Oregon Employment Relations Board finds Josephine County
used outsourcing to punish county workers for striking
Striking Josephine County workers wave to supporters outside a county
building in Grants Pass, Oregon. After a four-day strike in January 2006,
about a third of the workers in the striking unit lost jobs when commissioners
decided to contract out a variety of mental health services.
commissioners voted 3-0 to contract
out every component of the mental
health department, including alcohol
and drug counseling, services for de-
velopmentally-disabled adults, and ju-
venile early intervention in the
schools. The state and a local educa-
tion service district took over some of
the work. Non-profit organizations
contracted for the rest, with one
group, Options for Southern Oregon,
hiring 70 of the 125 county workers.
The announcement that accompa-
nied the outsourcing vote made vague
mention of Josephine County’s uncer-
tain financial future, blaming the ex-
pected loss of federal timber subsi-
dies.
“When you have a climate of out-
sourcing, downsizing and layoffs,”
said attorney Barbara Diamond, “no
one will question the motives of em-
ployers that contract out, because it’s
assumed the motive is to save money.”
But Diamond, working with local
AFSCME members, was able to show
ERB that money wasn’t the motive
this time.
The mental health programs were
supported almost entirely by state and
federal grants, and those grants helped
cover county overhead. So not only
did the outsourcing not save money, it
actually cost the county $469,000 a
year. That’s why the idea of outsourc-
ing had been rejected twice before in
the previous decade. This time, there
was no advance study or analysis, no
public hearings where clients, families
or advocates could testify, no meet-
ings for employees to weigh in. Com-
missioners made the decision entirely
on their own, one month after a strike
that had made them look bad.
ERB members concluded the
county’s “uncertain financial future”
was just a pretext, and a flimsy one.
The real motive was admitted on two
separate occasions when county
higher-ups told union leaders privately
that the outsourcing wouldn’t have
happened except for the strike. Those
“smoking gun” admissions were just
the clincher in the union’s case that the
outsourcing was retaliation.
ERB has given the county 30 days
to negotiate a settlement with AF-
SCME. Otherwise, all its orders will
apply. In addition to reinstatement and
back pay, ERB ordered the county to
pay to AFSCME the dues that would
have been withheld — about $75,000
over the 18-month period — plus a
$1,000 civil penalty — the maximum
the law allows. A separate legal pro-
ceeding seeks to have the county pay
the union’s attorney costs in the case,
which could be up to $30,000.
As of press time, the outsourced
workers hadn’t met, but Burdis, who
was hired as a union staff rep after his
job was outsourced, thinks few will
want to come back to the county. They
make the same amount of money at
their new employers, and though they
don’t have the workplace rights they
had in the unionized environment of
the county, the non-profit managers
treat them better, he said. Plus, the
county prefers not to reinstate them,
likely because it could make them vul-
nerable to lawsuits by the non-profits
they contracted with, Burdis said. So
the two sides expect to negotiate.
“We’re members of the commu-
nity,” Burdis said. “We care about the
community. We’re not trying to bank-
rupt the county. If we can negotiate a
settlement that’s better for all con-
cerned, we’ll do that.”
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GRANTS PASS — A trio of anti-
union county commissioners in South-
western Oregon broke state law last
year when they fired 125 workers to
retaliate against them for going on
strike. That’s what the workers’ union,
Oregon AFSCME (American Federa-
tion of State, County and Municipal
Employees) Council 75, charged in a
legal complaint against Josephine
County.
And on Oct. 30, 2007, the state
board that judges public employee
union disputes agreed with the union,
ruling that the county’s outsourcing of
mental health services was an “egre-
gious” violation of Oregon’s Public
Employee Collective Bargaining Act.
The Oregon Employment Relations
Board (ERB) ordered Josephine
County to reinstate the workers and
pay damages, including reimburse-
ment for any wages and benefits they
lost, plus 9 percent interest.
AFSCME hailed the ruling as a
major victory, saying it chastens a
lawless county board and could deter
other public employers from retaliat-
ing against workers for union activity.
“It sends a very strong message to
other public employers not to do this,”
said AFSCME Field Services Director
Rick Henson, “because we will pursue
them to the end and prevail.”
The fight started in late 2005 when
Josephine County demanded signifi-
cant benefit cuts from its 325 AF-
SCME-represented employees. The
cuts were pushed by the three-mem-
ber Board of County Commissioners
— full-time elected officials who
serve as the county’s top decision-
makers.
Workers said “no” to the cuts, and
struck for four days in January 2006.
Josephine County, population 78,000,
is politically conservative and pre-
dominantly Republican, but strikers
surprised the commissioners, winning
tremendous community sympathy.
County managers, who also had their
benefits cut, filed suit against the
county. At a strike rally, the sitting
sheriff called the commissioners “bul-
lies and thugs.” The Grants Pass Daily
Courier called on the commissioners
to settle.
They did, coming to terms with the
union under intense public pressure.
But soon after that, the three commis-
sioners — Dwight Ellis, Jim Raffen-
burg and Jim Riddle — struck back,
voting to outsource all jobs in the
county’s most pro-union department.
The county mental health depart-
ment was the workplace of Local
3694 President Daniel Burdis, plus
three of the five bargaining committee
members, and the activity chair. Dur-
ing the strike, 80 percent of workers in
the mental health department took
part, compared to 60 percent in the ju-
venile department and 40 percent in
the public works department.
One month after the strike, the
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NOVEMBER 16, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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