Stepped Up

Thank you to all the members in ODOT who stepped up to earn this contract. The leadership in your local was very dedicated to earning this victory. At Central Table, your local Vice President, Kermit Meling, dedicated hundreds of hours of his time to help ensure a good settlement and his voice was instrumental in advocating for ODOT issues. At coalition Cameron McGinnis, Kermit Meling, Eddie Dunton, Mike Johnson, Lorrie Schaefer, Betty Huskey, Roger Upshaw, from ODOT were there every session, and many of our coalition delegates like Mac, Roger (Eastern Oregon) and Bob Fields from Forestry (Coos Bay) made the long drive consistently to Salem to fight for our locals. Our local got a lot of mentoring from Cory McIntosh (Coalition co-chair with Kermit and our Central Table chair) from DMV and I know those of us who showed up are very grateful for Cory's leadership and advice and showing ODOT the path for success. There are a lot of people who got involved for the first time with their union and I want to recognize that. The victories at coalition simply do not happen without the numbers of advocates that you turned out. On central table issues, in the last two weeks long time steward Lee Erickson moved a great petition for the TOS, which led to a selective salary increase. Also coordinators like Scott Stinnett, kept the pressure up on ODOT to do something on behalf of the coordinators (with signatures from dozens of coordinators) and it payed off with their selective salary victory. When the HEM I's found out management was trying to put them at 22B (and thus increasing the difference between I's and II's by many ranges) they came down to the union hall the night the contract was settled and had a talk with DAS. Their persistence and unity, showing up at event after event (usually ten deep) taught me a lesson in what unions are all about. If you show up and follow the process you can fight and win. The Salem Shop (Jay Burkert, Dennis Bonnono, James Cooper, Andy Everetts, Jerry Noble, Kirk Spindler, Ben Lalonde, Jack Withers, and Machinist Peter Wilde) and Roger Upshaw from La Grande showed up to virtually every coalition bargaining session. They walked away not only getting a 125 dollar increase in their tool allowance, but also a 4 dollar increase to their meal allowance and the respect of others in our coalition when they and others in ODOT did their best to support the folks in Parks on their righteous victory to win a boot allowance after 20 years. While we did not win every issue and selective we went for (the Electricians led by Eddie Dunton and Gary Davis put up a heck of a organizing campaign), we did put up a fight for issues that were just (Mike Scott made great arguments and follow up on an increased pesticide differential that we did not end up getting, and Scott Stinnett was tenacious in his effort to get the crane certifications expanded to sign crews; but we unfortunately lost that battle). You can read below some of the changes your bargaining teams made; while we did not win every battle there were a ton of major gains. Anonymous was correct in the comments section, the bargaining delegates from all the agencies will vote whether to approve the TA and if they approve it will go out to membership for a vote. If you want to vote on the contract you must be a member. Call your organizer if you need a membership form (if I am your organizer my number is 503-830-1201). If you are interested in becoming a CAPE member you can sign up on that form too. CAPE members pool a few extra dollars a month to make sure we have politicians in office who are working for us (and oregonians). The work SEIU members from our local did in the last election paid off both in negotiations (getting the governor to put in millions more the last couple days) but also in the legislative session, with more victories for the labor movement since we've won since 1973. Some ODOT members who spent time at the legislature this session will share their experiences over the next couple weeks soon on here hopefully (Kermit?... haha) Anyway, enjoy the fruits of YOUR hard work, ODOT rocks.

What are your thoughts on the contract?