March 17, 2023
Institutions
This week, we met with management to finish passing our initial proposals – the day was productive, with our bargaining team passing eleven additional proposals.
We passed a proposal that mandatory overtime is compensated at a rate of double time and a half for workers at OSH, Pendleton Cottage or OYA. We also proposed an increase to the penalty payment for mandates and some required respite time equal to that in the OSH nurses’ contract.
We passed several proposals to help address the Psychology Department’s difficulties with hiring and retaining workers. More than half of the staff there have been on the job less than a year.
Management offered a counter to our proposal around safety on the job protection for supplemental pay to worker’s compensation when a staff member is physically assaulted by a patient.
Several pharmacists from OSH joined us as management proposed an overhaul of standby and on-call policies; we are working with the pharmacists to submit a counter proposal.
Our next meeting is scheduled for April 4th.
ODOT
Our ODOT Coalition had a very productive meeting last week, passing five proposals around housing, safety and work equipment (boots, uniforms, and tools).
Specifically, the proposals are:
- Creating a Labor-Management Committee through a housing letter of agreement to review potential solutions for equitable housing assistance for staff with less than a year on the job, with an emphasis on seasonal workers.
- Allowing for the use of chemical deterrents against dangerous wildlife and other animals.
- Requiring notification and tracking in the event of workers’ exposure to hazardous materials, including toxic chemicals and smoke from nonorganic fuels.
- Strengthening language for dealing with members of the public who threaten others, and clarifying when workers can access Critical Incident Leave.
- Proposing unifying language on uniforms, boots and tools that ensures no out-of-pocket cost burden falls on the employee, and that uniforms, tools, and boots that are needed to perform the job are either reimbursed or provided by the state.
Management passed a proposal affecting compensatory time and cashouts at Agriculture and Water Resources/OWEB.
Human Services
In our meeting with management this week, we passed the last of our initial proposals, which included workload, safety and health concerns, protections against discipline for recorded phone calls, and outlined improvements to distribute overtime and on-call assignments.
Management passed counter proposals to three items we introduced:
They denied our proposal to shorten the BES trial service from nine to six months, as well as our proposal to delete “essential attributes” as a consideration in interviews for lateral transfers or promotions.
Management is refusing to agree to our proposal to work collaboratively on appropriate OED metrics. Instead, they want to maintain the sole decision-making power for themselves.
Management agreed to TA on: sick leave, which allowed comp time to be transferred to coworkers who had exhausted all other leave banks and letters of agreement on inclement weather, employee recognition and housekeeping changes.
Thanks again to all of our observers! We had more than 20 people participate and would love to see those numbers continue to grow. Please join us again in two weeks – add this to your calendar and Zoom in with us.
Specials
We had a productive meeting with management this week, where we passed more than 10 proposals.
We made proposals to prioritize equity in rotational and hiring processes, adding flexibility and advance notice to work schedule articles, and expanded upon our background check LOAs, moving them from into the contract with consistent, equitable steps that occur after a failed background check.
We also proposed improvements to our lead worker letter of agreement (LOA) which includes increased opportunities for workers to be part of the leadwork rotation. Additionally, we made proposals to ensure fair processes for filling vacancies prioritizing internal hires and seniority. We TA’d a proposal removing an exception for ODVA employees that, in the past, has limited their work schedule options.
Additionally, we strengthened a few memoranda of understanding by moving them to LOAs (adding flexibility to work schedule articles and expanded background check procedures).
March 3, 2023
Institutions
This week, we held our second bargaining meeting with state management; we are very excited that the 2023 bargaining campaign is well under way!
To start, we passed four proposals for new letters of agreement addressing the critical issues of recruitment and retention of clinical classification positions, recognize the duties of people “in charge” when management and lead workers are not on the floor and create a task force to review ALL behavioral health classification to ensure they are correctly classified.
We passed two proposals around boots and protective eyewear for workers in facilities and warehouse departments, as well as a proposal for Pendleton Cottage to address same-day vacation leave.
Management provided us with their positions on a few of the existing letters of agreement (LOA), including a proposal to incorporate the 13-hour, 20-minute LOA into the contract, and proposed a housekeeping change around timekeeping.
Call to Action! Become a CAT! March 16th is the next meeting and the link to the meeting is here.
Specials
We are excited to be well under way with our 2023 bargaining campaign!
We passed several proposals this week, one that added inclusive language around blood donations and community action. We also passed a proposal that included additional leave with pay and, for those ineligible to donate blood, the ability to use leave time to contribute to our community in other ways.
We also passed a proposal to expand work schedules for the ODVA, and proposed language in a new letter of agreement (LOA) to provide additional options for workers at the Oregon School for the Deaf. It would enable them to decide whether to take their paychecks over a 9-, 10-, or 12-month schedule so they can choose how to be paid in a way that works best for them. We are currently reviewing management’s three proposals – all of which are around filling vacancies.
Call to Action! Become a CAT! Our next meeting is Tuesday, March 7, and every other Tuesday after that. Contact your Organizer for more info.
ODOT
We are excited to be well under way with our 2023 ODOT coalition bargaining campaign!
We met for the second time with management, where we continued to pass proposals on a variety of issues, including commercial driving license training and reimbursement, parks department boot allowance education, safety show-up at ODOT and differential pay for forests dispatch.
Additionally, we passed proposals on parks and recreation department schedules, agriculture and water resource access to policies and increasing rest periods for ODF after 14-day assignments. We also passed a proposal on vacation carry-over limits from 40 to 100 hours for back-to-back seasonal workers.
Management passed two proposals on vacancies and layoffs (ODF).
Coming up: Our next bargaining session with management is March 9, where our team will make new proposals on boots, uniforms, and safety issues.
Call to Action! Become a CAT! Our next ODOT CAT meeting is March 14. Contact your Organizer for more info.
Human Services
We are excited that our 2023 bargaining campaign is under way! We passed two proposals at this week’s meeting. The first is geared toward clarifying language around sublocal LMCs: expanded paid time for staff notetakers and prep time.
The second proposal would add language to provide for more equitable education/training for staff, clarify language around time spent in job rotation that would count towards trial service, and expanding management’s obligation to provide employees with further explanation if their job rotation was denied based on operational needs.
Management had no proposals to offer and said they would not have any further to present to us at this time. They did ask questions about the Joint Wellness Committee but were unsure about who was on the committee and did not know if there were represented employees involved.
The remainder of the meeting was spent working on safety and health proposals.
Calls to Action!
- It makes a huge difference to have observers at these meetings – thank you to all who were able to attend this week! Twenty-five of you joined us and we would LOVE to see more of you tuning in as bargaining continues! Mark your calendars for March 16th, 2-6pm, and join this link.
- Become a CAT! Join us for the Contract Action Team meetings for the Human Services Coalition! Meetings are held on the 3rd Friday of each month at 12pm. Here’s the Zoom Link.
February 17, 2023
Institutions
The Institutions Bargaining Team had our inaugural meeting with management this week, making it clear what our safety priorities are as we bargain for a great contract.
We passed a few initial proposals around differentials. We were pleased to see that management agreed with most of our positions on existing Letters of Agreement (LOAs). Management passed three proposals focused on housekeeping and adding reimbursement of scrubs purchases for registered nurses and dental assistants.
We are feeling #UnionStrong right now and fired up and ready for our next meeting with management on February 28th. We plan to pass additional proposals then.
Human Services
This week, our Human Services Coalition Table held our first meeting with management, delivering a powerful opening statement that drives home the experiences we have endured since the early days of the pandemic, and how the lack of staffing is affecting not only the ability for us to do the jobs that make Oregon work, but also impact the quality of services we can provide for the people of our great state. Read the full statement.
The Human Services Coalition has been working hard since November to prepare our initial proposals on 12 Articles and Letters of Agreement, including housekeeping changes and highlighting the participation of members in decision making via committees. management provided only one proposal: extending trial service of HSS3 from six months to nine months.
We are ready for this campaign and are looking forward to having members attend future coalition meetings with management to show Union power. Right now, we want to hear from workers in Human Services Specialists 3 positions about your experiences with trial service. If you are an HSS3 worker, please complete this brief form.
Specials
Our 2023 bargaining campaign is in full swing, with the first meeting of the Specials Coalition held this week. In our opening statement, we emphasized the need for management to step up and fix lingering issues in the workplace: high workloads, a lack of staff and safer work environments.
The meeting went smoothly and we discussed the format we will use to share our proposals.
We talked about the existing Letters of Agreement (LOAs), which are an enforceable part of our union contract that are published along with the main contract. In future sessions, we will work to come to agreement on which LOAs will continue, which will be modified, and which will be allowed to expire.
We have a lot of work to do in the next few months and will have much more to share with you and get you engaged to show management that we are #UnionStrong and that We Make Oregon Work.
ODOT
Our bargaining campaign is in full swing! Last week on February 8th, our ODOT Coalition Table held our first meeting with management. Our ODOT bargaining team has 23 delegates including workers from ODFW, DMV, ODOT, Forestry, Parks, DOGAMI, Water Resources, and Agriculture.
At this meeting, our bargaining team shared an opening statement with the state where we laid out our coalition’s bargaining priorities, which include improving safety and addressing the recruitment and retention crisis in so many of our agencies.
Management’s bargaining team passed a proposal dealing with existing Letters of Agreement (LOAs). These LOAs are an enforceable part of our union contract and are published along with the main contract.
We are developing our response to management’s LOA proposals, and we are discussing issues around CDL reimbursements, ODF work capacity testing, and differentials.
Management also gave our team a proposal that would eliminate the current policy that requires open OWRD/OWEB positions are floated to internal candidates first.
We are looking forward to our next session on February 23 where we will dig into issues of safety, boots and uniforms, and how the state can better support the well-being of the state employees in our coalition who do hard and necessary work for the people of Oregon.