Purple Shirts

One of the best (and easiest) ways to show your support for bargaining is by wearing your SEIU t-shirts on Tuesdays. They are purple to stand out, and you want your manager to notice. We want management to get the message that 1% raises won't cut it. If your crew does not have shirts yet, let me know and I will get them as soon as I can. If you do have purple shirts, make sure to wear them when I come by and I can take a picture for you. Together we can make sure the folks in Salem get the message. A great example of standing up for fairness is out as Cascade Locks Maintenance. They decided to circulate a petition that highlights pay inequities and calls for the implementation of their selective salary increase. If you are doing Actions, let me know and we can share your ideas for others.

Call to Action

As many of you know management put forward an insulting offer of 1% in October of each year, with possible cuts to Healthcare. If you want to leave bargaining to chance doing nothing is the best option. But, if you feel like it is time to put pressure on the State to give a fair wage increase AND fully-paid Healthcare it is TIME FOR ACTION. Worksite actions are the way in which unions put pressure on the boss by showing that workers are united behind a common goal. Here is the challenge: Decide with your crew/coworkers what type of Action you think would be most effective for Tuesdays, carry out the action, and report how it went. For the next week, come up with something new and try it again. It’s already May and the contract expires on the 30^th of June. Some crews are planning on wearing purple shirts on Tuesdays, some folks plan on taking unity breaks, some folks want SEIU picket signs that have messages such as “fair contract now” (or other more clever lines). If you feel like your message won’t make it to management from Estacada or Cascade Locks, take a picture and we can deliver the message to management the following Tuesday (just email the picture or send it to me at the union hall), or write up what happened and send me an email and I will post it to the new ODOT blog. Be creative, get your coworkers involved, and become leaders of YOUR union. If you need any materials or help, don’t hesitate to ask!

Treasurer and Secretary Nominations

The Local 730 Treasurer and Secretary positions are open. If you are interested in getting involved to help build your union, the nomination forms can be found under 'documents' in the right column on this page. Please be sure to fax in your form (or mail it) to the Portland SEIU office by May 11th!

Leadership Trainings

Many of you who are new to the union or are now just starting to be involved, the best way to develop your skills is the leadership trainings. There are three and each covers different topics. They cover topics such as Organizing Your Worksite, Contract Interpretation, Union Structure, Writing Grievances, Meeting with Management and other helpful topics. I am attaching the signup form for Salem/Corvallis area trainings for May/June/July. Training times are Friday 6-9p.m.(dinner at 5:30) and Saturday 8:30 – 4 p.m.(lunch at 12 noon) Leadership I upcoming trainings: May 4^th and 5^th in Portland, May 18^th and 19^th in Salem, June 22^nd and 23^rd in Portland; and August 24^th and 25^th in Salem. Leadership II upcoming trainings are May 18^th and 19^th in Portland; June 8^th and 9^th in Corvallis; June 15^th and 16^th in Salem; July 13^th and 14^th in Portland; and September 14^th and 15^th in Salem. Leadership III upcoming trainings are: June 1^st and 2^nd in Portland; July 20^th and 21^st in Salem.

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.

This is pretty cool! Thanks for setting this up Troy. Mike

Selectives and Differentials

Many of you within ODOT have participated in Selective Salary presentations. TMS's, TMC's, Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Parts Supply Specialists all gave their presentations on March 20th. MCEO's, Traffic Survey Interviewers, and TOS's gave their presentations on April 10th. Also there were differential presentations for Backflow Assembly Testing, Snow Removal, Boom Operations, and Pesticide Application. For all those who participated, good work! The last ODOT related selectives are May 1st for the Electricians and the Facilities Maintenance Specialists. Those are at 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively. If you are an Electrician or FMS, it would be great to show your support that day at the Salem union hall. When the selective presentations are over we will start to hear back on the results of these presentations. I will post results as I receive them.

Welcome to the new Union blog

I am Troy and I've been an organizer for ODOT's union since December. I am hoping to use this blog to answer questions and involve membership within ODOT. If you have comments or questions I will try to answer as many as possible. I'm hoping that Mac and Kermit will be helping out with that too.