Coalition Bargaining Report

Our Union bargaining team met with the State management team on Monday, April 23^rd. We had previously agreed to discuss Article 122.3AB, the article about clothing, boot, tool and safety glasses allowances, and it brought out a large crowd. We had 26 folks from the ODOT coalition show up while there were 13 folks from management in attendance.

At 6:40 p.m. we began the meeting by discussing two counter proposals from management. The first one was dealing with the filling of vacancies language for State Fair. Management proposed bringing the language intact that State Fair had in their previous coalition to an LOA with minor language changes such as Agency changed to State Fair. They explained they wanted it put into a LOA because there may be legislation that would put State Fair as a stand alone agency. In this proposal they did not agree to bring in the rest of ODFW and did not agree to our proposal to fill open positions with transfers first.

The other counter proposal that management brought to the table was with Article 90.3E. They said last time they discussed why they were not interested in our section 1-3 changes, and this counter proposal had new language in section 4. It adds in language that they felt would allow employees to take breaks away from their immediate work area.

We briefly discussed article 101.3 about ocean going vessels and we questioned whether the folks were actually getting the training. We requested a list of workers who have gone out to sea in the last couple years and received the training that we are asking for in our proposal. Management agreed to get together the information and we would discuss it further at a later bargaining session.

Next we discussed the allowance articles. Rex Parks from ODOT led the discussion on the section that would increase the tools allowance from $575 to $800. As a field mechanic Rex was able to discuss how quality tools impacts job safety and how long the tools last. Dennis Bonnono brought in a wrench that cost $50 and explained how specialty tools are necessary to do the job. Kirk Spindler added to the discussion about how much electronic tools are now costing, using a electronic fuel management tool as an example that costs $500. Much of the discussion by these members and others such as Jim Cooper and Roger Upshaw revolved around that tools and the machines in which they repair have got more varied, more complex, and more expensive. A lot of that is due to the upgrades to the fleet that has gone from primarily Cummins trucks to a whole slew of manufacturers.

Management brought up how much the allowance had increased since 1995 suggesting that it was high enough. Rex and Jim countered his argument with the price of steel increasing and the shift from traditional tools to also include a whole line of electronic tools.

The next part of the discussion was around the boot allowance. Cameron McGinnis from Meacham read the proposal and discussed how much it costs for a good pair of boots. He said most employees have two pairs in order to have a dry pair when the others are soaked and that a good pair can cost a couple hundred dollars. Kermit Meling added that it can also cost $85 just to have boots resoled. Eddie Dunton said her crew typically buys Banners and they run pretty high. Rex answered to management that mechanics are required to wear steel toed as part of ANSI requirements. John Ponce from Parks went through and explained the importance of quality boots for safety and provided management with a hand out explaining the benefits to the state of having employees in proper footwear.

Cameron McGinnis started the discussion about raingear. He explained that most folks go through 2 or 3 sets of rain gear in a year. He said an average set of rain gear is 78 dollars and two would run $156. Scott Stinnett from the Salem sign crew added that in addition to needing good quality rain gear if you are working on the side of the road at night you also need gear that is reflective for safety. Steve Barner contributed to the conversation about examples where quality gear may have saved lives.

Before caucusing members spoke on behalf of increasing the safety glasses allowance and to expand it to other folks who use it for the job. Cameron McGinnis explained that there is not a maintenance crew in the state that does not do some welding. Rex Parks added that whether an ODOT employee is doing the chipper or welding that if their safety glasses are broke in the course of a job that they should be reimbursed.

Jim Harvey from ODFW spoke about how the tool allowance within ODFW has changed since 1986. Using management’s figures about inflation he concluded that the increases have simply not kept pace. He explained the ODFW proposal for the increase and answered questions about why it was written with different groups getting different amounts.

Bob Fields explained the Forestry allowance proposal on Article 122.3C. The first change was increasing the boot allowance and he referred to some of the examples of other folks also asking for the increase. He talked about the price of cork boots that are needed for firefighting and how they cost over $250. John Ponce said they cost over $300 and Kermit also gave a higher figure. Management asked how often the wear the cork boots and Bob Fields explained they wear them at least 3-4 times a week. Also in the Forestry proposal was to bring up the seasonal employee rate so they can afford to get a good pair of boots. Bob went through and explained why they need more for tools and how going through brush makes it so they go through 2 or 3 sets of rain gear in one winter.

At the end of the bargaining session we agreed to discuss 45.3b, 90.3b, 90.3e, 121.3, and LOA 34.00-07-142 at the May 7^th bargaining session. Also it was agreed to set the following meeting for May 21^st.