AFSCME Local members are asking the community to tell Ohio University and its administration that while student enrollment has been the highest its ever been at Ohio University, frontline university employees including food service and cleaning staff have been cut by 20 percent. There has been a loss of almost a hundred positions. Ohio University union staff are rallying to restore the staffing levels and rescind the 20 percent cuts. While employees continue to do more with fewer staff members, we are still fighting a pandemic and we need to maintain the standards of cleanliness and sanitation.
Sign our petition and demand OU Leadership rescind the 20 percent cuts and restore staff to a safe level.
In early March, employees of the Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University came together to form Wex Workers United in an effort to collectively establish a union at their workplace. These employees are advocating for a fair and equitable workplace, the right to negotiate for wages and benefits, and to have a voice in important workplace issues such as safety. They are demanding dignity and respect on the job.
While having received the Wexner employees’ petition, with signatures from an overwhelming majority of employees, the Co Interim Directors Megan Cavanaugh and Kelly Stevelt, as well as OSU President Kristina M. Johnson, PhD, and Melissa L. Gilliam, MD, MPH Executive Vice President and Provost, have remained unmoved and disinterested in addressing employee concerns. Wex Workers United is demanding that the Ohio State University and its leadership respect the employees who are organizing by either voluntarily recognizing the employee union or by putting forward a consent agreement calling for a free and fair union election.
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