NEWS FROM THE TABLE

The State Central Table negotiates on behalf of all SEIU 503-represented State employees. We work in cooperation with “coalition tables,” where issues specific to certain agencies are negotiated. For more information on our bargaining campaign, visit Seiu503.org/IAmEssential.  

March 12 Update from your member-elected, Central Table Bargaining Team: 

On Thursday we met with management to begin exchanging initial proposals. We presented proposals in a variety of areas, including increasing vacation and holidays, handling on-the-job injuries, and improving the transition from temporary employee to permanent.  Details on these proposals are included below. 

But first, two updates. 

PAYROLL PROCESS UPDATES

You may remember a communication from management about the payroll process change that would move some employees to an hourly pay schedule. We still haven’t received a proposal from management on this change. However, the State did let us know they are no longer pursuing an August implementation date for this. They made that decision after hearing concerns from many of you. We should know more by the end of the month, and we want to make sure you get that info as fast as possible, so please save the date – March 23, 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM – for a webinar where we will go over management’s proposal. A registration link will be emailed to you next week. 

COMING UP NEXT

We will be back at the bargaining table on March 18th where we’ll pass more proposals, and expect to get more proposals from management as well. Remember to take the pledge to support bargaining here.

DETAILS ON OUR LATEST PROPOSALS

• VACATION
  • Allow for cash out of 40 hours vacation twice every calendar year (currently this can only happen once a year)
  • Increase maximum vacation accrual to 450 hours
  • Increase maximum vacation cash out upon separation to 400 hours
• HOLIDAYS
  • Add Juneteenth on June 19th
  • Add Indiginous Peoples’ Day on the 2nd Monday in October
  • Add any holiday declared by the President of the United States
• ON-THE-JOB INJURIES
  • If an employee is injured on the job and needs medical attention, the employee will be paid for the remainder of their regular or overtime shift (regardless of whether a SAIF claim is filed and/or approved)
• TRIAL SERVICE
  • A temporary employee who is hired into a permanent position in the same agency and classification will have time as a temporary employee counted toward their trial service
  • Language to clarify that workers in trial service may request leave without pay if they need to be absent during their trial service period 
• INTERVIEW FEEDBACK & LEAVE
  • Leave requests for job interviews within the State of Oregon will not be arbitrarily denied
  • An employee interviewed, but not selected for a position will be provided their interview/other scores and their ranking among other candidates