If you are interested in being part of the new forum, please follow the directions below to sign up and register...
Go to www.opeuseiu.org/forums
register for a user name (button near top)
click ‘return to the index page’
click ‘user control panel’ (near top of page)
click ‘usergroups’ tab
select ‘odot’ group and hit ‘submit’
click ‘yes’
then let me know what your user name is (email barnardt@opeuseiu.org) and I’ll sign in and accept you. If I do not recognize your email you MUST let me know your name and where you work (we do not want non-odot folks in the group)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Rosemont Workers Ratify Accord
Employees at the Rosemont Treatment Center and School in Southeast Portland have negotiated an historic first contract with Morrison Child and Family Services after six months of collective bargaining.
After a near-unanimous ratification, about 60 workers at the facility for troubled girls gained an immediate average wage increase of 3.63% and improved sick leave, holiday leave and bereavement leave as well as key improvements on health and safety issues affecting them and the girls in their charge and a range of new workplace rights.
Jessica Sesler
Jessica Selser checks her chant sheet and Gina Montenaro holds her picket sign high. "I don’t have the words to describe how this day has changed my life," said one exultant member of the bargaining team, Saige Gracie.
"So many hours of effort, heartbreak, fury and sweat. My heart is on fire.
"We have real rights and real equality. All of my deep breaths from this point on belong to the people who held my hand though this process. Congratulations. Viva la Revolution."
The contract establishes staffing levels that do not compromise the therapeutic care of clients, specifically requiring at least three staff members to be scheduled for each dorm at all times absent a written explanation, and gives staffers the right to summon police if they encounter a situation that would likely lead to assault or injury.
Other health and safety provisions will alert residential skills specialists to the presence of infectious disease, provide accommodation for pregnant staff members, allow extra breaks after escalated incidents when coverage is available, and give workers input on a committee that discusses such issues as better and nutritious food options and sanitation.
The contract also spells out job protections including a grievance procedure to dispute contract violations; just-cause language and a "progressive" system of discipline; access to personnel files with a right to respond and remove negative comments after a year; and a set of rights to union participation and representation.
In addition to a wage scale that includes a Step System (which comes on top of an increase Morrison instituted last year during the campaign), workers won the right to use sick leave for illness, injury, mental health, medical appointments for immediate family members (including domestic partners), seven paid holidays with 1.8 times regular pay for those required to work, and three days of paid bereavement leave for designated family members.
The contract guarantees at least two hours of pay (a stipend for maintenance) if employees are called in, creates a fair process for filling in for those out sick, affords senior workers bumping rights in the event of a layoff, establishes seniority and availability as decisive factors for filling vacancies within classification, and allows employees up to a year of personal leave as well as the right to take leaves for medical issues, military service, or union work.
Rosemont employees and their community supporters pressed hard for a compensation and benefit package that would alleviate chronic staff turnover at the facility, the largest secure residential treatment center for troubled teen girls in the Pacific Northwest.
"The best part of this contract is that it will give us the ability to consistently give the girls what they need," said another bargainer, Charlie Ashton. "Higher staffing ratios will be enforced, so staff won't have to worry about work when we're not at work. We're a huge step towards a living wage, and we are still united after over a year of working towards this contract!
"We won! Congrats to us. By staying together as a unified team, we have improved the living situation of these girls."
After a near-unanimous ratification, about 60 workers at the facility for troubled girls gained an immediate average wage increase of 3.63% and improved sick leave, holiday leave and bereavement leave as well as key improvements on health and safety issues affecting them and the girls in their charge and a range of new workplace rights.
Jessica Sesler
Jessica Selser checks her chant sheet and Gina Montenaro holds her picket sign high. "I don’t have the words to describe how this day has changed my life," said one exultant member of the bargaining team, Saige Gracie.
"So many hours of effort, heartbreak, fury and sweat. My heart is on fire.
"We have real rights and real equality. All of my deep breaths from this point on belong to the people who held my hand though this process. Congratulations. Viva la Revolution."
The contract establishes staffing levels that do not compromise the therapeutic care of clients, specifically requiring at least three staff members to be scheduled for each dorm at all times absent a written explanation, and gives staffers the right to summon police if they encounter a situation that would likely lead to assault or injury.
Other health and safety provisions will alert residential skills specialists to the presence of infectious disease, provide accommodation for pregnant staff members, allow extra breaks after escalated incidents when coverage is available, and give workers input on a committee that discusses such issues as better and nutritious food options and sanitation.
The contract also spells out job protections including a grievance procedure to dispute contract violations; just-cause language and a "progressive" system of discipline; access to personnel files with a right to respond and remove negative comments after a year; and a set of rights to union participation and representation.
In addition to a wage scale that includes a Step System (which comes on top of an increase Morrison instituted last year during the campaign), workers won the right to use sick leave for illness, injury, mental health, medical appointments for immediate family members (including domestic partners), seven paid holidays with 1.8 times regular pay for those required to work, and three days of paid bereavement leave for designated family members.
The contract guarantees at least two hours of pay (a stipend for maintenance) if employees are called in, creates a fair process for filling in for those out sick, affords senior workers bumping rights in the event of a layoff, establishes seniority and availability as decisive factors for filling vacancies within classification, and allows employees up to a year of personal leave as well as the right to take leaves for medical issues, military service, or union work.
Rosemont employees and their community supporters pressed hard for a compensation and benefit package that would alleviate chronic staff turnover at the facility, the largest secure residential treatment center for troubled teen girls in the Pacific Northwest.
"The best part of this contract is that it will give us the ability to consistently give the girls what they need," said another bargainer, Charlie Ashton. "Higher staffing ratios will be enforced, so staff won't have to worry about work when we're not at work. We're a huge step towards a living wage, and we are still united after over a year of working towards this contract!
"We won! Congrats to us. By staying together as a unified team, we have improved the living situation of these girls."
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
July Bargaining Conference and NEW Forum
Hi ODOT,
I wanted to give you all the link for the Bargaining Conference registration (yes, this is new, we are registering people On-Line). http://www.opeuseiu.org/register/ You will need to set up an account (takes about 3 minutes plus you'll have to check your email for the password). Also, we've had this blog going for over a year and a half now and it has definitely served a purpose. However, after lots of conversations amongst leaders and activists we have decided to create a Forum that will be attached to the blog where folks can create user accounts and comment on a variety of topics, from bargaining to politics to workplace issues. I will have a much more in depth post about this in the next week after I get the kinks worked out of the new system. I plan on posting a big visible link to the forum on the blog. My thought was the blog will continue to be used for News, Events, etc and the forum will be more for our internal discussion. If you have thoughts or suggestions, definitely let me know.
I wanted to give you all the link for the Bargaining Conference registration (yes, this is new, we are registering people On-Line). http://www.opeuseiu.org/register/ You will need to set up an account (takes about 3 minutes plus you'll have to check your email for the password). Also, we've had this blog going for over a year and a half now and it has definitely served a purpose. However, after lots of conversations amongst leaders and activists we have decided to create a Forum that will be attached to the blog where folks can create user accounts and comment on a variety of topics, from bargaining to politics to workplace issues. I will have a much more in depth post about this in the next week after I get the kinks worked out of the new system. I plan on posting a big visible link to the forum on the blog. My thought was the blog will continue to be used for News, Events, etc and the forum will be more for our internal discussion. If you have thoughts or suggestions, definitely let me know.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
ODOT Election Results
ODOT has elected the following people to serve Local 730 for the next two years:
Officers:
President - Cameron McGinnis
Vice-President - Kermit Meling
Treasurer - Betty Huskey
Secretary - Mike Scott
Statewide Chief Steward - Bart Cotta
Bargaining Delegates:
1. Cameron McGinnis (automatic)
2. Bart Cotta (automatic)
3. Lee Erickson
4. Joe Lamont
5. Kermit Meling
6. Mike Scott
7. Mike Johnson
Alternate Bargaining Delegates:
1. Lorrie Schaefer
2. Betty Huskey
3. 26 way tie
General Council Delegates:
1. Cameron McGinnis (automatic)
2. Kermit Meling
3. Betty Huskey
4. Mike Scott
5. Bart Cotta
6. Mike Johnson
7. Felix Martinez
8. Lia Martinez
9. Donna McKeever
10. kirk Spindler
11. Shirley Wait
12. Rex Parks
13. Lorrie Schaefer
14. Matt Munz
Alternate General Council Delegates:
1. Kurt Kinder
2. 20+ way tie
Congratulations to all!
Officers:
President - Cameron McGinnis
Vice-President - Kermit Meling
Treasurer - Betty Huskey
Secretary - Mike Scott
Statewide Chief Steward - Bart Cotta
Bargaining Delegates:
1. Cameron McGinnis (automatic)
2. Bart Cotta (automatic)
3. Lee Erickson
4. Joe Lamont
5. Kermit Meling
6. Mike Scott
7. Mike Johnson
Alternate Bargaining Delegates:
1. Lorrie Schaefer
2. Betty Huskey
3. 26 way tie
General Council Delegates:
1. Cameron McGinnis (automatic)
2. Kermit Meling
3. Betty Huskey
4. Mike Scott
5. Bart Cotta
6. Mike Johnson
7. Felix Martinez
8. Lia Martinez
9. Donna McKeever
10. kirk Spindler
11. Shirley Wait
12. Rex Parks
13. Lorrie Schaefer
14. Matt Munz
Alternate General Council Delegates:
1. Kurt Kinder
2. 20+ way tie
Congratulations to all!
Monday, May 5, 2008
NASHTU Trip Recounted
Last week, John Drago, Troy Barnard and myself went to Washington DC representing SEIU 503 and ODOT 730 at the annual NASHTU conference. NASHTU stands for National Association of State Highway Transportation Unions. Glen Thommen from AEE was also in attendance. The four of us spent three days learning about the dire straights the Transportation Infrastructure is currently experiencing. The fund is almost insolvent due to wasteful spending and construction fiascos throughout the country. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents and 24.4 cents for diesel tax and has been since 1993. At that time, the gas and diesel tax had a buying power of 80%. Today, the buying power has been reduced to less than 20%. No one is advocating increasing the gas tax, especially during the current economic crisis. However, taking a gas tax holiday will not benefit anyone other than the oil companies. The expected savings will be replace by higher prices by the oil companies and then the taxes come back after labor day. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a reduction or moritorium on gas taxes means less money to go to states to complete federally maintained roads throughout the country. Yet there are some politicians who actually think this is a good idea.
We lobbied our state senators and representatives to support two House Recommendations to the Transportation Authorization package scheduled to expire in 2009. The first HR, 2485, is to ensure that public safety is protected, transportation funds are not wasted and projects are delivered in a timely manner, would require public employees to perform the inspection on all state and local transportation projects. When the construction inspection function is outsourced to a private company, there is no longer a representative of the public on the job site. This has led to problems that threaten public safety, increase costs and delay projects.
The second HR, 3621, will ensure taxpayers receive safe, high-quality transportation services at the best possible price by requiring state and local transportation agencies to prepare a cost-benefit analysis and assess the past performance histories of contractors, prior to outsourcing transportation services to private contractors.
Private and Public Partnerships was another issue. Two examples were brought up and discussed a few times. Both Illinois and Indiana have sold off part of their infrastructure to foreign countries to get money now. However, the deals are for 75 and 99 years and will be toll roads. The purchasers can raise the tolls to whatever they want for the period of time they own the roads. Thereby making a significant profit on the roads and it is unsure or unknown as to whether they will maintain the roads.
The other big issue brought up and discussed at length was Design Build. For those who don't know, Design-build lumps design, construction and inspection of a highway project into a single contract that is awarded not through competitive bidding, but through a process that allows unspecified factors to be considered "significantly more important than cost." Design-build also allows the private contractor to inspect and sign off on his or her own work. I don't know about you, but this send up a huge red flag and I don't mean the US flag. To say the least, state inspectors are no where involved in these projects.
For myself, I was thrilled to go and represent our union and agency employees on these important issues facing ODOT now and in the future. Thanks goes to our Local 730 leadership for selecting us to attend and to SEIU 503 help in covering the costs for this trip.
Mike Johnson
We lobbied our state senators and representatives to support two House Recommendations to the Transportation Authorization package scheduled to expire in 2009. The first HR, 2485, is to ensure that public safety is protected, transportation funds are not wasted and projects are delivered in a timely manner, would require public employees to perform the inspection on all state and local transportation projects. When the construction inspection function is outsourced to a private company, there is no longer a representative of the public on the job site. This has led to problems that threaten public safety, increase costs and delay projects.
The second HR, 3621, will ensure taxpayers receive safe, high-quality transportation services at the best possible price by requiring state and local transportation agencies to prepare a cost-benefit analysis and assess the past performance histories of contractors, prior to outsourcing transportation services to private contractors.
Private and Public Partnerships was another issue. Two examples were brought up and discussed a few times. Both Illinois and Indiana have sold off part of their infrastructure to foreign countries to get money now. However, the deals are for 75 and 99 years and will be toll roads. The purchasers can raise the tolls to whatever they want for the period of time they own the roads. Thereby making a significant profit on the roads and it is unsure or unknown as to whether they will maintain the roads.
The other big issue brought up and discussed at length was Design Build. For those who don't know, Design-build lumps design, construction and inspection of a highway project into a single contract that is awarded not through competitive bidding, but through a process that allows unspecified factors to be considered "significantly more important than cost." Design-build also allows the private contractor to inspect and sign off on his or her own work. I don't know about you, but this send up a huge red flag and I don't mean the US flag. To say the least, state inspectors are no where involved in these projects.
For myself, I was thrilled to go and represent our union and agency employees on these important issues facing ODOT now and in the future. Thanks goes to our Local 730 leadership for selecting us to attend and to SEIU 503 help in covering the costs for this trip.
Mike Johnson
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