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Part-time workers in Youngstown won big election victory, lawyer says.
YOUNGSTOWN
Part-time workers in Youngstown won a significant victory in last week’s election when the part-time workers’ bill of rights was added to the city charter by a 55-45 percent vote, according to a lawyer representing the group that put the charter amendment on the ballot.
“It does a lot to benefit part-time workers, especially women and women with children, or women who are caregivers,” said Atty. Don McTigue of Columbus, who represents Part-Timers Rights, the organization that put the bill on the ballot.
That organization’s executive director is Bob Goodrich, of Grand Rapids, Mich., owner of a movie theater chain.
“It is about giving adequate notice of scheduling or changing schedules, and that’s important when you have to make arrangements for child care,” McTigue said of the bill.
The bill requires employers to provide part-time workers’ schedules at least two weeks in advance, upon request; pay part-timers the same starting hourly wage as full-timers, whose jobs “require equal skill, effort and responsibility;” and give them proportional access to sick leave, personal leave and vacation.
Tom Humphries, president and chief executive officer of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, which opposed the bill, said the bill would complicate scheduling of workers.
However, McTigue noted the bill provides exemptions in cases of utility-service failures or other business interruptions beyond the employer’s control.
Humphries said the bill, whose provisions apply only within the Youngstown city limits, could discourage employers from locating their businesses in the city.
McTigue, however, said employers decide where to locate their businesses “based on where their customers are” and not “based on small increases in compensation or regulation.”
The bill says it covers part-time workers employed by private businesses, who work fewer than 40 hours a week, but the ballot language doesn’t specifically say it applies to part-time public sector employees, according to Atty. James Messenger of Youngstown, who represents management in personnel and labor relations matters.
Spokesmen for Mercy Health Youngstown, which operates St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, and for Youngstown State University, said they weren’t sure how and when the bill would affect them.
McTigue said, however, “The language is written broadly to apply to all employers, private and public, and profit and nonprofit.”
Article 18, Section 9 of the Ohio Constitution says city charter amendments take effect upon certification of the election results by the county board of elections, McTigue said.
This year’s deadline for such certification is Nov. 23.
The bill says city council must appoint a five-member commission to advise council concerning workplace policies and conditions for part-time employees and to receive complaints concerning alleged violations of the bill’s provisions.
The commission’s unpaid members serving two-year staggered terms will consist of two employer representatives, two representatives of part-time employees and one member representing the public.