Read about the issues that four OCSEA members are weighing as they prepare to head to the ballot box this election season. For them it means focusing on dignity of work, empowering public employees and lifting up the middle class from the bottom up and the middle out.
You can also find their stories on pages 4-5 of the fall edition of the union magazine, The Public Employee Quarterly.
OCSEA members weigh issues that impact their vote
David Hwang, a Software Development Specialist 4 with the State Board of Education, knows firsthand the burdens and attacks that come with being a public employee. As an employee of an agency of state government that is often targeted by partisan politics, he is voting for those who will protect employees like him who have dedicated their careers to public service and education. “We all got into public service to help our communities, to help them grow,” said David. “But there are forces that want to dismantle the good work we do and make our work political,” he said. “With the current climate in Ohio, privatization is something I really fear, not just in my agency but across the country,” he said. David is concerned about proposals that could lead to gutting benefits, public pensions, union rights and protections that keep agency officials, like his, from “surrounding themselves with Yes-Men” for political gain.
DeLena Brown is president of Stark Chapter 7600 and serves in the Canton area as a Customer Service Representative for the Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services. She is voting for her union rights in the upcoming election. “I’ll be voting for those who will protect my right to collective bargaining and the freedom for workers to organize on the job,” said DeLena. “For me, there is so much value in solidarity strength in numbers when it comes to having a voice on the job.” She says she is very concerned about groups, like the Freedom foundation, who back politicians who want to “bust the union” and fight against good wages, benefits and pensions. For her, being union is about working together for the good of all Ohioans. “Our union rights must be protected, and that’s why I’m supporting candidates who will support us,” she said.
Jonathan Wright has been an Ohio public servant since 2008, first as a public mental health professional and now as an advocate for workers at the Franklin County Job and Family Services. He says he became a public employee to work for the greater good. “Wealthy people in this country have capitalized on dividing people in this country,” said Jonathan. “People with means––and I mean millionaires and billionaires––buy up opportunity and make it harder for the rest of us to get ahead,” he says. This has equated to disconnected wealthy interests fighting economic fairness for working people like a union voice that gives them a “fair shot,” he says. “I’m voting this year for my two sons––age 12 and 15––so they can have a future,” said Jonathan. For him, that means casting his votes for politicians who are pro-union and who will fight for tax breaks for the middle class and take-down guardrails that protect monopolies, just to name a few.
Anthony James is a Therapeutic Program Worker in the Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Anthony says he is voting for politicians who recognize that critical staffing shortages are affecting and devaluing public services. “We need people in charge who will address this issue head-on,” he said. That means voting in politicians, particularly to the Ohio Statehouse, who will work to secure funding and resources that support the recruitment and retention of essential workers. That also means a real desire to work with public unions–– including at the bargaining table––on solving the staffing crisis to maintain a strong and resilient public sector. “My sisters and brothers in mental health feel this burden every day; they are working shortstaffed, being mandated overtime and they are just getting burnt out,” said Anthony. “We need leadership from the top down that prioritize us and value what we do,” he said.
