It's Official: Settlement reached!!!!!

Tentative Agreement Reached!

When push came to shove, we stood strong for what’s right! We won raises equal to inflation. We maintained fully paid health care. And we established a living wage for state employees.

Our worksite pressure has led to an agreement that moves workers and public services in the right direction. Here’s what we’ve won through our unity:

Raises: July 1, 2007: 3%; but not less than $80 per month

November 1, 2008: 3.2%; but not less than $85 per month

6.2% in raises over two years is higher than the projected inflation rate. It is the highest COLA we have won in a single biennium in over a decade. And the $80 & $85 floor will protect our lowest paid members

Insurance: Full-time employees will not pay for health insurance! The State will pay the full cost through 12/31/08. On 1/1/09, they will pay up to 12% in increased costs, but if the increase is more than that, we will be able to use PEBB reserves to pay for the excess so it will not come out of our monthly checks!

Part-time: Employee premiums will be frozen at their current levels!

Living Wage: Our salary scale will be restructured in the second year of the contract to boost the pay of the lowest paid workers. Effective 11/1/08, the lowest paid full time state worker will earn $1847 per month, up from $1411 currently. That means no full time state worker will earn less than the gross income limit for food stamp eligibility for a family of three! Here’s how this works:

Salary Range 5: Steps 1 through 6 will be eliminated

Salary Range 6: Steps 1 through 5 will be eliminated

Salary Range 7: Steps 1 through 4 will be eliminated

Salary Range 8: Step 1 through 3 will be eliminated

Salary Range 9: Step 1 and 2 will be eliminated

Salary Range 10: Step 1 will be eliminated

Selectives: We won many (though not all) of the selectives our members deserve. See below for details.

Bereavement: We won 24 hours of paid time (without using vacation or sick leave) in the event of a death in the immediate family.

Vacation: Employees with 25 years will earn two more hours of vacation per month (for a total of 18 hours per month).

Our bargaining team unanimously recommends ratification of this agreement. The next step is a bargaining conference on July 28, where bargaining delegates will vote to send the agreement to the full membership, which has the final vote on ratifying this agreement.

Here are more highlights:

1. All custodians will stay at Salary Range 10; we beat back the State’s effort to drop custodians from Range 10 to Range 7.
2. We won the right to use sick leave to care for sick grandchildren.
3. We expanded the “no discrimination” clause to include gender identity & any other protected class under State or Federal law.
4. We won stronger language requiring management to give notice if they recoup an overpayment from an employee’s check.
5. Employees may now save up to 40 hours of vacation leave while on FMLA provided they give notice that they want to save the time within five days of the start of the leave.
6. For the 2009 contract negotiations, we gained paid time for up to 24 coalition bargaining delegates who must bargain or travel during their normal work hours.
7. In most cases, disciplinary investigations must be completed within 120 days unless Agency requests a 30-day extension; employees on paid leave must be interviewed within 30 days.
8. We established limits on the employer’s ability to require criminal records checks for current employees.
9. The State will now have to apply the 20% “handicap” to state worker wages in ALL cases when it compares cost of contracting out with cost of doing work in-house and to do feasibility studies on contract renewals.
10. Statewide labor/management committees will get 30 minutes of paid time to prepare for meetings; training for these committees will also be on paid time.
11. If essential employees are late due to inclement weather, they can make up the time and use paid time if weather-related absences would otherwise affect their eligibility for holiday pay.
12. Shift differential will increase from 50 to 75 cents per hour; for RNs, it will increase from $1.35 to $1.85.
13. Direct-care RNs will receive a 4.75% differential with bachelor’s degrees and 9.5% if they have master’s degrees.
14. OYA Group Life Coordinators will receive a differential of $1.50 for hours spent conducting groups if they have certain certifications.
15. The ODOT meal allowance will increase from $8 to $12 & the per diem rate will increase from $47 to $64 and be indexed to DAS policy for future increases.
16. We won expanded compensation for approved home phone calls in ODOT, Parks, Forestry & Aviation and time & a half payment for missed breaks at ODFW & 24-hour operations in ODOT.
17. We established a $100 boot allowance for permanent workers in Parks and raised the ODOT boot allowance by $25.
18. W e raised the tool allowance by $125 in ODOT and $75 in Forestry & DAS.
19. ODFW workers won $50 increase in uniform and rain gear allowance and will now be able to choose cash or comp for night time on call
20. Forestry workers raised comp time cap from 80 to 120 hours and won $25 allowance if they must use their own tents at fires.
21. Justice workers won more latitude to choose stewards who may not be closest geographically.
22. Many agencies won better language regarding alternative/flexible work schedules.
23. Plus lots more.

Selective Salary Increases for:

· Cartographer 1 (to 17)

· Cartographer 2 (to 21)

· Cartographer 3 (to 23)

· Cartographic Program Specialist 1 (to 25)

· Client Care Surveyor (to 28)

· Dental Assistant (to 15)

· Dental Hygienist (to 27)

· Facilities Engineer 1 (to 27)

· Facilities Engineer 2 (to 29)

· Facilities Engineer 3 (to 31)

· Government Auditor Entry to 19L)

· Industrial Hygienist 1 (to 22L)

· Industrial Hygienist 2 (to 27)

· Industrial Hygienist 3 (to 29)

· Industrial Hygienist 4 (to 31)

· Institution Registered Nurse (to 30N)

· Licensed Practical Nurse (to 19)

· Medical Lab Technician 1 (to 17)

· Medical Lab Technician 2 (to 20)

· Medical Lab Technologist (to 24)

· Medical Records Specialist (to 18)

· Microbiologist 1(to 22)

· Microbiologist 2 (to 24)

· Microbiologist 3 (to 26)

· Nurse Practitioner (to 35)

· Nutrition Consultant (to 28)

· Occupational Safety Specialist 1(to 22)

· Occupational Safety Specialist 2 (to 27)

· Occupational Safety Specialist 3 (to 29)

· Psychiatric Social Worker (to 28)

· Public Health Nurse 1 (to 28)

· Public Health Nurse 2 (to 31)

· Shipping Point Inspector 1 (to 15)

· Shipping Point Inspector 2 (to 17)

· Social Service Specialist Entry (to 20L)

· Tax Auditor Entry (to 20L)

· Tax Auditor 1 (to 25)

· Tax Auditor 2 (to 28)

· Timber Auditor/Appraiser 1 (to 21L)

· Timber Auditor/Appraiser 2 (to 25)

· Timber Auditor/Appraiser 3 (to 28)

· Traffic Survey Interviewer (to 8)

· Transportation Maintenance Coordinator 1 (to 21)

· Transportation Maintenance Coordinator 2 (to 22)

· Transportation Operations Specialist (to 20)

For jobs in the office specialist, office assistant, office coordinator, and public service representative series, the State will conduct a classification study to determine their proper placement on the salary range chart. They will tell us, within ninety days, when this study will take place.

Higher Ranges for Employees in New and Revised Classes:

· Administrative Law Judge 1 (to 30)

· Administrative Law Judge 2 (to 32)

· Administrative Law Judge 3 (to 37)

· Automotive Service Technician (to 11)

· Automotive Technician 1 (to 17)

· Automotive Technician 2 (to 21)

· Dormitory Counselor Entry (to 12L)

· Dormitory Counselor 1 (to 16)

· Dormitory Counselor 2 (to 20)

· Equipment Operator (to 21)

· Finance and Securities Counsel (to 32)

· Grounds Maintenance Worker 1 (to 14)

· Grounds Maintenance Worker 2 (to 17)

· Heavy Equipment Technician Entry (to 18L)

· Heavy Equipment Technician 1 (to 23T)

· Heavy Equipment Technician 2 (to 26B)

· Insurance Examiner Entry (to 26L)

· Insurance Examiner (to 30)

· Laborer/Student Worker (to 12)

· Mail Delivery Driver (to 14)

· Parts Specialist 1 (to 15)

· Parts Specialist 2 (to 20)

· Seamster (to 15)

· Sign Technician Entry (to 15L)

· Sign Technician 1 (to19)

· Sign Technician 2 (to 21)

· Supply Specialist 1 (to 14)

· Supply Specialist 2 (to 20)

· Truck Driver 1 (to 17)

· Truck Driver 2 (to 20)

Our bargaining team unanimously recommends ratification of this agreement. The next step is a bargaining conference on July 28, where bargaining delegates will vote to send the agreement to the full membership, which has the final vote on ratifying this agreement.