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Choice for unions: layoffs or pay loss

Ohio’s largest labor group OKs furloughs, but not all unions bound by that agreement

State workers face two-week unpaid furloughs

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer 12:20 AM Monday, May 4, 2009

COLUMBUS — The choice for state workers was stark: unpaid furloughs or layoffs.

That was the scenario in March when the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association agreed to freeze their wages and accept two-week (10 work days) unpaid furloughs in negotiations with Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration.

At the time, state prison officials were in the final stages of planning for layoffs of several hundred people, said Ron Sylvester, spokesman for the Department of Administrative Services.

As the result of the agreement with OCSEA, “those (layoff) plans are on hold,” Sylvester said.

That choice continues to provide the backdrop as other unions negotiate with the Strickland administration.

The state’s deal with OCSEA, the largest state employee union with 35,000 members, usually serves as kind of a master agreement, Sylvester said.

The OCSEA agreement, however, has a parity clause. That means if other unions still negotiating with the state don’t accept unpaid furloughs, OCSEA wouldn’t have to either.

John Sumner, a parole officer and leader in the Service Employees International Union District 1199, said workers in his union are aware of the potential for layoffs but also are wary of losing some of their pay. His union, which represents about 4,200 state employees, has started negotiations with the state.

Most of the people he’s spoken with “would willingly give up (some pay) so that everybody could keep their jobs,” said Sumner, who lives in Monroe and works in Lebanon in Warren County.

Larry Phillips, president of the Ohio State Troopers Association, said his union is aware of the OCSEA agreement but doesn’t feel bound by it. The union represents about 1,700 employees. The unpaid furlough would mean a pay loss of about $2,200 for a state trooper, Phillips said.

“We don’t feel we’re obligated to accept what OCSEA has. We feel we’re a separate bargaining organization and will bargain accordingly,” Phillips said.

Vickie Miller, labor relations consultant for the Ohio Education Association, said her union is “looking at other avenues (than) taking a 10-day furlough.” The OEA represents about 587 state employees, including teachers in prisons.

Based on an average salary of $54,000 for a teacher in the bargaining unit, the pay loss through the furloughs would be about $2,076.

The state also still faces bargaining with the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, which represents about 540 employees.

Strickland also has proposed unpaid furloughs for the 11,000 nonunion employees under his control, including the governor himself.

Strickland, with a salary of $144,830, would lose about $5,570.

Dr. Alvin Jackson, director of the Health Department, would lose about $5,937, based on his $154,377 salary.

Budget Director Pari Sabety, with a salary of $126,401, would lose about $4,861.

Strickland said he is confident that the other unions will follow OCSEA’s example.

“These are tough times. They call for unprecedented action, and I believe the leaders of the other unions and the members of the other unions understand the difficulty of what we are dealing with,” he said. “This is a worldwide recession. It’s a national recession. It’s having a profound impact upon our state.”

Back in Dayton, Tommy Jones, a 30-year state employee and a leader of OCSEA, said Strickland is right about the economy.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it in my life,” Jones said.

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