Many of you have been reaching out wanting to know if our local reached the 60% membership required by last year’s union busting law SB 256. OCEA needed to have these numbers checked and verified prior to releasing information because the information is shared with the Public Employees Relation Commission. Sadly, neither of our units reached the 60% requirement. While this is not the news that I wanted to share today, I am so proud of the work our local has done in the past year. My promise to listen to and prioritize the educators of this district has been kept while visiting the schools and district sites.
When I began serving as President last year only 26% of the total bargaining units individuals had switched to edues. Today, we can proudly say that 58% of the instructional unit is represented by dues paying members and 31% of the ESP unit. These numbers represent more than 51% of all the employees in our unit and proves that our union is valuable to the employees of the School District of Osceola County.
Some of you are now wondering what happens next. We will continue to provide all our services to our members without change. While doing this our request for certification will be filed with PERC and we will ask for a vote to be held. OCEA has already been working on this plan and has collected signed blue and yellow cards from more than half of you, indicating you want OCEA to continue to bargain and represent support and instructional staff. As part of this process, PERC will be sending each person a mail in ballot to vote. To participate employees will need to go to the employee portal and check your address for accuracy.
While we know this news is not what we wanted to share, OCEA is stronger than ever! We are still celebrating our success and want our members and families to join us at the annual picnic on April 27, 2024. We will be sending our members a message with how to RSVP.