Membership Incentive Program update
The final date to tally up membership percentages for the Membership Incentive Program (MIP) was May 1. As expected, there was quite a flurry of activity by chapters to get those last few applications in before the deadline.
The numbers tell the story: When we started, OSEA represented a little more than 21,000 employees in 138 chapters. Of those, almost 15,000 were members and about 5,200 were fair-share fee payers. We had 88 chapters at 70 percent membership or better.
Since November 2017, we have conducted 79 membership campaigns around the state that were either solely chapter led or assisted by OSEA staff. In that time, we signed up 3,083 new members and had 1,404 current members renew their union commitment by signing an All In Card. Overall, OSEA ended up increasing membership by 5.3 percent statewide.
As of this week, OSEA represents more than 22,000 employees with 16,540 of those being members and 4,200 fair-share fee payers. We also have more than 100 chapters at 70 percent membership or better with 18 of those at 100 percent membership. Look for final numbers in the May-June Journal.
Many variables were taken into account during the final tabulations, and we realize our final membership numbers and those from the chapters may need further reconciliation. Please contact the State Office for assistance.
“These preliminary results are fantastic,” OSEA President Tim Stoelb said. “They would not have been possible without the superhuman efforts of our chapter volunteers, leaders and OSEA staff working in tandem. They achieved a lot in a relatively short period of time. I cannot tell you how proud I am of the work we have done.”
Stoelb added that he hopes OSEA’s organizing efforts don’t simply stop because the MIP deadline has passed.
“We still need to ensure that we have a conversation with 100 percent of the employees we represent around the state,” he said. “These conversations help build membership and strengthen our union. I strongly encourage any chapter that has not held a membership drive to contact the OSEA State Office. Our organizers and field representatives are ready to help.”
Contribute to our political action fund
