7
questions above quoted, an unequivo
cal negative/*
The opinion states that "another ob
jection to the board’s entering into a
'working agreement* with the union is
that the board is precluded from con
senting to be governed by the union or
any other group of people in the selec
tion of employees whom the law directs
it to employ in its discretion.**
It further states; "The question of
limiting public employment to union
labor has not been directly before the
Supreme Court of this state, probably
because of public policy, as indicated
by the absence of legislation in this
respect, has been widely understood
and accepted.’*
Article 1, section 2 of the Constitu
tion of Oregon provides:
"N o law shall be passed granting to
any citizen or class of citizens, privil
eges or immunities which, upon the
same terms shall not equally belong
to all citizens.**
Apprenticeship Agreement
"A ny public employee who is a party
to an apprenticeship agreement such as
indicated by the form submitted will
remain out of the classified service of
this state during the prescribed length
of his course of training.
What has been said with reference to
apprenticeships in the state service is
not to be construed as deciding or con
ceding that it is proper, possible or
permissible for state departments gen
erally to enter into apprenticeship
agreements. Statutory authority to de
partment heads to make contracts of
public employment, including appren
ticeships, is peculiarly lacking.
The administrative offices of the
state were created for the purpose of
conducting the state’s affairs and not
for functioning as business or trade
schools. For the latter purpose the state
and the school districts have made ade
quate provisions.
Another reason for not relaxing the
restrictions of the civil service law is
that the legislature, when enacting it,
was primarily concerned with improv
ing the public service of the state,
rather than fixing tenure of employees
in whatever capacity they might choose
to serve.
This provision, subdivision 6, Sec. 8,
chapter 400, 1945, authorizes the
training of employees in the classified
service of the state, for the purpose,
not so much of educating those em
ployees, as of improving the quality of
service rendered by them to the state.
Instruction in special practices and
methods of a state department is quite
different from teaching apprentices
the fundamentals of trades and occu
pations.
Regular employees in state depart
ments who participate in on-the-job
training programs in order to improve
the quality of the service they render
will remain in the classified service of
the state.
An employee with civil service status
dating from September 14, 1940, will
lose the benefit of such status on enter
ing the apprentice class, and for as long
as he remains in that class. The rules of
the civil service commission will be
determinative of the length of time
that the employee may be absent from
the classified service without losing his
right to classification. If a regular em
ployee in the classified service enters
an on-the-job training program con
ducted under conditions hereinabove
indicated, he will not thereby alter his
civil service status.”
Retirement of Elected Officials
"A n elected official who will become
a member of the system in 1946 and
whose term of office will expire on
December 31, 1946 will, if reelected,
be permitted to serve out his term of
office beginning January 1, 1947 even
though he may be 65 years of age at
the time of becoming a member of the
(Continued on page 16)