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Season 5, Episode 12

The OFT hopes the work done in 2023 will lead to 2024 success

Picture of awfblog awfblog January 16, 2024

General Recruitment America's Work Force Union Podcast Health, Welfare, and Safety AWF AFT Government Affairs and Policy Ohio Federation of Teachers

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Guest Name:

Melissa Cropper

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oft-aft.org 

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President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Melissa Cropper, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about a lack of awareness from Ohio politicians, continuing their momentum from 2023 and organizing librarians across America.

Ohio House Bill 68 has garnered a lot of attention both nationally and statewide. Cropper went on to discuss the two basic parts of the bill. Gov. Mike DeWine decided the topics in the bill should not be regulated by parents, not politicians, and vetoed the bill, Cropper said. Following the veto, the Ohio Senate voted along party lines to overturn the veto despite the public voicing their disagreement with the bill. Cropper said this is a perfect example of politicians ignoring the public's desires.

The OFT continued its pro-worker momentum from 2023, winning a first contract for librarians at Grandview Heights Public Library. The first contract was settled in December, ensuring workers returned in 2024 under their first pro-worker contract. Among the wins in the first contract were important protections and benefits, along with much-needed wage increases for the workers.

The Pickerington Public Library won their union election just before they went on Christmas break. The Columbus College of Art and Design also won their union election around the same time, which Cropper hopes will pave the way for more librarians to seek union protections. For Cropper, it is a special cause for organizing librarians, as she began working at a library in high school and experienced the daily issues librarians face firsthand.

Learn more about the OFT’s organizing and negotiation work by listening to the show above.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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