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Outstanding issues involve outsourcing jobs, pay raises. Sides, mediator set to meet
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Nov 13, 2008
Three unions at the Summit County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities are prepared to issue a 10-day strike notice if ongoing contract negotiations fall through, the unions said Wednesday in a joint statement.
The Weaver Workshop and Support Association, and Weaver Education Association I and II have been working without a contract since Dec. 31. Together, they represent more than 400 MRDD workers, including therapists, custodians and office support staff.
The unions authorized the bargaining team in late October to issue the strike notice ''when they deem it necessary,'' because there has been little movement in the negotiations, joint union spokeswoman Hyla Cushner said Wednesday.
The outstanding issues involve pay raises and outsourcing of jobs, she said.
The two sides will sit down again Monday and Tuesday with a federal mediator. Union members also plan to attend the MRDD board meeting next Wednesday.
''We will either go with good news or to ask them to hear our concerns,'' Cushner said.
MRDD Superintendent Thomas Arm
strong said parents and other clients have been notified of the possible strike. In case of a work stoppage, the agency will use nonunion staff members and local providers to serve clients, he said.
The agency serves more than 3,600 people.
Cushner and Armstrong said they are hopeful for a positive resolution.
''We're trying to work through those [outstanding] issues,'' Armstrong said. ''We think we have a fair proposal on the table — a proposal that would ensure current workers' jobs. I still believe we can work through those things.''
He declined to discuss specific details of the proposal.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Three unions at the Summit County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities are prepared to issue a 10-day strike notice if ongoing contract negotiations fall through, the unions said Wednesday in a joint statement.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 06:36 AM, 11/13/2008
Given these people what they want!
akron , oh
Posted 07:11 AM, 11/13/2008
no pay raises. everyone else is making do with less, you should too. Stop being greedy. Yes I am sure you haven't got a pay raise in I don't know how long, but you know what? most people haven't eithert so deal with it.
akron , oh
Posted 07:11 AM, 11/13/2008
oops---either....
Posted 07:28 AM, 11/13/2008
If they aren't happy with their pay they can go work somewhere else. No one is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to work for MRDD.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 07:41 AM, 11/13/2008
They already get good pay and the best benefits as government employees. The private sector should get such good pay and benefits. Tell the union to take their strike where the sun doesn't shine.
Mogadore, OH
Posted 08:12 AM, 11/13/2008
Not a good time to stike, we're all paying too much for the Bush administration...
Akron, OH
Posted 08:37 AM, 11/13/2008
In these economic times, one has to question the sanity of the union's threat of a strike.
Oh wait, we're talkin' about MRDD, sanity, would be a relative term.
Posted 09:13 AM, 11/13/2008
I would think twice about going on strike, there's a lot of people out of work, who will do your job for less money. Let's be honest, in many cases we're talking about unskilled positions. Some would contend you're already being overpaid. If you go on strike, you will be replaced and services will go on.
Posted 10:04 AM, 11/13/2008
"Oh wait, we're talkin' about MRDD, sanity, would be a relative term"
You did not seriously write this, did you? How offensive for the workers and the clients. Shame on you. Evolve already.
Posted 10:14 AM, 11/13/2008
Let them publish the budget, publish the added cost of their demands...add the two amounts together and divide by the alledged 3600 users......
400 employees serving 3600 Users..9 customers per Employee.........talk about Corporate Greed...
"WE are the change WE have been looking for: ????
The Unions once served a noble purpose...they are now only extoronists.
Posted 10:36 AM, 11/13/2008
To borrow from Donnie P, there is a special place in hell for those that would affect the services of the MRDD clients for their own contract demands. It seems to me that these workers need a little reality check with the current labor market. Replace them and rip up the union contract. I know it's not that easy, but it should be. Anyone who has to collude to justify their pay is inherently overpaid.
Ravenna, OH
Posted 12:36 PM, 11/13/2008
Let them go on strike and replace everyone of them. There are plenty of people who would work under the same conditions. Ask one of the 8,000 DHL workers.
Posted 01:07 PM, 11/13/2008
"Let them go on strike and replace everyone of them. There are plenty of people who would work under the same conditions. Ask one of the 8,000 DHL workers."
Sounds good doesn't it? However, these are educated, specifically skilled, specifically certified personnel. These personnel are not just "babysitters". They are professionals who teach the clients to live their lives to the best of their ability and to reach their highest potential possible. The majority of these personnel have someone, or have had someone in their family with a disability, which seems to give them a better understanding, and compassion, for the people that they are working with. The unions are not asking for more than what is reasonable, and trying to ensure some job security. Hiring "others" (generally unskilled, minimum wage) will only increase turnover, which will increase problems for the clients, who depend on these persons to be consistent parts of their lives. This will undo all the good work that the agency as a whole has done for the last 30 years.
Perhaps, before you spout off about this, you should get the facts of the situation, and the realities that pertain to this. There has been quite a bit of misleading information regarding this issue put out there, and I believe the residents of Summit County should take the time to find out the truth, before they jump in to make such statements as I've seen posted above.
Posted 04:29 PM, 11/13/2008
Brianna,
Find out what truth? The union wants more money. Who needs to know more than that? I can only assume you are a member, to which I reiterate my borrowed Don quote.
Posted 05:52 PM, 11/13/2008
For one to reference working with individuals with MRDD as merely “babysitting” tells me that this individual wouldn’t last a day working with the MRDD population. It is a high stress job when you are dealing with at times severe disabilities both medically and behaviorally and often one is required to make split –second decisions that could prevent injury and save a life. This requires a great amount of skill, common sense, and intellect. Spend a day working with Medicaid and I bet by the end of that day you will be running for the door.
If a contract is not fair I say strike! Strike! Strike! It is your patriotic duty to do so in these economic times. I call on all unions across this great nation to reverse the trend of greed of big business and big-pocket management – stand up for what you deserve as hard working Americans. It is time the worker reclaims a fair day wage for a fair day of work. If a CTL wage isn’t granted than this denies money to flow back into the economy. Take a good look at management salary versus union worker wages and ask yourself where the Levy dollars are going. It is time for the employer to share the profit with and invest in the workers instead of paying those of non bargaining status outrageous wages so they can live in enormous energy draining homes and drive gas hogging SUVs. One only needs to look at the fall of the American car company – those at the top have heavy pockets and the neglect of not investing and sharing the soaring profits with the workers and investing in the product in the end is root of their destruction. If you don’t stand up and claim your right to have a comfortable life then you only add to decline of these economic times. Outsourcing and sub contracting is what is killing this country and it is this that is unpatriotic!
For those who don’t want big government take another look – it isn’t big government running the country – It is big corporate Daddy O!
Posted 05:57 PM, 11/13/2008
Jason, Brianna knows what she is talking about you cannot have a person walk in off the streets and do the job that these workers do,they are well trained,they spend many hours in insevice days being trained,there are so many different personalites that go to the workshop and you just cannot have the work outsoursed.
I know from experience because I am a mother of a 23 year old that attend the workshop.I don't know what I would do without the services that they offer her,she gets to make a little money,she has friends there,she has a social life.
I would not be able to continue my job,no I do not work there I have 3 yrs to go to retire and without those services I would have to stay home with her,and thats not good for her either.
Brianna has said it so much better than I could ever say it.
Brianna knows what she is talking about and she has said it much better than I could ever express.
Akron, OH
Posted 06:12 PM, 11/13/2008
Who is dragging their feet on this one? The union is pulling one way, the board is pulling the other. It's the eternal struggle; it will always be this way.
Orrville, Oh
Posted 07:13 PM, 11/13/2008
Reality demands employees slam the door closed. On every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church. That refuses to market the cost in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service. Of every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care). Enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide, for every child (job) they conceive and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
Posted 01:07 PM, 11/20/2008
Jason,
Beware of making assumptions, it's not necessary to be a union member to be aware of the issues that are at stake.
Your "special place in XXXX" quote only shows your ignorance of the true facts.
Outsourcing jobs is much the same as sending jobs overseas, and that is what the County Board wants to do. How does that help the economy, which is driven by the "middle class"?
Also, is is necessary to spend about a 1/4 million dollars on a new payroll system when the one that is in place works? Could not that 1/4 million be better spent elsewhere?
Why do some managers get high percentage raises, when they haven't been promoted? (a matter of public record, which as a private citizen you are not subject to).
These are just some of the questions that you might consider asking before you jump to conclusions, looking only at the immediate situation instead of the long-term, larger picture that the unions are looking at.
Sandusky, OH
Posted 12:53 AM, 01/22/2009
I am not quite sure where some of you are getting your information from, but I am a Direct Care worker in Huron county for MR/DD children and we do not get paid enough for all that we do on a daily basis and what we have to go through on a daily basis either. You do not know what goes on and how you are treated by administration workers. They do not care if you put in 70 hours a week just as long as they go home with their 40. So before any of you go thinking you know what the pay rate is....think again, because it's not much more than minimum wage. And for all of you who say just quit and find a new one...it's not that easy. Us as workers of MR/DD children get attached to them. They become like your own children, you would do anything for them and you love them. I really don't know what some of you think? If it's a gravy job or what but I am here to tell you otherwise and to keep your mouth shut before you know all the facts on what Direct Support workers get paid!!!!
