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Public employee union members, jobs affected

OCSEA has re-energized Take Back Ohio, a membership mobilization effort to: maximize labor’s political strength; lay the foundation necessary for a step-by-step reconstruction of Ohio’s two-party system; create a blueprint for year-round grassroots political activity that moves the union forward toward the 2008 general elections and beyond.

Key legislative and political issues OCSEA has been working on include:

• The OCSEA Board of Directors recently endorsed the Ohio Healthy Families 2008 ballot initiative regarding paid sick leave.

• Contract Negotiations - Yes, bargaining is a political issue. You vote for your boss—the governor. That person ultimately decides your contract with the state. OCSEA's current contract will expire Feb. 28, 2009.

• The Employee Free Choice Act is critical to restoring our freedom to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. The bill was passed by the U.S. House, but a minority group of anti-union senators prevented it from passing in the U.S. Senate.

Other critical topics of interest include:

• Civil Service Reform - A number of conservative politicians, university officials and business representatives want to reform the civil service law—claiming it would decrease bureaucracy and promote efficiencies within government. In reality, many of their ideas would squash public employees' rights, decrease management accountability, and open the gateway for more privatization and political corruption.

• Collective Bargaining - The Collective Bargaining law has warded off consistent attacks during the last decade. The last big battles were back in 1995 and 2002. And, now again, political factions who want less government is a political issue. An anti-labor president was reelected recently. As a result, the collective bargaining rights of public employees across the country have suffered attacks and setbacks.

• Privatization - Repeatedly, poor political decisions and greedy privateers have proven the union's point that public employees are the right workers for delivering public services.