Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon state employee. (Salem, Oregon.) 1944-195? | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1947)
13 Sign Up a New Member By FLOYD A. QUERY • Junior Past President When you sign up a new member you do him or her, a s ' well as; your- self a favor. By joining the Oregon State Employees Association a person has an opportunity ?to - participate ^finj the affairs of the, association, to help determine ?ifs policies/ its -objectives tp be I attained, the means of attaining them, etc. There should be no question in anyone’s mind about the necessity of 'dirganization. W hether We like it or S K -iB is a necessity. If you wish to question this, .you need only ^o4. look about you at any other type of em ployment, busiriess or professibife..and you find all of these groups well or ganized. Our Aims 'Frankly, the O.S.E.A. ^ s tr iv in g to improve conditions for State employees.' They have not, however^* approached this problem with the attitude that the imprdvement should be hiaade at. the expense h f the public welfare, but rath er to the advantage of the public. It takes only elementary; "horse sense” to realize I that no one, dan expect first fate governmental service, if that ser vice is tied to a third rate wage struc ture ¿nd poor working conditions. I Some Accomplishments Now, someone may ask, what has the O.S.E.A. fo do with all of this? Let us go hack about two years. If you ^happened to be a laborer then you were getting -71c an hour; or, 4f you were a -file clerk, you were getting about $100 a month; Some o f y o u got sick leave and vacation w ith pay,’ some did not.- There was a distinct Tack of unifofna^ ity in personnel policies and practices. It is, to. the everlasting credit of the O.S.E.A. and the 1945 legislative „ as sembly, that they realized hi«/ chaotic condition could be corrected only by a cornplete overhaul—-piecemeal, meas ures' would not suffice. As a result our C ivil,Service Law'was passed, which has already I corrected many inequities. A t the'sam e“ ¿eSsion -our Retirement Plan became law. During the last summer the O.S.E.A. requested tarid received an overall ' wage increase .for state em ployees varying from $10ig0 to $25.00 per month; and also asked for and re ceived a $3.0CEper diem expense allow ance for traveling crews o f.th e High*-/ way Department. The civil service pay plan, through thé efforts of the O.S.E. A. has been made effective March 1st instead of July bringing increases in pay to about 3700 employees. There Are Scoffers These accomplishments, and a I lot more which could be mentioned, are stated hefe not for th e purpose of bragging, but I as . plain I statements of fact. There are those who have scoffed at and ridiculed, our efforts. By repeti tion of subversive statements, they have sought to establish the thought that the O.S.E.A. is a "do nothing’ ’organ ization— that we are an "employer controlled**’ group, and. that we are headed for the ash jçtef ’ .To that we can only say "nuts!” I It is natural for a sucpeWpl, grow ing organization to have enemies who will seek to destroy it. N o new 'and vitaLdhfluencc ever came into being without arousing the emnity of those who feel th a t their prerogatives are being infringed upon. Necessity to Grow ’ It is to the interest of all state em ployees to strengthen the influence of the O.S.E.A. During thia: last legislative .’session our legal council has been ask ed frankly by some members of the legislature, just how many employees we represent. It/hasi been somewhat em barrassing to admit that our member ship ms only slightly, over 3000, less than orie-half of -the; total number of state employees. Those who are making a career of state service have a great
