10
ence and length of service; hours, wages
and working conditions on a parity
with industry ’ and other states and
equality between departments; equal
pay for equal work; a 5-day, 40-hour
work week; pay for overtime; stand
ardization of holidays and rest periods;
better protection of employees subject
to traffic hazards; regular dates for
pay checks; more liberal vacation and
sick leave allowance; adjustment of
w a g e so n a cost of living basis; pay-
check deduction records; niore dele
gates to the Council; hiring of extra
help for'headquarters office; selection
of an emblem; provide for group life
insurance; extend hospital coverage to
families; increase salaries of appointive
and elective officials; two pay days V
month for all; credit for all prior ser
vice under, Retirement Act; amend 48-
hour law to make it equal for all em
ployees; retirement after 3.0 years , ser-;
vice even before reaching 65 years of
age; top salary in pay schedule after
five years of service; 30 percent pay
increase. Probably there were a few
others which might have been inad
vertently omitted.
The «above list appears to be a con
siderable number of aims .and objec
tives for a specific program. It reads
like a big job for a young association
which even now doesn'pt claim 50 per
cent of: s,tate employees in its member
ship. As. individuals, we would feel lost:
if , we tried to get even one of those
aims put into effect!
W hat Happened in 1945?
The OSEA started out in 1943 with
a few hundred members and $272 to
tackle a big job! How did they do? To
quote a now-famous expression, "Let’s
look at the record f” |
In 1943, before the OSEA, the two
firSt objectives, Civil I Service' and the
Retirement Act, were defeated in the
legislature. During 1943 and 1944, we
increased our membership by the dili
gent efforts of a few. We cooperated
actively with the League of Oregon
Cities and the Oregon League of Wo
men Voters. We hired a legal council
and an executive' secretary and obtained
cooperation from the Budget Director,
state officials and members of the lgg-
^lâfurè. Then, in 1945- both bills be
came laws. That is a remarkable ac
complishment and -speaks well for unity
of piirpose and the judgment of our
OSEA. administrators. The OSËA,
though young and small in member
ship had won its first two highly im
portant objectives. We had fashioned
, the tools by which, most of ôùr other
expressed aims can be realized. |
Oregon Civil Service Act
One hears some criticism of the Ore
gon Civil Service Act, from some ad
ministrative officials, from the public
and (almost unbelievably) from some
state employees;' Just a few comments
may help us to better understand its
merits and what it, promises to each
person tinder its coverage. The purpose
of the Act is "to establish a merit sys
tem of personnel administration . .
Everything in the Act and everything
in its administration is to be pointed
up in the expression "a merit system.’’.
Surely, no one can take serious excep
tion to that basic idea! The Oregon
Civil Service Act is recognized as one!
of the best such laws by those who
know personnel administration. It is a
good tool, capable of performing a,
service/to all.
Wé all know there are some existing
faults in our present system of person
nel administration. Many I of Us have/
real grièvânces. We also know that
some department heads are not fully
cooperative in inaking the Act as ef
fective as it should be. While recogniz
ing present evils, lack of interest and
severe criticism, I want to impress up
on every reader this thought; A GOOD
TOOL MERITS A SKILLED USER.
To me that means ( 1 ) the Civil Service
Act has a good purpose; (2) if prop
erly administered and supported it c%h>
be of value to ^//¿f3)„ the administra
tors and participants must have faith
in its ultimate value; (4) «// should
appreciate their individual responsibili
ties to | encourage those things . which