Union workers at Job & Family Services issue strike notice to Lorain County

ELYRIA TWP. — Rallying outside Lorain County Job & Family Services offices on North Ridge Road on Tuesday, union workers with the agency delivered an ultimatum to county officials: Give them a new contract, including wage increases, or the 144 members of United Auto Workers Local 2192 employed by JFS will go on strike. UAW filed a strike notice on Tuesday. The union is legally required to give the county at least 10 days notice before a strike. A strike will happen if there is no new contract in place by Feb. 18, UAW and local union officials said. It can still be prevented: The union is just a phone call away for county commissioners and their negotiators, said Gina Jones, Local 2192 chairperson at Lorain County JFS. "If they call, we'll go back to the table," she said Tuesday. County officials had no official comment on the rally or the strike notice. "Out of respect for both negotiating teams we let them work at the table, not in media where items can be misunderstood out of complex context," Commissioner Jeff Riddell said Tuesday in a text message. Many workers wore black on what Jones said was a "day of action." They huddled together against the cold in the parking lot of Lorain County JFS offices as they closed for the day. "Fair contracts!" the workers chanted. If they don't get them? "Strike!" they chanted. Lorain County JFS administers federal and state public assistance programs including Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, unemployment, child support enforcement and more. Workers and the UAW said their pay is not keeping up with the cost of living. It is lower than most other JFS workers in Ohio, UAW Region 2B Director Dave Green told his fellow union members. "This isn't easy," Green said, pumping up the crowd and leading chants. "It ain't fun." He said JFS workers are underpaid and overworked compared to their colleagues in other counties. "We can't win without the support of people like you," Green said. "The workers have to fight. The only other option is to lay down and die." Officials with the UAW and Local 2192 said Lorain County officials haven't offered a fair deal so far. "I just want a fair contract," JFS worker Walter Martin said, with the cost of living, mortgage payments and insurance costs all going up, he said. Lorain County JFS has seen staffing shortages, problems recruiting new employees and has lost more than two-thirds of union members to turnover in the last five years, union members and officials said. In a news release, union officials said JFS workers saw a 50 percent increase in health care premiums during their last three-year contract. Facing higher premiums, some workers have dropped their county-provided health coverage altogether to go on Medicaid — "the same program they help administer in Lorain County," UAW said. At Tuesday's rally, Candace MacIntosh said that meant she wasn't able to put her newborn on her health care plan due to the cost. "They need to give us higher wages," she said. "We need this money," worker Debbie Rosalez said. The union is working on an expired contract. Negotiations started in September but didn't go anywhere, the union said. The county and the union had fact-finding hearing with a mediator in December. The Lorain County commissioners rejected that fact-finder's report on Jan. 12. With no counterproposal, it left "county workers with no options but to strike as a last resort," said the union. A strike authorization vote on Jan. 8 had 86 percent approval among union members, the union said. The union also criticized the county for what it said is a large number of upper management positions paying more than $100,000, while JFS employees can't make ends meet. Local 2192 last went on strike against the county for three months at the end of 2017 before the dispute was resolved. At Tuesday's rally, Jones said there was nothing more workers could do to avoid a possible strike. "The only thing we have left is to withhold our labor," she told her fellow union members. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.