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