PUBLIC EMPLOYEE QUARTERLY - OCSEA

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OBAMA RE-ELECTED OCSEA members rallied together for GOTV efforts, volunteering countless hours canvassing and phone banking in support of President Obama and other worker-friendly candidates in the 2012 election. These dedicated activists reached out to 800,000 Ohio voters, both union and non-union households during the last few days leading up to the election. Lee Saunders elected President of AFSCME Delegates to the AFSCME 40th International Convention voted to replace retiring Pres. Gerald McEntee with native Ohioan and former OCSEA member. AFSCME Secy.-Treas. Lee Saunders was chosen to lead the union of 1.6 million members. His running mate, Laura Reyes, from AFSCME Local 3930, of the United Domestic Workers (UDQ) was elected AFSCME Secy.-Treas. The war on workers continues... The war on workers centered on Wisconsin in 2011, with the passing of Gov. Scott Walker's bill to eliminate collective bargaining. Despite a valiant effort, the election to recall Gov. Walker failed, and the loss of worker's rights is being clearly felt by the people of Wisconsin. The battle then spread to Ohio with the introduction of Senate Bill 5, another attempt to take away bargaining rights of public workers. Ohioans came together to defeat SB 5, but the battle is far from over. In December 2012, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder quickly signed two "Right to Work" laws designed to weaken unions and decimate workers rights to collective bargaining, despite protests from the Michigan public. As more states jump on the "No Rights at Work" bandwagon, could Ohio be far behind? 10 Public Employee Quarterly Winter 2013
Fighting privatization In the fight against prison privatization, OCSEA filed a lawsuit on behalf of 270 members laid off or otherwise negatively affected after the privatization of North Central Corrections Institution in Marion and the first-ever sale of a prison with Lake Erie Correctional Facility in Conneaut. In early 2012, an attempt to privatize the ODOT Sign Shop failed, when ODOT officials realized the private contractor could not complete the project as quickly or efficiently as the Sign Shop. The contract was cancelled, and the work was brought back in-house. The fight against privatization celebrated another victory in 2012, when Gov. John Kasich abandoned his plans to privatize the Ohio Turnpike. The fight for fair redistricting In a private back-room deal, Ohio politicians redrew Congressional and legislative districts in 2010 to benefit themselves, ensuring their own re-elections without accountability to the voters. But Voters First Ohio fought back, gathering 750,000 signatures in March of last year to place the Voter's First Initiative on the ballot for 2012. The resulting amendment, Issue 2, would create a citizen's commission to redraw the districts, thus putting the power back in the hands of the citizen's, not the politicians. Although Issue 2 was defeated on election night, Voters First Ohio says that it will continue to reach out to policy makers and organizations such as OCSEA that supported Issue 2 to work towards developing a consensus on reform. GOTV: We will remember in November OCSEA activists scored some major victories on election night due to the thousands of hours members spent canvassing and phone banking during Get Out the Vote efforts in 2012. OCSEA led the way nationally in member-to-member outreach within the AFSCME family. A major victory for workers, President Barack Obama won Ohio and a second term in the White House. Due to the efforts of these activists, OCSEA-endorsed, laborfriendly candidates were also elected to U.S. House and Senate seats, including Senator Sherrod Brown who handily defeated challenger Josh Mandel. And a former OCSEA staffer, William O'Neill, was elected to serve as the only Democrat on Ohio’s Supreme Court. Winter 2013 Public Employee Quarterly 11
Page 1 and 2: PUBLIC EMPLOYEE QUARTERLY AFSCME LO
Page 3 and 4: Ohioans Gather to Say... Recently,
Page 5 and 6: What the impact of closures really
Page 7 and 8: OCSEA Convention SAVE THE DATE The
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Page 13 and 14: When is a “tax cut” a BAD DEAL?
Page 15 and 16: UNION MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS BENEFITS I
Page 17 and 18: OCSEA professional spotlight Alica
Page 19 and 20: OCSEA is proud of the chapters and
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Page 23 and 24: Early voting gets an assist, activi

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE QUARTERLY - OCSEA

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