COLUMBUS, Ohio — Employees at the Ohio Reformatory for Women headed to the picket line instead of work Monday morning.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio Reformatory for Women employees were picketing Monday

  • Employees are demanding more staff and better working hours 

  • The ORW has addressed some overtime concerns and are working to hire more employees 

  • Employees plan to picket until needs are met in shifts

Long shifts, some reaching 15 to 16 hours, are just one reason employees at the Ohio Reformatory for Women are out on the picket line. After months of talking to management, union members said that it was time to act and ask for better working conditions.

Members of the Ohio Civil Service Association at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, Chapter 8010, are picketing in response to understaffing issues and mandatory overtime.

Tom Holden, the union president, said COVID worsened issues that were already present and the facilities' solutions haven’t been consistent. 

“I have staff calling me all the time, reaching out and they’re in tears, because they sleep in their car because they’re too tired to drive home,” said Holden. “Management has offered lodging at hotels down there but when staff leave here they get turned away.” 

In a statement the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction responded to the union’s concerns and said, “Statewide recruitment efforts are ongoing and include the use of radio and streaming-radio services, billboard advertisements, the use of social media advertising, hiring events, and recruitment with local schools and colleges.”

In the same statement, the state outlined some steps that have already been taken to address the issues such as the implementation of a new, increased pay structure for correction officers. The statment also said a labor/management agreement was reach last year to allow other staff, including exempt and management staff, to volunteer to work needed overtime within the prisons.

A “teamwork incentive” was implemented last year where correction officers who work overtime earn an additional $50 per overtime shift on top of overtime pay. The reformatory has also offered food and lodging for staff that work overtime, according to the statement. 

Union members say the steps the state has taken don’t address the realities employees are facing.

Holden said they are not alone in the fight. Members at a Toledo prison picketed last November for similar reasons.

“I hope this sparks something in other facilities,” said Holden. “Stand up. Stand up for rights, stand up for your contract. We have to, that's all we have. They have to live here and then they have to drive home to maybe spend a little bit of time with their family. It's just inhumane. It's an epidemic across the state with the officers. We feel like we’re the forgotten law enforcement.”

Union members said they plan to picket each day in shifts until an agreement can be made addressing mass hiring and shorter work days.