3
The President's Message
During the past summer state em
ployees have seen and have experienced
the effects of two important legislative
acts being put into operation. I refer to
the Retirement A ct and the Civil Ser
vice Law. Pay checks received in A u
gust for Ju ly services carried the first
deductions for the employees’ contribu
tion to his own retirement fund. The
amount of this deduction was approxi
mately offset by the $10 wage increase
effective June 1. However, the em
ployee knows that the amount deduct
ed is being held for him to be matched
with an equivalent amount contributed
by the employer. It is much the same
situation as though a banker offered to
match a ten or fifteen dollar deposit
with a like amount of bank funds pro
vided the deposit was left in the bank
until the employee reached age 60 or
65. It would be a strange sort of reason
ing to prompt one to refuse such an
offer.
The purpose and operation of the Re
tirement A ct is becoming familiar to
state employees. The Civil Service Act,
however, is just going into operation.
Positions have been allocated and some
appeals have been filed, hearings have
been held on the Rules and Regulations
and on the Classification Plan, and the
Pay Plan will be known shortly as well
as the revised Rules and Regulations.
A t the time of this writing these two
very important phases of the Civil Ser
vice System have not been finally
adopted. State employees fully realize
the serious and far reaching effect the
Rules and Regulations and Pay Plan
will have on the public service as a
whole, and on each employee individ
ually.
It should be remembered by all, that
the Oregon State Employees Association
played a major role in securing the
passage of these two laws. The Civil
Floyd A. Query
Service A ct in particular encountered
some serious opposition and we have
reason to believe that those same forces
which offered opposition initially may
again attempt to defeat or modify the
law to suit their own ideas of what
state service should be.
The position of the O.S.E.A. in this
matter is clear. The Association worked
to secure the best Civil Service Law
that could be written, taking into con
sideration the welfare of both the em
ployee and the state. We do not claim
the law is perfect but we still believe
it is a very good law.
We, as state employees do not wish
to ever see the spoils system in Oregon,
with jobs traded o ff for political fav-
ros. We are much interested in increas
ing the efficiency of state service and
thereby provide the most economical
administration of the public business
fundamental. We believe that a part of
an efficient public service is a well se
lected, well trained and well paid per-
( Continued on page 4)