'A pretty high form of hypocrisy for OEA officers and managers'

From John Curry, September 1, 2010

“It’s a pretty high form of hypocrisy for OEA officers and managers to be giving us this treatment when they expect us to protect OEA members from the same treatment out in the schools.”

~ Norm Young, President of PSU

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http://www.theotherpaper.com/articles/2010/09/01/front/doc4c7ed6954ba66877248838.txt

How employees of a union strike . . . a union?

BY LYNDSEY TETER
The Other Paper, September 1, 2010

Click images to enlarge.

On Tuesday, Michele Prater, spokeswoman for the Ohio Education Association, was in a strange predicament: She couldn’t speak for the management.

Although that’s normally her full-time job, the media relations consultant couldn’t comment on a potential strike at her workplace. That’s because if a deal wasn’t struck between her bosses and her union representation, she would be out on the picket lines Wednesday morning. Prater is one of 109 employees represented by the Professional Staff Union (PSU) who exercised their right to strike against the OEA at midnight Tuesday.

So, if you’re keeping score at home, half the 220 employees who work at the Ohio Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, just went on strike.

“It’s just plain embarrassing for us, and probably for many OEA members, that we have to be put in this situation of a union striking a union,” said Norm Young, president of PSU, in a written statement.

“Our PSU members have to deal regularly with difficult school boards and school administrators around the state. It’s as if OEA officers and administrators think they have to impersonate the worst of them in the way they treat us. It’s simply the rankest form of hypocrisy,” said Young.

But for an organization apparently embattled in a bitter feud with half its workers, the OEA’s higher-ups did not hit back. Hell, they didn’t even object to the charges.

“I appreciate his comments and respect the rights of the PSU to the collective bargaining process,” said OEA Communications Director Mike Mahoney, echoing from his suddenly-more-spacious offices Downtown.

“We’re very hopeful that we can resolve these disagreements and get back to work. We’re ready to get back to the bargaining table.”

Piling on the sweetness, Mahoney added, “These are highly valued employees. They are very capable and professional, and we are confident we can continue to work with them.”

Officials from the OEA are playing by the unwritten union handbook to the word, respecting and honoring the collective bargaining principles—including an employee’s right to strike.

And they’re not bringing in scabs to do the work that’s piling up.

“We don’t intend to bring in other employees. The managerial employees we have here will provide services to members and local associations to the best of our abilities,” Mahoney said. “Obviously, we won’t be able to deliver the same level of services,” as OEA did with a full roster.

The PSA union includes 22 members who work in OEA’s East Broad Street headquarters and 87 members scattered in 25 field offices around the state. Those employees serve the 130,000 OEA members—mostly K-12 teachers, as well as bus drivers and higher education faculty members—as they bargain their own contracts with districts and universities around Ohio.

Now the job is left to a workforce split in half. “It’s a terrible time to have to be put in this position of striking,” said one picketer who asked not be named.

Not only are teachers around the state bargaining and needing consultation and representation, but “We’ve got an election coming up, and who you think organizes the groundwork for the Strickland campaign?”

Mahoney conceded that the OEA, as an organization, is a strong supporter of Team Strickland and that the members are “staunch advocates for re-election of the governor.”

Mahoney wouldn’t speculate how the strike could interfere with the November campaign. He stopped short of saying the Strickland campaign would be fine, even with 100 or so of its field commanders sitting out on strike, saying only, “It’s important that our 130,000 members continue to support the Strickland administration.”

The Strickland campaign had this to say about the strike: “No comment.”

But aren’t PSU members shooting themselves in the foot if they sit back and let Kasich keep his 8-point lead (which, by the way, he had in the most recent Rasmussen poll.)

“That’s a question for the OEA officials, who put us in this position to strike,” said PSU spokeswoman Amber Kirkwood.

But what about all those teachers out there who rely on OEA’s services? Doesn’t the PSU feel bad for letting them twist in the wind?

Folks on the picket line contend their hands were forced.

“I love my job and I respect OEA members. It’s sad that I’m on strike,” Kirkwood said.

The larger grievance, however, would have been to sit idle.

“When a union attacks the very basics of union values, sometimes you are forced to strike,” she said.

PSU filed an unfair labor charge in July with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that OEA had refused to bargain in good faith and, at times, had refused to bargain at all.

Although no one wants to talk officially, the beef between the two entities appears to be one centering on the $8 billion hole in the state budget. The OEA is funded by dues paid by educators—and although membership has remained steady during the economic downturn, it’s hard to say how the organization’s ranks might fare next year if cuts are made.

The OEA is sort of counting on that rainy day.

“The budget crisis could pose significant cuts in public education, which could affect jobs of our members and their ability to pay us dues,” Mahoney said. “This affects our ability to commit to a multi-year contract.”

The PSU requests include increases to salary, benefits and pension, Mahoney said. Thus far the OEA has, for the most part, managed to avoid the reductions, pay freezes, layoffs and furloughs that have plagued other industries.

Kirkwood said the OEA is playing hardball and that contracts allow for adjustments if and when cuts in membership occur.

This is not the first time the two entities have squared off. The current one-year PSU contract was settled just hours before a strike deadline a year ago, union officials said.

Records from the National Labor Relations Board show that half a dozen complaints have been filed and pulled or settled by PSU.

The union for the union is not toning down its rhetoric anytime soon.

“It’s a pretty high form of hypocrisy for OEA officers and managers to be giving us this treatment when they expect us to protect OEA members from the same treatment out in the schools,” said Young, PSU’s president.

“We run training programs to help our local leaders around the state cope with this same nonsense.”

Hopefully, the training programs are good. If not, the federal mediator who has assisted the talks since early July will continue to sit at the bargaining table.