At Least 1 Protestor Arrested Outside OEA Building

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Union workers are on strike against another union, the largest representing teachers in the state.

The Ohio Education Association said members of the Professional Staff Union (PSU), representing about half its 220 employees, went on strike early Wednesday, when the previous contract expired.

The contract expired at 12:01 Wednesday.

At least 30 protestors were at the OEA building at 225 E. Broad St. at about 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

People were picketing at the back and the front of the building.

CPD was called to the scene when a male protestor was hit by a vehicle. Witnesses said the man, who is in his 60s, was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.

Picketers apparently were attempting to stop vehicles from coming into the parking lot.

Columbus officers told NBC 4 the picketers are allowed on the sidewalk but aren't allowed to physically keep people out of the building.

CPD arrested at least one woman for blocking a vehicle attempting to turn into the parking lot.

OEA President Patricia Frost-Brooks said in a statement the association is disappointed an agreement was not reached in time to keep the PSU from walking out. She said the OEA is willing to meet at any time to resolve the remaining issues.

Professional Staff Union President Norm Young said his side is concerned about pensions, health care benefits, job security and workloads.

Many of the PSU members are labor relations consultants.

PRESS RELEASE FROM PSU

Employees of the Ohio Education Association, Ohio’s largest teacher union, are set to be on strike at midnight tonight if a new contract is not reached by then.  The 109 professional employees of OEA work in a Columbus headquarters and in 25 field offices in Ohio.  Negotiation between OEA representatives and negotiators from the Professional Staff Union (PSU) met all day Monday and today before breaking for PSU negotiators to meet with its members at 5:00 p.m.

PSU president Norm Young said after the PSU meeting, “We had nothing to present to our members at the end of the day, so they are headed home and to the picket lines tomorrow morning.  Actually, our pickets will start tonight at the Columbus headquarters.”  Young is a 26-year OEA employee.  After the PSU meeting, negotiation resumed tonight under the guidance of a federal mediator.

Another OEA union, the Ohio Associate Staff Union, representing the remainder of OEA’s non-management employees, reached a tentative agreement late Monday afternoon.  Details of the settlement will not be released until the union’s members vote on it.

Both unions had voted unanimously earlier in August to strike if no new contracts were reached when their contracts expired today.

Most of the PSU members work in OEA field offices assisting local OEA affiliates in their own contract talks with school boards.

Young said, “OEA officers and managers need to practice what they preach.  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.  I’ll say it again, it’s embarrassing.  We run training programs to help our local leaders around the state cope with this same nonsense.”

Young added, “We can’t negotiate in the public, but it’s safe to say that our issues in dispute are very similar to the issues with which we help OEA members everyday all over Ohio.  We are trying to protect our pensions, our health care benefits, our job security; we’re trying to keep our workload under control; and we want fair treatment regarding our pay and other compensation matters. 

The contract talks began May 20.  A federal mediator has assisted the talks since early July.  The union filed an unfair labor practice charge in July with the National Labor Relations Board over the union’s claim that OEA was refusing to negotiate.

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