Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Voice Election Edition

There is a new Voice where you can learn about the candidates for the Board of Directors for the union. You can get it under the new content on the left.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008

Announcement of Public Services Contest

I was asked to let you all know about this. If you're interested I will send you the entry form. -Troy Barnard

The SEIU Public Services Division is looking for bright ideas for improving public services all across America. To gather fresh ideas and highlight the important work of our public service members, the Division is sponsoring a contest for the best innovative idea for improving public services. The Division is counting on your help to share information and contest materials with your members. This is a great opportunity for SEIU public service members to share their great ideas.

Attached please find a complete set of contest materials, including an Official Contest Entry Form (which runs 5 pages including the guidelines and rules) and a flyer about the contest. Here are a few details about the contest:

1. The Division hopes you will share the complete set of contest materials with your public service members - agency fee payers cannot participate in the contest. Only those who were full members by 12-31-2007 can participate. Joining the union will not enable a new member to participate.

2. The contest launch date is at 11:59:59 EDT February 21, 2008 and all proposals must be in by 11:59:59 p.m. EDT on April 4, 2008.

3. In addition to the written materials, full contest information and entry forms are available at www.PublicDivisionVision.org/Everybody_Wins. Members can submit their entries on-line or send submissions to "Everybody Wins", 1800 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C., 20036. Submissions must be sent in by individual members; group submissions and/or any submissions sent by locals on behalf of a member will not be accepted.

4. The submissions will be screened for compliance with the official rules and then reviewed by a panel of local union judges who will select 20 submissions to be reviewed by expert judges in the 2nd and final round of judging. Complete details about the contest appear in the official contest rules.

5. There will be one winner and two runners up who will be sent to Puerto Rico - the contest winner will be announced on Division Day, May 31, 2008. The local union of the winning submission will be awarded a $20,000 prize that can be used to implement the bright idea.

The Bully Boss


The Bully Boss. We have all heard that phrase or something like it. We all have our own definitions of what it means. Boil it all down and it is a supervisor who acts inappropriately. It may be as intense as the boss who really is physically threatening or as low key as the leader who never says anything directly but drops lots of clues.

Every large enterprise has one (or more) from time to time and our Agency is no exception. There are several things required for a bully boss to exist.

The first thing is little or no training. Many ODOT employees are folks who job driven; tell them what to do and then get out of the way. They are mission oriented; get it done. The mission is more important than communication skills, more important than personnel skills. Many of these folks do well and invite increasing responsibility. With responsibility comes authority.

The second ingredient for the existence of a bully boss is fear. Fear is a two way street. Obviously there may be fear of the boss by those who work for him or her. Fear may also drive the bully boss. Fear of not getting the job done. Fear of work quality issues. Budget concerns. Timelines. Fear of failure.

The third and possibly the largest contributor to bully bosses is silence. Peers and workers not letting the supervisor know how their actions are perceived allows that supervisor to say she or he did not know. Not setting boundaries for acceptable behavior may encourage the bullying to continue and increase.

On 16 December 2007 I posted an article about ODOT crews in South Eastern Oregon and their story of dealing with a bully boss. There are other stories. Last weekend, at Astoria, leaders and organizers in our Union discussed how we might help our membership to deal with the bully boss. This blog is our first step. This blog is a two-way communication. It can be anonymous if desired. A separate page has been opened in this blog to deal with this issue. Local members can post their concerns & ask questions.

What would you like to see? What information would help you deal with a bully boss? If you currently work with an abusive superior – how can your Local help?


Finally, in our statewide labor management meetings we have been pushing for more training, both for managers and for those in Labor who desire to become managers. Invest in our people before we promote. For me it is a hard thing to argue that we need to promote from within and then argue against a former Union member, now a manager, who is in over their head.

I encourage you to not allow ignorance, fear and silence make our good jobs miserable.

mac


Monday, February 18, 2008

ODOT Local 730 Elections

Many of you know that elections are coming up for officers and delegates in our ODOT Local 730. The first notice was in the last issue of The 503 Voice. The election guidelines are also in the SEIU website; http://www.seiu503.org/.

Our nomination period opened 1 February 2008. The nomination forms are available via e-mail from our statewide organizer, Troy Barnard, or myself. The nomination forms must be returned to the Portland SEIU office no later than 5:00pm, Wednesday, 5 March 2008.

This blog will provide a place for candidates to post statements about their qualifications and motivation for seeking election. This is not required. You or someone else can submit your nomination and await the results of the election. If, however you wish to communicate with other members, here is an opportunity.


The officers are: Statewide Chief Steward, Secretary, Treasure, Vice President, President.

The delegates are of two types. Bargaining Delegates; there are 7. General Council Delegates; there are 14 delegates & 7 alternates. All serve for 2 years. Our constitution and bylaws are referenced here on this blog. The responsibilities of these folks are laid out there. One requirement all of these positions have in common is commitment. A commitment to show up. A commitment to work for the good of our Union which is made up of our membership. And a commitment to represent the interests of those members, not your own personal viewpoint.


The General Council Delegates will need to be available for General Council to be held in August 2008, Wednesday the 20th thru Saturday the 23rd. If the General Council delegates choose to decide something later in the 2 year cycle, you may be asked to caucus via mail, e-mail or telephone conference. This happens infrequently.

General Council is the ultimate decision making body of our Union. Our Union is a member run Union and member delegates write, discuss & debate resolutions and vote on those resolutions.

Bargaining Delegates are the members who negociate the collective bargaining agreement, our contract. The commitment is longer; this last session was just short of 6 months. It is not every day. Negociations are generally once a week, every other week. Toward the end it may be every week and more frequently. Speaking from experience, it can be extremely frustrating and very satisfying. You must be willing to study our collective bargaining agreement. As said above, we represent our members, so, we need to talk with them to find what their priorities are. We must ask them, and assist them to provide testimony and evidence to the bargaining teams. Lastly, we must carry the results and the reasons why back to our fellow crew members; sometimes it requires us to teach them what the language means and how to use it.


ODOT Local 730 officers are active for the 2 year duration. Statewide officers are responsible for conducting the day to day business of our Local. Again, we talk to our members daily, exploring their interests and needs. We are constantly on the search for stewards and activists. We are responsible for training our members both formally and informally. We are given a budget to accomplish all these things and have fiduciary responsibility to use that budget wisely.

Our Treasurer must have the ability to learn and use the Unions finance system. The system always requires at least two signatures which can slow the process. The Treasurer needs to able to find the time to move things along as they happen. Betty Huskey of the Office of Civil Rights is currently our Treasurer and does an outstanding job. She can answer any questions you might have about the job description.

Communication has been chosen as the number one problem by our members. Our Secretary must be willing to communicate by phone, mail and e-mail. We hope to be able to create a communication network in the near future; the Secretary will be key to establishing this network and maintaining it. The Secretary keeps record of the meetings of the Local and distributes those as needed. Mike Scott of the Grants Pass maintenance crew is currently our Secretary, coming to the position several months ago.

The Statewide Chief Steward is a resource for all of our stewards and their crews. Ideally this person brings years of experience to this position. The Chief Steward does not need to know every thing, but should have an idea where to find out. The Chief Steward helps to build our network of stewards throughout the state. Bart Cotta of the Hunters Creek maintenance crew is our current Statewide Chief Steward and the Region 3 Chief Steward.

The Vice President should be capable of helping all of the offices and delegates and may be ask to do these jobs in the absence that officer. The Vice President fills in for the President. This person may chair any committees that the Local may form. The Vice President attends the Agency Director's Labor Management meetings in Salem, in the Transportations Building, quarterly. Kermit Meling, a Senior Motor Carrier Enforcement Officer, stationed in the Barlow Building in Portland is our Vice President and can answer questions regarding the requirements of this office.

The President is the face of our Local. This person also attends the Statewide Labor Management meetings. The President is a Bargaining Delegate and a General Council Delegate. The President should be able to facilitate our members working together to achieve the goals of the Local. The President should be willing to talk to anyone in the Agency and throughout our Union. The ability to prioritize is helpful. I currently hold the office; my name is Cameron M. McGinnis. I am a TMS2 on the Meacham Section.


Please give thought to our elections and persons you think will be able to do the job. Every one of them is important. Is it time for you to step up?

mac


Cameron M. McGinnis

TMS2, Meacham Section

ODOT Local 730, President

SEIU 503, OPEU