Posts tagged Ohio Association of Public School Employees AFSCME Local 4
OHIO UNION SETTLES, PAYS NONUNION WORKERS, TOO, WHO EARNED BONUS
December 27, 2023 // The Ohio Association of Public School Employees AFSCME Local 4/Local 673 (OAPSE) had negotiated into its collective bargaining agreement with the school district (CBA) a provision calling for the one-time distribution of $8,000 to a bargaining unit of employees consisting of bus drivers and cafeteria workers. This compensation (funded by the taxpayers through the district) was to be distributed to the employees according to work they had performed outside of normal working hours. The problem with the CBA provision, however, was that the district tasked OAPSE with fairly distributing the money.
OHIO LABOR BOARD FINDS CAUSE TO BELIEVE UNION DISCRIMINATED
September 8, 2023 // By law, OAPSE must represent every worker in the bargaining unit, even nonmembers. Accordingly, it also had the obligation to distribute the money to all employees but, to the surprise of exactly no one, OAPSE refused to pay compensation to the seven employees in the bargaining unit who had resigned their union membership. This was OAPSE’s way of retaliating against the non-union employees for having the audacity to keep their own money in their own pockets instead of funding a union that long ago began prioritizing its political and social agenda over advocating for workers. Unfortunately for OAPSE, retaliating against employees because they exercise their First Amendment rights violates not just the U.S. Constitution, but also Ohio law. For its part, the Southington School District clearly made a bad decision when it entrusted OAPSE with $8,000 in employee compensation, and one certainly does not need hindsight to know that OAPSE would end up discriminating against employees who have the courage to stand up to union bullying.