It seems a lifetime ago that Governor DeWine declared a State of Emergency on March 9 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. But for OCSEA frontline workers, including many of you reading this, these last seven weeks have been absolute hell and probably the most difficult weeks of their lives.

We're all asking: IF THIS ISN’T AN EMERGENCY, WHAT IS?

Nearly all state institutions, including prisons, youth facilities, DCs and behavioral health hospitals, are at some level of quarantine emergency. One Correction Officer has died from being exposed on the job. State employees undergo daily health screening and social distancing requirements, where ever they work; some employees wear PPE from head to toe; prison staff are working back to back, 16-hour shifts; institutional employees are in regular contact with quarantined inmates or residents; and hundreds of OCSEA members have, themselves, contracted the virus on the job.

Write the Governor and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) today and let them know state employees are in a state of emergency and deserve the $8 per hour emergency pay.