Clackamas Community College
Vol. X, No. 4
Thursday, October 21, 1976
Negotiations flounder
Classified staff faces strike
y Lenna Fitch
We have a hired gun on campus. Unless
anSgement comes up with some money -
lat's it. Over a hundred classified personnel
e going to offer themselves up as hostages.
Labor union AFSCME (American Fed-
ation for State and County Municipal Em-
oyees) has demanded an approximated
3.6 percent pay increase. Management has
:fered only 2.2 percent. Consequently,
lion members, who constitute a majority
: classified staff, have voted to strike in the
,ent that management doesn't come up with
reasonable agreement.
We will all miss them. We will miss the
jses. . .we will miss the delivery men. . .
e will also miss everybody affiliated with
FL-CIO. . .because they are affiliated with
FSCME.
Snployees in classified - particularly those
i secretarial positions - have had to settle
>r’craps so long that no one pays much
lindwhen they ask to sit at the table with
/embody else.
Kristy Kofsky says, "We do a lot of
ork and get little recognition for com-
ansation. We get what's left after admini-
:ralon and faculty get their wages."
Miss Kofsky, a secretary, is president of
>cal 2832. She said that the union's ori-
nal proposal asked for a $55 raise across
le board, to bring wages into a more equit
ale range. The total amount equals 7 or
’/2percent that inflation has robbed.
In addition they want 1.3 percent to
aver the increased cost of insurance. Also,
acording to Carolyn Ritter (member of
lassified's negotiating team) they expected
a get a 5 percent increment that had been
reviously agreed to.
■They've even rejected our annual step
lcrease," she said, referring to the incre-
lent. "The 2.2 percent offered barely covers
uriringe benefits."
Miss Kofsky explained the problem. She
lid that management had agreed that all
ualified personnel would get an annual step
icrease. It was assumed by many that this
lcrease would be automatic. But instead,
lanagement now says that classifiedsmust
lanagement now says that classifieds must
egotiate for the increase.
So every year, the negotiating team will
ave to show up at the bargaining table
/¡th their little tin cups.
But so far their 5 percent increment re
vest has been rejected, and by the time
hey pay their 7 percent tithing to inflation,
hey will end up working for lower wages
han last year.
According to AFSCME, Clackamas Com-
nunity is unique in that they were the
irst community college in Oregon to affili-
te themselves with an outside union. Only
me other college has followed suit.
Personnel Director Jim Painter, said that
louse Bill 2263, dated June 1973, gave
iublic employees the right to organize, and
that in January, 1974, CCC's classified staff
brought in AFSCME as their bargaining
representative.
Director of Fiscal Affairs Gary Dirrim,
explained that before the House Bill or the
union, employees in classified had a formal
association and could make "In House Con
tracts". They could still do so, he said,
without the union.
So why the union?
Jim Painter, Gary Dirrim and Bill Ryan
(Dean of College Services) are the three in
management who represent CCC's Board of
Education.
And interestingly enough, Roger Rook
and Ralph Groener - both members of the
board - are running for public office. Should
classified proceed with a strike and claim
that the board indulges in unfair labor prac
tices - Took and Groener may have as much
chance on November 2 as two clay pigeons
at a skeet shoot.
Photo by Jerry Wheeler
Colorful Indian garments will be the look Oct. 22, 23 and 24 during the Ouy Ka' Lah
and ASG-sponsored Pow Wow to be held on the CCC campus. Dancing and drumming
competition will also be featured as well as a display of Indian artifacts and teepees.
CLACKAMAS COMMUNITY
COLLEGE ARCHIVES