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

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 20^th thru Saturday the 23^rd. 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

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!

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