In Response to COVID-19 Pandemic:
OPEIU Members and Families Can Complete Bachelor's Degree
for Free This Summer

Because of the current economic and health uncertainty facing many of our members, your union is making it possible for all students who enroll through the OPEIU Low-Cost Degree Program at Central State University this summer to complete their degree with no out-of-pocket costs.

OPEIU members who enroll in the term beginning June 22 can do so under the same terms as the OPEIU Free College Program. All new and continuing students who are enrolled this summer will be eligible for a Free College last-dollar scholarship, which allows students to complete their degree (through graduation) with no out-of-pocket costs for tuition, fees or e-books. This represents a savings of more than $9,000.

We hear you: This is a tough time for parents and families who have school-age kids. With schools closed, some for the remainder of the year, families are learning how to support students’ distance learning and partner with their teachers and school staff while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

But it can be really hard. And that’s why the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the AFL-CIO are partnering to provide union families with helpful lessons and tools for kids in pre-K through 12th grade who are now learning at home and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. We’d like to share these resources with you. We hope they’re helpful. (And please note, these resources are intended to supplement what your child’s teacher or school has already provided.)

(WXYZ) — Denied hazard pay while being forced to ration personal protective equipment, frontline health workers at McLaren Hospitals say company executives should sacrifice more than 2% in salary cuts.

Last week, McLaren announced layoffs for up to 20 operating and recovery room nurses and cut back hours for many of its doctors and physicians assistants.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to jeopardize the well-being of our sisters and brothers bravely working on the frontlines, we owe it to those who came before us and to those who will come after us to demand that every working person in the United States has the right to come home after work.

Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act a half-century ago, but its goal – to ensure a safe workplace for every U.S. worker – is still far from reality. Union members and our allies continue to fight each day to realize that promise, but as working people throughout the nation know, the struggle is far from over.

This April 28, OPEIU invites you to join us in observing Workers Memorial Day to remember and honor our friends, family, neighbors and colleagues killed or injured on the job. This remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice also serves as a renewal of OPEIU’s commitment to ensuring workplace safety for every person in the U.S.