Ohio AFL-CIO Convention - Cincinnati, Ohio

The Ohio AFL-CIO recently completed their 29th Biennial Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.  A total of 416 delegates and 132 guests were in attendance.  The OPWU was represented by Secretary/Treasurer Helmer Semjonovs and myself.

During President Tim Burga's opening address he spoke about legislation currently pending in the Ohio Congress.  There are 3 seperate "right-to-work" and one "right-to-choose" bills being considered.  They will most certainly come up after the election this November.  The average wage for an Ohio worker is now $18.70 an hour while the average CEO wage is $2771.00 an hour.  President Burga feels that there is a good chance to win statewide elections for Treasurer (Connie Pillich), Attorney General (David Pepper), Secretary of State (Nina Turner) and Auditor (John Patrick Carney).  The simple key will be voter turnout.

The convention passed numerous resolutions including one submitted by the OPWU and Ohio NALC about the Staples boycott.  Thanks to Ohio NALC President John Dyce for his cooperation and support.  

President Burga and Secretary/Treasurer Pierette Talley were reelected without opposition.  The entire executive board was also relected and I was honored and privileged to become a vice-president of the state federation.

Some interesting facts learned during the convention:

1.  The average worker "pay drop" in 2013 was 1% but workers with degrees saw their pay go down 3%.

2.  In a recent poll, 70% want the minimum wage raised to at least $10.10 an hour and 82% want the economy to work for all people.  This was a poll conducted of republican voters!

3.  1% of America controls 40% of the wealth.

4.  The percentage of union workers in this country remained at 11.3% for 2013.  However there was a net pickup of union jobs in Ohio.

5.  Even though John Kasich is leading Ed Fitzgerald in the polls, he has yet to reach 50%.

6.  10% of the workers in Ohio make the minimum wage while 15% live paycheck to paycheck.

After the convention adjourned I attended the kick-off meeting for Labor 2014.  Again this year the plan will follow successful campaigns of 2008 & 2012 concentrating on voter turnout, home visits, phone banks, and direct mailing.  During the presentation they put up a slide showing the top six unions active in the campaign through September 16.  #1 was the Ohio Federation of Teachers, #2 was the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, #3 was the Steelworkers, #4 was the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, #5 was another school employee union, and #6 was The Ohio Postal Workers Union!!!  With hundreds of unions in Ohio larger than the OPWU this was a little shocking and quite gratifying.  I believe that all of our contributions to date are from volunteers because I have not been made aware of any release time being approved by our national union.

Election Day is November 4.  Vote and get your family and friends to vote.  We have to fight to keep Ohio from becoming a "right-to-work" state.  

Terry Grant, President OPWU AFL-CIO