Did you know that a portion of your union dues for 2014 may be tax-deductible? Take a look at this chart to see how much can be deducted, and under what conditions.
Disclaimer: This blog post does not constitute tax advice. SCOPE cannot provide tax advice to individuals or organizations. If you have additional tax-related questions, please consult a tax professional.
SCOPE’s Executive Board Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 5:30 p.m. at the Central OEA Office (947 Goodale Blvd, Columbus, OH 43212).
If you would like to have an item added to the agenda, please contact Diane Prettyman, SCOPE Secretary, at 614-562-5119.
Dear Members,
Season’s Greetings! I hope that this post finds you all well and looking forward to the New Year. My own personal feeling tells me that the year may be full of challenges and decisions that may be tough to make. As we prepare to go into bargaining, I want to begin by thanking those individuals who took the time to email this past summer and talk about issues they hope can be resolved at the bargaining table. The general membership meeting in Dayton was well attended by over 100 members. We took a lot of notes and we did a lot of listening.
SCOPE will send a letter of intent to bargain with the State in early 2015. Since the other union contracts expire before ours does, we will go in order and that means SCOPE will be last to bargain at the table. There is an advantage in that, as we will have full knowledge of what the State plans on providing in terms of economics and benefits.
We will be planning a number of town hall meetings around the state. These will be held after work hours or on the weekend. You may find yourself meeting with members who work in a difference agency and are part of your association. This will give us a chance to see other points of view, and find out what is important outside of our direct peer groups.
I was invited to meet with the other State unions in late November. We briefly discussed our concerns to one another. If you are new to state employment, often what OCSEA does concerning wages and benefits sets a pattern for all of the other unions. We have never received a lower or higher percentage of “cost of living” raise than our brothers and sisters in the other unions. It does set the foundation for our negotiations and we wish OCSEA success in the coming months.
I have asked the site representatives to start collecting e-mail addresses of members who want to receive negotiations updates via email. If you don’t have an e-mail account at home, buddy up with someone who can share with you the communications of the union.
Thank you for all you do and may the New Year bring you many blessings and joy.
In Solidarity,
Dominic Marsano, President
State Council of Professional Educators
The SCOPE Executive Board extends all good wishes for a happy holiday season and prosperous New Year. Please communicate information you would like to share in future issues of the quarterly newsletter. With so many sites and agencies in SCOPE, communication is difficult. I hope to see many of you at the town hall meetings in 2015. Dates and locations will be communicated from department reps to site reps. The information will also be available on the web site.
Minutes of all SCOPE board meetings are available to members once they are approved by the executive board. Email me at dcpretty@sbcglobal.net for a copy.
All site reps are asked to schedule at least four labor/management meetings each year. Now is a good time to bring up inclement weather and flexing for such. See if your site can have a workable and agreeable plan ahead of time. Also, classroom temperature is an issue that should be addressed by site.
Sincerely,
Diane Prettyman, Secretary
SCOPE
SCOPE’s Executive Board Meeting will be held on Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. at the Central OEA Office (947 Goodale Blvd, Columbus, OH 43212).
If you would like to have an item added to the agenda, please contact Diane Prettyman, SCOPE Secretary, at 614-562-5119.
SCOPE’s Executive Board Meeting will be held on October 9, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. at the Central OEA Office (947 Goodale Blvd, Columbus, OH 43212).
If you would like to have an item added to the agenda, please contact Diane Prettyman, SCOPE Secretary, at 614-562-5119.
The August 2014 SCOPE & Sequence newsletter has been published. Please click below to read an important letter from our union president, Dominic Marsano, regarding the upcoming contract negotiation process in 2015. Additional topics include information on the electronic grievance system, an update of SCOPE Executive Board contact information, and more! Check out the link below:
In May, ballots were counted for the 2014 SCOPE election. Here are the results:
SCOPE Vice President: Betsy Lavinder (88 votes)
SCOPE Treasurer: Marianne Huffman (89 votes)
Proposed Constitution & By-Laws Change: Yes (60 votes); No (36 votes)
OEA Delegates (7 slots available):
1. Tammy Koontz (63 votes)
2. Jack Rosenberry (63 votes)
3. Cindy Price (61 votes)
4. Todd Dygert (60 votes)
5. Bruce Moore (58 votes)
6. Gretchen Hull (56 votes)
7. Janet Carter (53 votes)
Chuck Steinbower–Alternate (52 votes)
David Keck–Alternate (1 vote)
Al Glitch–Alternate (1 vote)
William Robb–Alternate (1 vote)
Blair Copeland–Alternate (1 vote)
Yolanda Battle–Alternate (1 vote)
NEA Delegates (3 slots available):
1. Dominic Marsano (54 votes)
2. Tammy Koontz (42 votes)
3. Bruce Moore (40 votes)
Gretchen Hull–Alternate (36 votes)
Jack Rosenberry–Alternate (31 votes)
Cindy Price–Alternate (29 votes)
Todd Dygert–Alternate (24 votes)
Janet Carter–Alternate (20 votes)
David Keck–Alternate (1 vote)
Al Glitch–Alternate (1 vote)
Blair Copeland–Alternate (1 vote)
Executive Board:
OSSD (1 seat): Jen Bahary
OSSB (1 seat): Chris Ross
DYS (1 seat): Nola Derheimer
MISC (1 seat): Evan Struble
DRC (5 seats): Tammy Koontz, Jack Rosenberry, Bruce Moore, Todd Dygert, Diana Jackson
Congratulations to those elected or re-elected, and a hearty “thank you” to our SCOPE Elections Chair, Sally Kendall, and to all SCOPE members that voted!
As you may be aware, the process of filing a grievance within SCOPE has recently moved online in an electronic format, known as OH Grievance. Please bookmark the following link on your internet browser so that you will have easy access to the electronic grievance system.
https://oh-grievance.secure.force.com/AppLogin/SiteLogin
For SCOPE members’ convenience, the OH Grievance link has been embedded on the SCOPE web site under “Links” on the right-hand side of the site.
To become acclimated to the online grievance process, SCOPE members are strongly encouraged to view the following learning tools:
OH Grievance Training Webinar Video
OH Grievance “Quick Tips” (Word Document)
OH Grievance PowerPoint (w/ trainer’s notes)
If you have any questions about the online grievance process, please contact your site representative.
SCOPE’s site representative training will be held on Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the downtown OEA Office, in the Multi-media Room on the 2nd Floor. (225 East Broad Street, Columbus OH 43215)
All SCOPE/OEA membership materials and training guides will be provided at this training session so it is very important that all SCOPE site reps attend. If you cannot attend, please designate a substitute from your site to attend in your place and pick up the various materials provided.
To RSVP, or if you have any questions, please contact SCOPE Vice President Betsy Lavender at rblav1@frontier.com or SCOPE Secretary Diane Prettyman at dcpretty@sbcglobal.net by August 15th.