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Workers on Ohio Picket Line Fighting to Keep Children Safe
Fighting for lower caseloads to better protect at-risk children and families, overburdened caseworkers and support staff in Akron, Ohio, have been walking a picket line since their contract expired July 14.
The work stoppage affects about 300 workers at Summit County Children Services, represented by CWA Local 4546. Management refused to extend the contract and continue bargaining, making the work stoppage inevitable, said CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett of the Public, Health Care and Education Workers Sector.
The workers have generated ample press coverage and strong support from the public and fellow unions. About 30 CWA-represented caseworkers from Local 1037 in Newark, New Jersey took a vacation day July 15 to ride a bus to Akron to walk the picket line and join a rally.
"They spent all night on a bus to get here, and we're extremely grateful," Local 4546 President Robin Schenault said. "That went a long way with the community, knowing that we had that kind of support."
As the clock ticked toward the contract's expiration, Schenault said negotiations broke down over the county's refusal to cap employees' caseloads, as well as management's demand to bargain only a one-year contract.
Schenault said the county's wage offer of a 4 percent raise for caseworkers and 3 percent for support staff is fine with the union, except for the county's insistence that the contract last only a year. The union is trying to hold the line against givebacks in health care, but even that isn't the local's driving issue.
Their primary concern is for at-risk children and families whose caseworkers are so overburdened that they can't give them an adequate level of service. Over the past three years, 11 children in the system have died and others have been victims of abuse. Schenault said caseworkers are heartbroken, angry and feel helpless against a county that refuses to even acknowledge the high number of cases employees are assigned.
"They could work day and night and still not keep up with their loads," she said, explaining that intake workers, who investigate complaints, may have 70 or more cases a month. Protective workers who do follow-up have about 30. Both numbers are well above the levels set by the Child Welfare League of America, which recommends front-line workers have no more than 12 cases at any one time.
"The county's claim that our members handle only 20 cases on average a month is simply not true," Sunkett said. "We are gratified that the public understands this, and that the community has thrown its full support behind our members. It makes the county's refusal to change its tune all the more mystifying and appalling."
One horrifying recent case in the Akron area made national news. It involved five severely malnourished boys, allegedly beaten and locked in a closet. "We know deep down that we should have spent more time with that family," caseworker Joe St. Jean told the Akron Beacon Journal. "But you can't do it."
The week before the work stoppage, the county suspended Schenault for three days without pay for speaking out about the county's failure to protect children. The local has filed a grievance and is preparing an unfair labor practice charge.
"President Schenault's suspension was reprehensible and we cannot condemn the county strongly enough for its shameful and illegal response to her forthright comments," said Jeff Rechenbach, CWA District 4 vice president. "She not only has a First Amendment right to free speech, she feels a personal responsibility to her community to make sure people understand how critical the situation is."
Public outrage over the five boys has fueled support for the union. Schenault said radio talk shows have opened the airwaves to picketers, religious leaders are speaking out, passersby are honking their horns and fellow unions have rallied and picketed with the local.
The union has been maintaining picket lines at the children's service building, three satellite offices, and several days into the strike they put one up at juvenile court. The county administrator had a trailer moved on court property to house managers and student interns who are being used - against Child Welfare League advice - to fill in for picketing workers.
The action backfired on the county when construction workers building an addition to the court saw the picket lines and walked off the job, Schenault said.
The caseload burden resonated on a personal level with child protection workers represented by Local 1037 in New Jersey. Members there have tried for years to get reduced caseloads through legislation, and were more than willing to take a vacation day to support the fight in Ohio, Local 1037 President Hetty Rosenstein said.
"Nothing will change without caseload caps," Rosenstein said. "It's a great thing that they're doing, for the children, for the families and for the community, in making this a contract issue, and we wanted to show our support for them."
The work stoppage affects about 300 workers at Summit County Children Services, represented by CWA Local 4546. Management refused to extend the contract and continue bargaining, making the work stoppage inevitable, said CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett of the Public, Health Care and Education Workers Sector.
The workers have generated ample press coverage and strong support from the public and fellow unions. About 30 CWA-represented caseworkers from Local 1037 in Newark, New Jersey took a vacation day July 15 to ride a bus to Akron to walk the picket line and join a rally.
"They spent all night on a bus to get here, and we're extremely grateful," Local 4546 President Robin Schenault said. "That went a long way with the community, knowing that we had that kind of support."
As the clock ticked toward the contract's expiration, Schenault said negotiations broke down over the county's refusal to cap employees' caseloads, as well as management's demand to bargain only a one-year contract.
Schenault said the county's wage offer of a 4 percent raise for caseworkers and 3 percent for support staff is fine with the union, except for the county's insistence that the contract last only a year. The union is trying to hold the line against givebacks in health care, but even that isn't the local's driving issue.
Their primary concern is for at-risk children and families whose caseworkers are so overburdened that they can't give them an adequate level of service. Over the past three years, 11 children in the system have died and others have been victims of abuse. Schenault said caseworkers are heartbroken, angry and feel helpless against a county that refuses to even acknowledge the high number of cases employees are assigned.
"They could work day and night and still not keep up with their loads," she said, explaining that intake workers, who investigate complaints, may have 70 or more cases a month. Protective workers who do follow-up have about 30. Both numbers are well above the levels set by the Child Welfare League of America, which recommends front-line workers have no more than 12 cases at any one time.
"The county's claim that our members handle only 20 cases on average a month is simply not true," Sunkett said. "We are gratified that the public understands this, and that the community has thrown its full support behind our members. It makes the county's refusal to change its tune all the more mystifying and appalling."
One horrifying recent case in the Akron area made national news. It involved five severely malnourished boys, allegedly beaten and locked in a closet. "We know deep down that we should have spent more time with that family," caseworker Joe St. Jean told the Akron Beacon Journal. "But you can't do it."
The week before the work stoppage, the county suspended Schenault for three days without pay for speaking out about the county's failure to protect children. The local has filed a grievance and is preparing an unfair labor practice charge.
"President Schenault's suspension was reprehensible and we cannot condemn the county strongly enough for its shameful and illegal response to her forthright comments," said Jeff Rechenbach, CWA District 4 vice president. "She not only has a First Amendment right to free speech, she feels a personal responsibility to her community to make sure people understand how critical the situation is."
Public outrage over the five boys has fueled support for the union. Schenault said radio talk shows have opened the airwaves to picketers, religious leaders are speaking out, passersby are honking their horns and fellow unions have rallied and picketed with the local.
The union has been maintaining picket lines at the children's service building, three satellite offices, and several days into the strike they put one up at juvenile court. The county administrator had a trailer moved on court property to house managers and student interns who are being used - against Child Welfare League advice - to fill in for picketing workers.
The action backfired on the county when construction workers building an addition to the court saw the picket lines and walked off the job, Schenault said.
The caseload burden resonated on a personal level with child protection workers represented by Local 1037 in New Jersey. Members there have tried for years to get reduced caseloads through legislation, and were more than willing to take a vacation day to support the fight in Ohio, Local 1037 President Hetty Rosenstein said.
"Nothing will change without caseload caps," Rosenstein said. "It's a great thing that they're doing, for the children, for the families and for the community, in making this a contract issue, and we wanted to show our support for them."