after hours or weekends).
TAKE ACTION! Help our teleworker ODJFS brothers and sisters by bombarding ODJFS management with emails expressing outrage with their decision to eliminate teleworking––less than four months after signing a new teleworking agreement! Stand in solidarity with ODJFS union teleworkers by showing our resistance AND to make management aware that they cannot tread on our union rights.
Send emails to:
Cynthia Dungey, ODJFS Director: Cynthia.Dungey@jfs.ohio.gov
Tiffany Richards, Deputy Director-Office of Employee and Business Services: Tiffany.Richardson@jfs.ohio.gov
Feel free to cut and paste any or all of the following options or use your own words and experiences:
- I am writing to express my shock at your decision to eliminate Teleworking in the Office of Unemployment Insurance Operations and the Office of Workforce Development. Your decision comes as a complete surprise given that the new teleworking policy just came out less than four months ago.
- Ending telework is a slap in the face to the union committee members who worked on this agreement and to the teleworkers who gave their input and trusted in the process of negotiations to come up with a fair agreement.
- Reversing this agreement is not only in bad faith, it also will require employees to spend many more hours away from their families and communities. Many of the 190 employees impacted would be forced to commute hours a day, which is known to lower productivity and decrease health.
- I am blind-sided by your decision to end telework and feel betrayed, especially given the fact that teleworking was an option ODJFS management offered in the first place, precisely to avoid massive layoffs and potential loss of services.
- Reversing this decision is a bad idea and just another shake-up for employees who have experienced more than their share of change. The decision does not appear well-thought out but just another knee jerk reaction to a "perceived" problem. The original closures and consolidations were hard enough on impacted ODJFS employees. At least teleworking gave employees an options to remain working and allowed for a fairly seamless transition for ODJFS customers.