Sunday, December 16, 2007

Courage to Speak Truth

ODOT Local 730 members in South Eastern Oregon stood together against a bully boss and prevailed. Transportation Maintenance Specialists from the Jordan Valley and Basque Station crews had the courage to speak up when a new manager arrived and failed to treat them with common respect. The new manager who was still in the probationary period eventually returned to his prior position.

Crew members reported that from the first day he made it clear that he was friends with several layers of management and would not be removed from this job. He attempted to intimidate these employees by taking them for one on one drives in his agency assigned pick-up to tell them how it was ‘going to be’. They were warned not to go talking to the Union, “if they thought they had problems now, just talk to the Union”. Nor were they to talk to their friends in Safety. During one of several one on one drives, a member was told that the agency was looking to decrease the size of the crew by one or more positions. This employee was warned that a person talking to the Union could be ‘downsized‘.

These Union Members chose to unite and showed the courage to stand up to this intimidation. With the help of the Burns Maintenance Crew shop steward, Tom McCulloch, TMS2, and SEIU 503, OPEU Bend area organizer Sara Routt, these folks found their voice and clarified their concerns. They talked with the District Manager and made these concerns known. The District Manager made several trips to the area to hear these employees, on all shifts.


There has been a discussion on this blog of Member Organizing. This is a good example. These folks of the Owyhee Watershed reached out to other ODOT Local 730 Members and the Union. When an attempt was made to divide them they chose to talk to each other and had the courage to speak to the upline manager. It is that simple. These members understood better than anyone what their issues were and they worked to resolve them. My hat is off to them.

This same kind of work is being done in other places around our agency. In the opposite corner of the state, the North Coast highway maintenance workers on several crews have raised concerns about decisions being made and apparent agency policy violations for several years. These members felt that they were not being heard or taken seriously. When they could not get help locally they reached outside the area and brought their concerns to Salem.

It was not easy. Several of their issues had been on-going for years. Some of the crew members were not comfortable talking about them. They did not like it, but they wanted to just get the work done and go home. Crews had been divided by rumors and stories told by managers. Some did not talk to each other when they saw each other in the grocery store.

Again, these crews reached out to the Union and other ODOT Local 730 Members. Local 730 officers Bart Cotta, Statewide Chief Steward and Kermit Meling, Vice President, along with SEIU 503 organizers Colleen Sullivan and Troy Barnardt helped them clarify what the issues were. Bart asked them to think about what they wanted the future to look like. Keep a record of the past but Look to the Future.

There is currently an audit taking place in this region. Change is coming.

Oregon is our State. ODOT is our agency. Sometimes it takes courage to take responsibility for our worksites. Our brother and sisters in these areas have shown us how.
mac

June 2009 Extra Step Increase

Here is some unexpected good news from Leslie Frane, the executive director of our SEIU 503, OPEU, in Salem. mac

GOOD NEWS!
A New Extra Salary Step for DAS Workers!
On Dec. 13, 2007, SEIU, AFSCME and the State of Oregon reached a special agreement. It states that effective 6/30/09, an extra step will be added to the top of every salary range in the SEIU & AFSCME DAS bargaining units, and the bottom step will be eliminated.

This agreement guarantees that workers at the top step of their salary range as of 6/30/09 will get an extra step on their next salary eligibility date. Workers at the lowest step in their range on 6/30/09 will move to the next step immediately.

In the long run, it means an extra step for every state worker!


THE BACKGROUND:
In October, Governor Kulongoski announced special raises for managers and agency heads, based on "recruitment and retention problems." We contacted the Governor and demanded that he take recruitment and retention problems just as seriously when they affect front-line workers. As a result of these demands, the Governor stepped up and did the right thing. He agreed to the additional step for all DAS workers represented by SEIU and AFSCME.
Congratulations to all bargaining unit members for this victory, and happy holidays to all!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Membership

Several years ago, a group of ODOT Local 730 members decided to go their own way. The path chosen was to attempt to decertify SEIU 503, OPEU as the Union for ODOT represented employees; excluding DMV & the engineers. The Oregon Workers Union was to be the new organization.

To get to the point, a number of those employees, who were considered to have led the decertification attempt, had their 503 membership suspended. An easy way for me to think about it is that they were involuntarily forced to become Fair Share members.

This was an action taken by the SEIU 503, OPEU Board of Directors; our statewide board. This board represents all members of 503, not just ODOT employees. It is my understanding that there were two level of suspension; some of these suspensions have expired; some have not.

One of these suspended members has ask the 503 Board of Directors to rescind his individual suspension. The Board of Directors will hear his case during the January 2008 Board meeting.

I am not inclined to rehash the decertification. It is the past. There is much to learn from the past. ODOT Local 730 has many things to do now and in our future. There are many things happening right now: Local 730 elections, restructure, politics; general counsel and the next round of bargaining are not far away.

My reasons for addressing this here are several. It is the purpose of this blog to help keep our 730 members aware of what is going on. Hopefully we will get better and post articles more frequently.

Another reason to make sure we are all ready to unite and look to the future together. These folks are still ODOT represented employees. Our Union would still represent them, if necessary, just as we would any Fair Share employee. Our collective bargaining agreement does not suspend any contract language base on Fair Share status. They are, as a group, hard working State of Oregon employees. They were, once, some of the strongest Union voices in our collective public employee Union.

I have been ask if I am afraid they will come back and take over. I was elected, by you, to be the president of ODOT Local 730. If these members are reinstated and YOU THE MEMBERSHIP elect them as your officers and delegates, so be it. It is by definition the right thing. We are a represented body of laborers. All of us make up Our Union. The officers and delegates are chosen to raise our collective voice to our agency and the legislature to protect our rights as laborers.

I have faith that you know what is right for you and your families; now and in the future.
mac