LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio — After an agreement was not reached on Wednesday morning, workers for Lorain County's Job and Family Services have gone on strike.
Union members said their talks with county commissioners have stalled.
Dozens of employees spent their morning outside the Lorain County Job and Family Services building.
Why are they on strike?
UAW Local 2192 said that over the past five years, JFS has experienced a turnover crisis, with 90 workers out of 140 positions having quit.
Workers said the attrition has led to larger workloads for employees and longer wait times for clients.
"The fact is, we're understaffed, overworked, and they're sitting on hold because we have such a limited amount of people doing the job, caring for the entire county," said Otis Lovejoy, a JFS expedited food assistance worker. "A lot of times you end up with individuals leaving our county to go to other counties because for the same job, they can go somewhere else and make more money."
Additionally, the union said the county has increased JFS workers' health insurance by 50%, while average salaries remain below those of other job and family services in Ohio.
"I’d like to see our employees not qualify for the benefits we give the public,” said Alexandria Wircham, a child support accountant for Lorain Co. JFS.
While the workers are on the picket, services family rely on could get disrupted, "What is going to be affected is people aren't going to get their food stamps issued, they're not going to get their medicaid issued, elderly are in jeopardy because they're not being able to go out and inspect homes of people who are neglected and abused, daycares are not going to get inspected either," said Gina Jones, chairperson for Lorain County Job and Family Services.
On Friday, the Lorain County Board of Commissioners approved what it said was its "best and final" contract proposal.
It included an initial 4.5% general wage increase, followed by a 3.5% increase in September 2026 and a 4% raise in September 2027. The proposed contract said base wages would range from $14.01 to $29.02.
The UAW was requesting a 26% raise over a three-year period, in what it said was an effort to match other county employee wages across the state.
County Commissioners said the union is requesting money it doesn't have to spend.
Board president Commissioner Dave Moore told News 5 that health insurance has cost the county an additional $10 million over the past five years. He said the county has not increased costs for employees in three of the past five years.
The negotiations also come as the county navigates financial challenges. After voters rejected a proposed sales tax increase, commissioners said they had to trim nearly $11 million from the annual budget.
In late January, Commissioner Marty Gallagher addressed criticism from the Lorain County Auditor after budget cuts forced the auditor's office to close on Fridays.
"Unfortunately, we had to make those tough decisions. We have to hunker down, we have to budget our money better," Gallagher said at the time.
Dave Moore told News 5 over the phone that the board was not planning to entertain more contract negotiations.
