The Ohio Public Sector Labor-Management Health Care Benefits Committee was established by members of an informal advisory group to members of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Mediators from around the state of Ohio sought group health insurance information relative to their mediation activities. In 2004, the State Employment Relations Board began meeting with this group in its search for an instructional model for establishing, maintaining, and evaluating effective, local labor-management health care benefits committees. Convinced that the advisory group had the knowledge and experience to develop such a solution, it sought a grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to develop this mode.

The training program developed by the Committee consists of two days of intensive training in health insurance, procurement, committee effectiveness and problem-solving for labor-management health insurance committees. Seven facilitated sessions follow the training to provide support for committee development. The training and facilitation intervention are being evaluated by the Ohio Collaborative, a policy research center dedicated to meeting the educational policy research needs of Ohio by bringing together education experts from across Ohio colleges and universities.

All training is provided free of charge; attendees receive a training guide, handouts, and access to a web site containing health insurance committee resources including an online classroom. Training sessions for October and November of 2005 have been announced on the OEA website.

To receive further information about the training program, please contact grant administrator Jim Cowles at the Columbus Area Labor-Management Committee, (614) 263-2044 or by e-mail at jim@calmc.org.