OHIO CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
UNION NEWS / February 28, 2025

Starting this week, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has begun payment of retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).

 

Until its repeal in late 2024, these provisions reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits for over 3.2 million public employees who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes. The Social Security Fairness Act, sponsored by former Senator Sherrod Brown and signed into law by Pres. Joe Biden, made these payments possible. 

 

The SSA announced the following:

If a beneficiary is due retroactive benefits as a result of the Act, they will receive a one-time retroactive payment, deposited into the bank account SSA has on file, by the end of March. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in their benefit amount back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer apply.

 

Social Security benefits are paid one month behind. Most affected beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 (for their March 2025 benefit).

Agency level negotiations on remote work are playing a significant role as committees made up of both union and management representatives begin talks about the recent Executive Order on Return to Office.

 

Currently OCSEA Staff Representatives and union activists who serve on impacted agency statewide labor/management committees are busy at work reviewing telework polices and meeting with agencies about return to office next steps, exemptions, cost-savings and the impact on employees and continuity of operations. Despite the State denying the union's statewide grievance to bargain as a whole over return to office, the union is filing and/or is preparing to file several grievances on the agency level demanding that those agencies bargain return to office per the OCSEA State contract telework agreement and/or agency-specific agreements on remote work.

 

 

In case you missed it, OCSEA President Chris Mabe spoke with 10TV last week about the murder of Ross Correctional Correction Officer Andrew Lansing. He wholeheartedly agreed with Officer Lansing's family in calling his death "preventable." The union continues to call on the ODRC for improved safety protocols and increased staffing. Last week the union announced a taser deployment pilot program at Ross and Trumbull correctional institutions. 

Time is running out to register for OCSEA's annual Committee on Minority and Community Affairs (CMCA) Conference taking place March 21-22 at The Renaissance Columbus Westerville-Polaris Hotel, 409 Altair Parkway, Westerville, Ohio 43082. Visit OCSEA.org/cmca for more information about the conference and to register.  

Attention! The Renaissance Columbus Westerville-Polaris is SOLD OUT! If you still need to make a hotel reservation, the following back up hotel is available: Fairfield Inn, 9000 Worthington Rd., Westerville, OH 43082 | Phone: (614) 568-0770

Learn More:
2025 CMCA Conference

The Ohio AFL-CIO and Ohio's coalition of unions are raising alarm that anti-union politicians at the Statehouse are moving bills that gradually limit union power––a strategy critics fear is an “under-the-radar” revival of Ohio’s infamous 2011 overhaul of public unions. 

 

Union and worker advocates argue these bills set Ohio on a piecemeal path to accomplishing what former Gov. John Kasich’s administration couldn’t finish with Senate Bill 5: Gut the powers of public unions.

 

Right-to-work legislation hasn’t been introduced yet, but freshman state Rep. Levi Dean, a Green County Republican, started circulating a bill for cosponsors. His bill, which would affect both public and private sector workers, would also make it a third-degree misdemeanor for employee organizations to require membership or collect dues.

 

Senate Bill 1 is major overhaul of higher education which bans faculty strikes and excludes workload, tenure and program eliminations from bargaining agreements. 

 

“Our biggest concern is the prohibited bargaining subjects,” said Sara Kilpatrick, director of Ohio’s Conference of American Association of University Professors. “Those are the fundamental terms and conditions over faculty employment.”

 

Read more at Cleveland.com here. 

AFSCME President Lee Saunders said Wednesday the “shameful” budget bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives will harm the public services that AFSCME (including OCSEA members provide. "AFSCME research shows that on average 33% of all states’ budgets are supported by federal funding. In fact, some states receive as much as 50% of their budgets from Washington," Saunders wrote.

 

Saunders continued: "Public services are the backbone of the economy. Public service workers provide child care to working families, health care to individuals, and educational programs to invest in our future, to name a few. Gutting public services will devastate the economy." Read more and see how you can Get Organized around protecting thepublic services you provide for Ohioans. 

CC: OCSEA Board and Staff

Disclaimer: If you are receiving this email at a State of Ohio work email address, please note that your State email is on file with the union per your request. We highly recommend that you update your personal email address with OCSEA as soon as possible. Update your personal email HERE or log on to your MyOCSEA account to view your profile. Haven't created your MyOCSEA account yet? Create one HERE.

LEARN ABOUT OCSEA | UNION BENEFITS & DISCOUNTS |
UNION BENEFITS TRUST | UNION EDUCATION TRUST| MEMBER RESOURCE CENTER