Looking For You

Job Terminations Due To Illness & Disability

I am looking for a member of ODOT Local 730 to become a subject matter expert on Illness and Disability discharges. It would be expected that this person would get to know our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), ODOT & DAS relevant policies & a passing familiarity with the applicable BOLI regulations.

At this point, these type of discharges do not happen every week, maybe not even every month, but they are occurring & we are hearing about more of them than before. This person is to be a resource for stewards and organizers who work for our members. This volunteer is not to represent any of these affected members. Nor are they to do any representation work. I will work to shield this person from asks for other service to our Union. If you wanted to eventually move into other areas – that would be great once you were comfortable with the time required for this role.
Your Local wants to have confidence that we are giving our members the best advice and have reliable source material for workers who are facing discharge for reasons largely beyond their control. For instance: A TMC in western Oregon sustained a disabling knee injury while on the job. Many surgeries and much down time later it was not certain that this individual would be able to return to the prior job. The agency helped to find job retraining which this employee gladly took. . . Here is the catch: By accepting the retraining, BOLI says you cut all ties to your former job & there is no promise of a job opportunity at the end of the retraining. After talking to a number of folks at the agency it is not clear that all concerned, including some Human Resources folks, were aware of these conditions. And two months later no one from the agency has been able to show me that our member was informed of these conditions.
What do we tell a member with cancer? Or the good 15 year employee with advanced diabetes? The TMS 2 who looks perfectly healthy but his doctor will not renew his CDL because of a heart murmur?
It may be that there are no good alternatives for some of these cases. There will probably never be a perfect settlement for Our Member. I want to know for sure; and I want Our Member to know that we are studying the matter and can provide them a second source for information. A Member Run Union means informed members at every level. We build our membership one member at a time. Our Local gains those members when we gain their trust. We gain that trust as we show that we are reliable.

If you think you might be interested & this seems like a tall order. . . you will not be working alone. The ODOT Local 730 officers and activists have some experience and even more important: We know where to look and who to start asking. Our mothership, SEIU 503 has an excellent legal staff and organizing staff with experience from around the nation; organizers who can measure their experience in decades.
So why does ODOT Local 730 want an expert? SEIU 503 represents 40,000 members in 85 agencies and non-profits. Our Local is less than 2000 of them. And the 503 staff is about 10% of that. It makes sense to have a resource person in Our Local. It makes sense to not have 2000 (or 40,000) members calling the legal department.

Stewards and Organizers have stories of helping folks through these hard transitions. Again, almost never is the end result what we would have wanted. In many, many of these cases our fellow crew members were thankful for someone to help them though the process: not being forced to go through the process alone.

Give it some thought. Let me know if you have questions.

mac

DAS Alert from June 17th

This week there were several positive developments in DAS bargaining, though the central obstacle to a contract settlement—the State’s continued insistence that state workers shoulder more than our fair share of the sacrifice necessary to address the budget crisis—remains unresolved.

Following two more days of mediation in the aftermath of the State’s withdrawal of its premature impasse declaration, we have achieved two significant goals:

• State negotiators have withdrawn their demand for pay cuts in lieu of furlough days for some workers, including most in 24/7 institutions, and motor carrier enforcement officers in ODOT. This was the proposal that provoked our filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the State Employment Relations Board, contending that the State had breached the Ground Rules by issuing a new demand after the deadline. We can now say confidently that there will be no actual reduction in any member’s pay rate during the next two years, which is a significant victory.

• We signed off on a letter of agreement extending recall rights for employees who are on layoff now or who will be laid off during the life of the next two-year contract from two to three years. We hope and pray that anyone laid off will be back sooner than later, but given the current economic climate this represents a new and important protection for members already in considerable distress.

Three of our four Coalitions — Human Services, ODOT and Specials — have also successfully concluded bargaining (ODOT at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning). The fourth, Institutions, will be back at it tonight.

In coalition bargaining, members have gained a number of advances in areas like scheduling, reimbursement and union rights and fought back a number of management-sponsored take-away proposals. Details outlining changes in these agreements will be on the Coalition Bargaining Updates pages:

DHS: http://www.seiu503.org/state/DHS/default.aspx
ODOT: http://www.seiu503.org/state/odot/default.aspx
Specials: http://www.seiu503.org/state/Specials/default.aspx
Institutions: http://www.seiu503.org/state/Institutions/default.aspx

As most of you probably know, our success in reversing the impasse declaration and progress at the table comes after some promising news from the Legislature, which continues to hammer out details of the 2009-11 budget following crucial passage of about $770 in new revenue from wealthy Oregonians and profitable large corporations.

This has been a cornerstone of our lobbying efforts. It means that the final budget will likely provide the fiscal parameters to support a compromise settlement, but the fight will not be over when the legislature adjourns!

We expect the State will declare impasse again at the earliest possible moment—probably in late June, thus returning to bargaining by brinkmanship — restarting the clock on the Governor’s nuclear option of implementation. We will continue to fight for a negotiated settlement that protects our steps and minimizes the number of furlough days.

Members and supporters who turned out to our march and rally June 7 made a big difference. Now we need to refine and ramp up our message. Our contract ends June 30 and we will be organizing worksite actions all across the state that day.

We return to mediation Monday. Watch for details of our June 30th actions.

Final ODOT Coalition Report

We started bargaining for the ODOT Coalition on February 23rd 2009. We have bargained every other Monday night since. Last night we tentatively agreed on the outstanding issues left at the coalition table. This will allow us to focus our energy on the statewide campaign around central table bargaining. This tentative agreement for the ODOT Coalition is an important step forward, but there is still much work to do to fight off furloughs and other take aways.

Before we move on to the next fight, it is important to acknowledge the work of our fabulous bargaining delegates whose persistence, thoughtfulness and time made these improvements possible:

Bill Kinyoun (ODFW – Bargaining Chair), Kermit Meling (ODOT – Bargaining Chair),
Betty Huskey (ODOT), Mike Scott (ODOT), Kevin Cole (ODF), Dave Wells (ODF), Katy Powers (DMV), Sonya Reichwein (DMV), Dave Judkins (ODFW), Eric Ollerenshaw (ODFW), Doreen Vargas (DMV), Joe Lamont (ODOT), Katey Peterson (DMV), Angie Mittelstaedt (OPRD), John Ponce (OPRD), Mike Johnson (ODOT), Lee Erickson (ODOT), Joe Sheahan (ODFW), Bart Cotta (ODOT), Cameron McGinnis (ODOT), Doug Case (ODFW), Ann Madsen (OPRD), Rebecca Simmons (OPRD), Lorrie Schaefer (ODOT), Bryan Koehn (ODF)

Also, special thanks to other members who showed up week after week and made huge contributions at the table: Kirk Spindler (ODOT), Pete Wilde (ODOT), Roy Ware (DMV), Lou Bumgarner (DMV), Shirley Wait (ODOT), Jim Harney (OPRD), Jerry Noble (ODOT), Jay Burkert (ODOT), Jim Cooper (ODOT), Amy Regimbal (ODOT), Rose Halseth (DMV) and many, many others.

Below is a summary of the progress made at ODOT Coalition Bargaining:

• ODOT - Add Machinist and Autotechs to meal allowance
• ODOT - Increased meal allowance by 5 dollars ($17 total) for shifts that last 16 hours or more
• Coalition - Changed penalty pay language to 7 calendar days instead of 5 workdays
• ODOT/DMV – Fixes holiday language for holidays that fall on days off/weekends
• Forestry/ODOT – Allows seasonal employees to carry over vacation from season to season
• ODOT/DMV – Expanded penalty pay in a letter of agreement to include work schedule changes
• ODFW – Adds reasonable notice for overnight travel language
• ODFW – Includes change to make lunches near middle of work shift
• ODFW – Creates mechanism for employees to ensure at least 10 hours between shifts
• Coalition – Expands training requests to include career development language
• Coalition – Adds language to education requests to ensure either approval or reason for denial
• Coalition – Posts list of rotational opportunities fourteen (14) days prior to closing date when they use open announcements.
• Parks – Expands pro-rated boot reimbursement language to seasonal and part time employees
• ODOT – Adds Machinist and Autotechs to list of eligible employees for safety glass reimbursement, and allows Machinist and Autotechs to use tool reimbursement for purchasing raingear. This language was moved in from a letter of agreement as well
• Forestry – Increases mechanic reimbursement from two-hundred and seventy-five dollars ($275) annually to seven-hundred dollars ($700) per biennium
• DMV – Letter of agreement to make sure Saturday DMV offices are closed on the actual holiday AND the observed holiday in next biennium. Allows employee to use leave or adjust schedule for additional closure day. This will effect July 4th, 2009 and Christmas 2010 and New Years 2011.
• ODFW – New language in letter of agreement for Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program (OSCRP) that says employees on flexible schedules will have their schedules posted for the next week by 5 p.m. Thursday. It also creates a tracking mechanism over a year period to see how often the posted schedule is changed for the following week and a report back at September 2010 labor management for recommendations


If you have any specific questions please let me know.

-Troy Barnard
ODOT Coalition Organizer

More Action Photos

4/27 Actions

Hundreds of folks called Scott Harra today to send the message that 26 furloughs and a step freeze is too much. Below are some pictures from ODOT crews showing the impact each furlough day would have on the services provided to the public. If your work group gets me a photo I can help photoshop it (barnardt@opeuseiu.org). These 8x10 photos were mailed to Scott Harra (the head of DAS).

ODOT Coalition Report 5

Our Union bargaining team, represented by over 25 members, met with Management Monday night. Management put three package proposals across the table. While there was some movement on a few important issues, such as accepting as part of their package the Union’s proposal to increase the Forestry tool reimbursement, it was mostly a combination of previous proposals and attempts to keep current contract language. Our Union stayed in caucus for several hours and developed counter package proposals that showed movement on some issues but maintained the goals to move our coalition forward.

On issue after issue we had members there to speak and defend our proposals. Our ODFW delegates such as Joe Sheahan, Eric Ollerenshaw, Doug Case, Bill Kinyoun and Dave Judkins pushed management to understand why it is important, and a priority for our ODFW members to get fair scheduling language. We want to make progress on:
• getting schedules posted in advance
• limiting mandated shifts to no more than 12 hours (outside emergencies)
• to have at least 12 hours between shifts (outside emergencies)
• getting 60 hours between work weeks
The Union Counter proposal on scheduling accepted Management’s language that gets lunch language and reasonable notice for out-of-town travel. The Union, as part of the package with scheduling (Article 90.3E), withdrew our proposal to compensate workers in ODFW required to use their own vehicles (Article 37.3E). Joe Sheahan, even though this does not personally affect him, fought hard to get movement on this issue and vowed to try to address it from a different angle because of its adverse affect on ODFW’s lowest paid members.

On the second package Management accepted the Union’s initial proposal that gets our Forestry mechanics equity with ODOT mechanics on tool reimbursement(Article 122.3C). The rest of the package included no movement on the Forestry Pac Test (LOA), a cleanup fix in Parks language (Article 70.3B), a new counter that expanded language to ODOT that allows seasonals to carry over vacation (Article 66.3), and their previous proposal on travel language (Article 36.3AC).

The Union Counter package accepted Management’s movement on tool reimbursement (Article 122.3C), clean up proposal for Parks geographic areas (Article 70.3B), seasonal vacation carry over to ODOT , and kept our language to reduce the number of days for vacation requests to seven (Article 66.3), wrote new language to get the costs associated with the Pac Test release with the employer (LOA), and kept our language on travel that would help those on fires receive non-commercial lodging rate (Article 36.3AC).

The third package Management put forward by management declined the Union language on stewards (Article 10.3ABE), declined the Union language on posting OT lists (Article 32.3), declined changes to expanding penalty pay to include days of the week (Article 40.3), included some changes to address ODOT holiday situations, but ignored the Union proposal for DMV offices(Article 58.3). Their package also included their initial proposal on scheduling (Article 90.3A) and their previous proposal on Training and Education (Article 121.3).

The Union wrote a counter package that modified our steward proposal to add ODOT stewards, keeps current language on overtime, keeps our prior proposal on penalty pay expansion, accepts Management’s proposal for ODOT holidays but also keeps our DMV language on the same issue. Sonya Reichwein (DMV) spoke to why a one-size-fits-all approach did not fix the issue. The Union proposal also keeps much of our prior proposal for Education and Training and the changes we proposed in scheduling for breaks. Finally, kept a piece of a prior proposal that would force DMV to pull transfer lists prior to opening positions as “agency opportunities” or “open competitive”.

We have shown that when we prioritize and organize around these issues we can win. If these proposals are important to you, there is no better way to help us make them reality than to attend bargaining and let management know how it would improve things. We have consistently had over 25 people at bargaining and sometimes as many as 40. If we want to finish coalition with some victories to feel proud of please attend on May 4th, and help us win. We want to pack the house and start building some momentum as we head into the home stretch of bargaining.

We meet at the ODOT HR Building at 5:30 for a meal and meeting. Bargaining begins at 6:30 and we expect that Management will start to respond to some of our packages and a few stand alone articles that have not gotten responses. The ODOT HR Building address is 2775 19th St SE, Salem OR. If you don’t know how to find it there are directions on the front doors at the Salem Union HQ. If you have any questions, please contact Troy Barnard at barnardt@opeuseiu.org or 503-830-1201.

ODOT Coalition Bargaining Report #4

On Monday, April 6th our Union’s Coalition Bargaining Team met and continued negotiations with the States ODOT Coalition Team. The Union was represented by 24 members from DMV, ODFW, ODF, OPRD, ODOT and Troy Barnard and Lisa Donoho from SEIU. Management was represented by 10 agency managers and Tom Perry from DAS.

Management started the evening off by putting several counter proposals across the table. While some of the proposals were met with praise, many others fell short and left our bargaining team eager to push on.

The first item discussed was Article 10.3ABE. Management proposed current language because they asserted the Union’s proposal would draw multiple employees away from current crews. They claimed it was SEIU’s problem that we do not have enough stewards. They missed the point that this proposal was actually intended to allow large crews in ODOT and Parks to have two stewards rather than one.

They also proposed current language for Article 32.3 where the Union is trying to get a list posted for overtime to ensure it is being spread as equally as is feasible.

Management was not ready to put a counter proposal on 33.3A yet, but did indicate a willingness to accept some of the suggestions in the Union proposal. It also seemed likely this would be included in a package proposal at a later date. They also were not ready to propose on Article 58.3.

The first paper proposal of the night was on Article 36.3AC. The first significant omission was any real change to the Forestry language around non-commercial travel rate. Not only did they not accept the Union’s proposal to expand the situations where the non-commercial travel rate is paid, they seemed to interpret the current language as a penalty payment for when ODF management forgot to bring any gear. There was much disagreement on this issue and our bargaining delegates were miffed by Managements recollection of the intent from two years prior. Tom Perry promised to provide his notes from the prior negotiations.

Also in Article 36.3AC management accepted the Union’s proposal for section 4 that is housekeeping language that eliminates the old rate language. Management did not understand the Union proposal to bring the definition of official station into line with current practice so they proposed to leave it broken. In section 6 they did not accept the Union proposal but did add a piece that appears to be clarifying language for the DMV folks. Lastly in 36.3AC they accepted the Union proposal to strikethrough the listed classifications and have it tied to those listed in Article 33.3A.

On the Article 37.3E, Management chose not to accept the Union proposal. This led to a lot of discussion in the Union caucus and the ODFW delegates are working on a plan to move forward.

Management proposed current language on 45.3. They asserted that there was not a problem.

Their proposal on 66.3 accepted the Union ideas to eliminate the Phipps Nursery language and to add Forestry to language that allows seasonal to carry over vacation time over from season to season in certain circumstances. This was a priority for Forestry and they were glad to see this accomplished. Management did not accept the Union’s proposal to reduce the number of day’s management has to either accept or reschedule vacation requests. The Union put a counter proposal across the table after caucus on this that would move the number of days from 15 days to 7. Our bargaining team felt this would be a victory on this issue if accepted.

On Article 90.3E Management responded with a proposal that accepts parts of the Union proposal that would address lunch periods being near the middle of a daily work shift and also notices for out of town travel. The other pieces of the proposal were not accepted and there was a lengthy discussion about whether the Union delegates had convinced Management of a problem. Eric Ollerenshaw, Doug Case, Joe Sheahan and others explained there was in fact a problem and shared some anecdotes with them to help them understand. There appears to be a lot of work to do on this one and we will need to get good data together to demonstrate the need.

The next proposal they spoke to was their counter proposal for Article 121.3. They accepted our “to promote career development” language in section 1, but declined to accept our strikethrough of job-related. There was some discussion about whether adding the new language gave members the ability to get trainings for positions they hoped to promote to. Tom Perry said he could interpret it that way, but he could not speak for others. This will need to be clarified during the next discussion on this article. Another piece of our proposal was changes in section 3 that management did not accept. They did accept a part of our proposal that would allow for some rotational opportunities to be posted 14 days in advance.

On Article 122.3AB we scored a significant piece of movement when management accepted the Union idea to make seasonal and part time Parks workers eligible for the boot reimbursement. The other movement on this article was their accepting of machinists and auto techs to be added to the prescription safety glass reimbursement provision.

The last counter proposal they put across the table was on the work capacity test for Forestry workers. They did not accept our proposal to shift the cost burden for exemptions from the employee to the employer. Also, they proposed this letter of agreement be integrated into the contract in a new Article 101.3C. This letter of agreement has caused a lot of frustration because of the fairness issues involved.

Overall there were some movements to be excited about and some we will have to keep working on to achieve movement. It did give us a better idea of what we are in for over the next couple months. Getting the Parks boots language movement, and the movement on seasonal vacation language for Forestry are examples of what we can achieve when we are persistent. The barriers we face on the tent language for Forestry and our scheduling changes for ODFW are priorities we will have to fight for. We need members to attend bargaining to support each other and to show Management these are important issues.

Please join us at the next bargaining session April 20th and help us negotiate coalition language we can be proud of. The next session we will put some counter proposals back across the table and we should be receiving a package proposal on all the Article 122’s as well as 40.3.

Rather than meeting at the Union hall like we have previously done, we will be meeting at the ODOT HR building at 5:30 for dinner and meeting and then start bargaining at 6:30. The address is 2775 19th St SE, Salem, Oregon. If you have any questions or would like to attend please contact Troy Barnard at 503-830-1201 or barnardt@opeuseiu.org.

Creating A Better World, Member Organizers

Union advocates cite statistics that point to the decline in Union membership in our lifetime. A number frequently used is only 12% of American Labor is unionized; down 35% in 30 years.

I wonder about that statistic. Not the validity of it. Numbers are numbers. It is obvious from the culture changes I have lived through and the change in the stories of Working Class guys & gals, that unions do not play the same role as they did in the 1950’s.

I wonder what those Union guys & gals of the 50’s & 60’s taught their children. Did they teach their families that Union jobs were the future? Did they help their children see a Union job as a worthy goal?
Or . . . did our parents and grandparents aspirations for the next generation tend towards doctors, lawyers and managers?

My father was an accountant. Working for Oregon Steel, office staff was not unionized, he saw up close the benefits of belonging to a Union. He taught me about those benefits decades before he ever had the opportunity to belong to a Union.

If these past laborers were not teaching and preaching Unions, why not? I believe wanting their children to be doctors and lawyers was only part of the answer; and not the most important part.

The history of several union organizations was organizers doing everything for the members. Those unions had organizers (business agents) that made sure every new employee was introduced to the union and the reasons why. Before the days of direct deposit and automatic withdraws the business agent came around to each and every members house or flat to collect their dues. Union organizers negotiated collective bargaining agreements, sometimes without members present. They did everything. Union members let them.


Our Union adopted, by a vote of the members, a different organizing model. The old model was a ‘business agent’ model. We got by, but we never had enough business agents, organizers. Members needed to step up to fill the gaps. Several years ago We adopted a Member Organizer model. We are the members, the organizers.

No one knows the worksite like the worker: Us. We know the issues. We live and work the issues. We know that some issues are unique to our shop. We know that some issues are common to all offices.

Our members are the subject matter experts. We are the best witnesses in the Oregon Legislature when our legislators need to know more about the state of our services. We know our clients better than most. We know where the resources are and are not. We walk our parks and drive our highways every day. We know not only where the wildlife live, we know how many live there. We are our state’s best advocate. We can be our own best advocate.

There are more than a few who do not advocate, do not appreciate this new organizing model. Some still want their organizer to do the work of the Union. They want their money’s worth. This brings me back to the Union members of the past generations; those Union members who did not teach their kids about their Unions. I said that wanting their children to do other work was not the most important part of why they did not teach the Union.

What could be worse than not having a Union to stand by you, is having a union that does not hear you. A union that is not interested in what you think. Imagine having an automated job where the boss does not want your input. Add to that a union that collects your dues, bargains your contracts and decides whether or not to air your grievances without you.

The most important part of the story is they wanted their children to work where they had a say; where they could help create the product, the service. They wanted their inheritors to have the opportunity to create a better world, not just take orders. Those who did not teach their children about their union did not see the union as being about them. Those workers did not help create their union; they did not help organize their world.


Our Union wants your input. ODOT Local 730, SEIU 503, OPEU is always looking for more members to decide to become Member Organizers. Our Member Organizers act as shop stewards. We work in the Union’s legislative & executive bodies: General Council and the Board of Directors. Through CAPE our members work the political process. Member Organizers work out of state helping other workers find their voices. We need Member Organizers to work in our home towns and community actions centers.

I can tell you that working in our Union feels like community. Many folks going different directions, doing different jobs for the same purpose: to improve the lives of laborers. To create a better community, a better world.

If you are looking to create your world, we are looking for you. mac

Union Members Tell Management Latest Proposal is Bad Deal

12 ODOT Employees at the Flanders building spoke with Jason Tell, the ODOT Region 1 Manager and let him know that the latest management proposal was unfair and would send many folks back into poverty. In this picture Ellen Dennis, our shop steward, explains how this pay cut would affect folks in her building.

ODOT Coalition Report 1

ODOT Coalition Bargaining Report #1

On Monday, February 23rd our Union’s ODOT Coalition Bargaining Team met and opened negotiations with the State’s ODOT Coalition Team. Our Union was represented by 28 members from DMV, ODFW, ODOT, Forestry and OPRD. The Union bargaining Chairs are Kermit Meling (ODOT) and Bill Kinyoun (ODFW). The States Management bargaining teams spokesperson is Tom Perry from DAS. Thirteen other managers from the agencies also attended.

Kermit Meling kicked bargaining off with a short statement intended to frame the debate around our Union proposals. He asserted that compared to prior bargaining sessions the number of articles this time around is less and that our bargaining team had spent a lot of time paring down our proposals to concepts that our members feel most strongly about. Management seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

After the opening statements and introductions, the Union presented management with proposals from eleven articles and one letter of agreement. The improvements, if won, would include:
• improvements to ODOT steward language
• Posted list and updates for overtime lists for the coalition
• Asmall expansion of the meal allowance to machinists and auto techs in ODOT
• Additional meal allowance money for those working more than 16 hours in ODOT
• Clarified tent language for forestry employees so they would receive stipend when not in commercial lodging
• Cleans up the definition for official station for ODOT crews on per diem
• Expands DMV language to include ODOT and Forestry that when assigned away from normal work location they would be on work time unless new location is closer to employees home.
• Creates a car allowance for ODFW workers required to use their personal vehicles
• Add new language that would create a intra agency transfer list for DMV and force it to be pulled before opening competitive
• Proposes to close DMV field offices the day after Thanksgiving
• Fixes language that would allow DMV holiday language so workers wouldn’t be forced to work on actual holidays
• Allows Forestry seasonals to carry forward vacation accruals like ODFW, and also allows all seasonal employees to use their vacation in the agency in which it was accrued
• Gives employees a quicker response to vacation requests than the current fifteen days.
• Bring our ODFW employees to similar standards around scheduling that much of the rest of the coalition has. Also adds increased notice to out of town travel.
• Attempts to include some ODFW employees who currently are not paid as passengers to and from work trips.
• Adds language to training language to “promote career development” for coalition
• Puts the qualifier “no request should be arbitrarily denied” for educational and training requests in order to make the process fairer and more transparent
• Improves the current language for rotationals to make them more available and also to post them in advance so they are offered more transparently.
• Brings our Forestry Mechanics to the same tool reimbursement as our ODOT Mechanics
• Fixes the LOA on Work Capacity Testing for Forestry so employees do not pay out of pocket for exemptions

As you can see we had a lot to get through and management asked a lot of questions about the intentions behind some of the proposals. Members such as Cameron McGinnis (ODOT), Mike Johnson (ODOT), Bill Kinyoun (ODFW), Kermit Meling (ODOT), Dave Wells (Forestry), Eric Ollerenshaw (ODFW), Joe Sheahan (ODFW), Sonya Reichwein (DMV) and others helped explain the intention behind our proposals and clarified many of the finer points to Management.

We also let management know that we would have a few more articles that we planned on opening at the next negotiation session.

The Management bargaining team also brought proposals to the table. They had four articles with proposed changes and one new letter of agreement. Their proposals, if adopted would:
• Create a letter of agreement intended to fixing the holiday language for DMV employees so they would not be required to work on a holiday
• Create parallel language that is similar to the ODFW language for seasonal employees for carrying vacation accruals forward.
• Updates layoff language for Parks so Region 4 would be one geographic area.
• Changes and adds new geographic area for layoff language for Forestry to include new area for Tillamook Forest Center.
• Added new language in scheduling article for ODOT that would exempt switches from Monday-Friday and Tuesday-Saturday from protection around hours between work weeks and minimums for hours per each hundred and eight hour period.

Tom Perry, the Management spokesperson, also added that management proposing at Central Table a letter of agreement that would implement the abovementioned layoff language in the current biennium.

After asking some basic questions around the Management proposals we scheduled the next bargaining date and set the agenda for that bargaining session. The plan is to do bargaining at the same location, same time on March 9th. The Union bargaining team meets at the Salem Union Hall (1730 Commercial St SE, Salem) between 5 and 5:30 for a meal and discussion and then we drive over to the ODOT HR building (2775 19th St. SE, Salem) to start bargaining at 6:30.

The next session both sides will present any remaining proposals and we will discuss in depth our proposals above that are bolded (10.3ABE, 32.3, 33.3A, 36.3AC, 37.3E).

If you are interested in attending on March 9th please contact Troy Barnard at 503-830-1201 or barnardt@opeuseiu.org with any questions.

Coalition Bargaining

Coalition Bargaining will be on Monday, February 23rd. We will meet at the Union hall (1730 Commercial St SE, Salem Oregon) at 5 p.m. and be at the ODOT HR building by 6 p.m. If you can make it, or have questions my email is barnardt@opeuseiu.org
-Troy

Truck Monitors Coming

The agency has let us know that truck monitoring systems are coming to the ODOT Fleet. The 2009 Volvo trucks are outfitted with Volvo Link Sentry systems. These systems can uplink your truck via satellite to Volvo and the truck owner - manager. These trucks will be throughout the state from Baker City to Grants Pass; maintenance to striping.

The system is designed to track the truck mechanical systems. The hope is to see trouble before the truck breaks down. The system tracks fuel consumption, miles driven & such. The satellite will show the vehicle location.

Some folks are uncomfortable with this idea. I believe our equipment operators are professional drivers providing Quality Public Services. These professionals know we are always in the public eye. The fact that an 'eye in the sky' has been added should not matter. Jan, in the cafe, knows John is on the east end of section; there is a scanner on the window sill.

There is probably no doubt that some misunderstanding will result from these new systems. Upsets always follow new ways of doing things, new technologies. Stay on the high road.

Thank you for your labor. mac

First Coalition Bargaining Session Cancelled

Coalition Bargaining for Monday 26 January 2009 has been cancelled. Contract Negotiation (bargaining) happens on 2 fronts: The Central Table and Coalition Tables. The central table bargains for wages and benefits - things that are common for all state employees who are members of SEIU 503, OPEU. The coalition tables bargain those items that are held in common by the the coaliton members. As an example, the ODOT Coalition contains agencies that work outdoors; DMV - Transportation, Parks, Forestry, Fish & Wildlife. We bargain at the coalition table with those folks for things like boots, tools and other gear. The State Hospital, Revenue and DHS delegates bargain their working conditions in coalitions separate from ours.

Our central table delegates started meeting with management last month. Several weeks ago an idea was floated to settle this contract quickly to help provide a known cost for the state government to work with in this difficult economic period. Flyers have been sent around, with the intent of allowing all union members with express their opinions. Overwhelmingly, the polled members approved the idea of settling the contract early. The basic (very basic) idea is to:
1) retain fully paid healthcare
2) leave our contract language the same (no coalition bargaining)
3) no pay freeze
4) add the 10th step to all pay ranges, as bargained in the last round, 2 years ago
5) minimize furlough days impact.

Furlough Days are unpaid days off.
One estimate is that all public employees taking 8 unpaid days off during the next two years (the length of the contract) would save our state 35 million dollars. An organizer said 8 days in the contract, or 4 days per year is 1.5% of our pay. For a member who is topped out in Salary Range 12, 1.5% would equal 39 dollars a month.

This is alittle convoluted. members most likely will not see a 39 dollar drop in each months paycheck. Our paychecks would only be affected in the months that we used a furlough day. Vacation or 'comp-time' cannot be used on furlough days.

The central table delegates will work to influence the number of days required. They can bargain how much control we have over when we use them. I would enjoy an extra day to go hunting.

There really are not that many reasons for early settlement of our contract. However, the few reasons that are present are good ones:
a) The economy sucks and our state is way short of money.
b) Public employees always take a black eye during bargaining. We will take two black eyes in this economy.

There is lots of work to do before this is over. We may end up bargaining the whole nine yards yet; bargaining until August or September. The State Legislature is in session with lots of opportunities. mac