OFT’s Melissa Cropper on Pensions, Higher Ed and Library Union Busting

Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast with a full agenda of urgent issues facing Ohio educators, library workers and the democratic process itself. She detailed the late-night budget maneuver that removed elected educator representatives from the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio board, the related lawsuit and Ohio House Bill 719, which is working to reverse the removal.

Cropper also outlined how Ohio House Bill 698 is being used to enforce Ohio Senate Bill 1's higher education restrictions through the threat of withheld state funding, and how it is already disrupting collective bargaining. She also described an intensifying union-busting campaign at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, where administration is flooding workers with anti-union messaging as a mid-June election approaches — with a community rally set for June 7 at Franklin Park in Columbus.

• Buried in the final moments of Ohio's budget process, passed at 1 a.m. in conference committee with no public testimony, was an amendment reducing the number of elected educator representatives on the STRS pension board while increasing politically appointed seats and stripping elected members of the ability to serve as board chair or vice chair. Following that action, OFT secured a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect while the case moves through the courts. Also, House Bill 719 was introduced to restore the board to its prior composition through the proper legislative process.
• House Bill 698, the enforcement companion to Senate Bill 1, ties university state funding to compliance with higher education restrictions, requiring institutions to document that employees who previously held DEI-related roles have completely changed their responsibilities. It is already being used by universities as grounds to block collective bargaining efforts on a growing range of topics, based on Attorney General guidance to declare entire categories of issues off the table at the bargaining table.
• The Columbus Metropolitan Library administration is facing a mid-June union election that was filed in December. In response, the administration has escalated from monthly to weekly anti-union communications, embedding what it labels “union education” content into employee intranet banners and emails. Over 60 percent of workers filed for the election, and the OFT remains confident in its outcome, with a community rally planned for June 7 at 5:30 p.m. at Franklin Park in Columbus.

Ohio's Educators Are Fighting on Three Fronts at Once

Melissa Cropper has been the President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers long enough to know when the state legislature is trying to get away with something. The past several months have given her plenty of examples.

From a pension board restructuring passed in the dead of night to a higher education enforcement bill designed to tighten the screws on universities already struggling with Ohio Senate Bill 1 compliance, to an accelerating union-busting campaign at a Columbus library that should know better, Cropper arrived at America's Work Force Union Podcast with a full and urgent agenda.

A “Midnight Raid” on the Teachers' Pension Board

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio is funded entirely by educators and the school systems that employ them. The state of Ohio contributes nothing. That distinction matters when understanding what happened during the last budget cycle, and why OFT is fighting the action in court and in the legislature simultaneously.

It was around 1 a.m., and a conference committee session was finalizing the state budget process, Cropper explained. Only a handful of people were in attendance when an amendment was inserted that reduced the number of elected educator representatives on the STRS Board and increased the number of political appointees by four. The same amendment stripped elected members of the ability to serve as board chair or vice chair, effectively handing control of educators’ own retirement system to people appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, who can be removed at any time, she said. No one outside that late-night room had the opportunity to testify. The change did not go through the standard three-hearing legislative process. It did not comply with the single-subject rule that prohibits unrelated provisions from being bundled into budget bills, especially one that includes zero appropriations to the STRS board.

OFT filed suit immediately. A preliminary injunction has kept the law from taking effect while the case moves through the appeals court, Cropper said. The full case is not expected to begin until around September. In the legislature, House Bill 719 was introduced. If approved, it would restore the board's composition to what it was before the budget amendment, not by endorsing the policy outcome, but by demanding that the process be conducted properly, with public testimony and a legitimate vote. Cropper said that even if the legislature ultimately decides to change the board composition, it owes the people whose money sits in that system the basic democratic right to be heard first.

Ohio House Bill 698: Ohio Senate Bill 1 Gets an Enforcement Mechanism

Senate Bill 1's restrictions on higher education in Ohio were already generating significant disruption on campuses. House Bill 698 adds a financial lever: universities that are not deemed compliant risk having their state share of instruction withheld. The bill requires institutions to document that employees who previously held positions characterized as DEI-related have had their roles completely and demonstrably changed. It lowers the threshold for eliminating courses with declining or flat enrollment. And it extends SB1's reach deeper into university operations while simultaneously providing less clarity about what compliance actually requires.

The impact at the bargaining table has been immediate. Universities are using HB698 and Attorney General guidance to declare entire categories of issues off-limits in collective bargaining. The OFT and its members were told that a growing range of topics simply cannot be negotiated because SB1 and its companion legislation prohibit it, Cropper said. The compliance burden alone is creating significant operational strain, she added, with universities struggling to produce the documentation the new law demands while simultaneously maintaining normal operations.

The bill's first committee hearing did not follow the standard sequence of proponent testimony before opposition testimony. Cropper and other witnesses received notification on the Friday before Mother's Day that opposition testimony had been scheduled for the following Tuesday, with written submissions required 24 hours in advance. When Cropper testified, the committee chair repeatedly interrupted witnesses and attempted to block discussion of Senate Bill 1, arguing that HB698 was a separate piece of legislation — a position Cropper said was difficult to defend given that the bill's own title identifies it as a companion to SB1.

Columbus Metropolitan Library: Union Busting in the Stacks

The third front is one Cropper takes personally. She spent 14 years as a school librarian before leading OFT and has been deeply involved in organizing public libraries across central Ohio. Wins at Worthington, Grandview, Pickerington, Delaware County, Upper Arlington and Athens County Public Library have made the region a model for library worker organizing. The Columbus Metropolitan Library was supposed to be next. More than 60 percent of its workers filed for a union election in December. The election is not scheduled until mid-June — a six-month wait that Cropper said gives management an extended window to run an anti-union campaign with essentially no accountability.

Library administration began holding monthly anti-union communications, but they have escalated to weekly distributions as the election approaches, Cropper said. A banner labeled “union education” sits at the top of every employee intranet page, linking to management-produced content about why workers should vote no. Cropper said the messaging is selective, misleading on the topic of union dues and conspicuously silent about the wage increases, paid parental leave, paid assault leave and binding grievance procedures that union contracts have delivered at the other central Ohio libraries OFT has organized.

The OFT is confident in its support and is pushing toward the mid-June election with momentum. On Sunday, June 7, at 5:30 p.m., OFT will hold a community rally at Franklin Park in Columbus. It will be an opportunity for the public to show support for library workers’ right to organize. Cropper extended an open invitation to anyone in the area to attend.

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