4
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
(Continued from page 3)
Make a special effort to inform that
non-member about the results of our
legislative program. Asi every state em
ployee will participate in the benefits
he should be willing to give his support
by active participation' through' mem
bership.
Legislative Report
By I. A. DeFRANCE
Director of Law. and Legislation
How did the 44th Oregon Legisla
tive Assembly deaf with' the welfare
and future of State Employees? My
answer is that we should be apprecia
tive of the considerations received.
Our requests were moderate and prac
tically all of them were granted. Much
of our activity was directed towards
the defense of the Civil Service and
Retirement System acts and/^ft/ this
we were also quite successful.
Probably no Legislative/^ assembly
will ever match the consideration given
State Employees by the 43 rd Assembly.
In the middle of the war, it was recog
nized that many employees remained
in state service from a sense of. lpyalty
when private industry was offering
tempting inducements to attract them.
That- assembly, appreciative of the
loyalty shown by State employees, en
dorsed the principle of merit and
adopted the State ’ Civil Service Act
and the Public Employees Retirement
Act. .
The 44th Assembly, meeting a year
and a half after the end of the war,
had to a degree reverted to that old
time appraisal of the public service,
based on patronage and characterized
by//incompetence, The merit .system
had only begun to operate and some
of the legislators were unaware t of the
results anticipated from the applica
tion of the principle of merit in the
state service. Another factor contrib
uting to this "appraisal” was the ex
orbitant demands made by some short
sighted groups. Some such demands
were rfiade purely to provide talking^
points in future membership drives?1^*
.some were demands involving admin
istrative matters which should hâve
been presented
the administrative
departments for consideration.
Civil Service
There were several attacks upon the
Merit System and it would have been
a serious matter had the. Employees
Association n o th a d two most /highly
respected and conscientious representa
tives on hand to explain the principles
involved and dispell the confusion
caused by the misinformation put out
by the opposition.
The amendments to the Civil Servie^
Act as adopted include those recom
mended by the Association and two
others not recommended. The first of
the two not' recommended extended
veterans preference credit to promo
tions but as adopted was limited, in;
application to "fjrst promotions” and
to former state employees, which lim
itations removed all objections to the
plan. The second, would have .removed
employees, of the Tax Commission from
Ciyil Service coverage but as adopted
was limited in applicatipn to but one
class of auditors and for a period of
two years only. I
A third amendment proposed by
Robert 8. Farrell, Jr., Secretary I of
State,- would have taken all employées
of that I department (including the
state institutions), the Treasury De
partment and Labor ; Commission de
partment from Civil Service coverage.
This measure died in committee after
meeting opposition from the O.S.E.A.,
the Civil Service Commission and the
League of Women Voters.
Retirement Act
The amendments to the Retirement
Act as adopted included those recom
mended by the O.S.E.A. except two—
The excess contribution provision was
retained so we withdrew our request
for increased employer contributions
up to $3,000 per year. We pointed put
without success that our request for