Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon state employee. (Salem, Oregon.) 1944-195? | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1947)
5 An O. S. E. A. Reporter Visits an A. F. of L. Meeting I Curiosity'took the w riter to a hand bill announced meeting of the Ameri- can Federation of Stafe, County and Municipal Employees held in Salem the night of May 21, 1947. The meeting was, to be addressed, by Paul Walker, ,O regon Representative, and by James L. McCormack, West Coast I Regional Representative. Although the attend ance was disappointing, about twelve were present, the meeting was interest ing^ Your r e p o r t e r learned that thè A. F.S;, Q. & h i. E., affiliated, with .thè A. F. of L., has 1100 locals in the United States- and came into being in Wisconsin in the early ’30js. It is'now represented in 47 statasi Mr. MeCor-- mack ¿pointed, out the advantages .of large; national organizations with hired exoerts available to assist anv individ ual member when nèees&apy.. It was also indicated that the organization stands ready toFfurnish legal protection to its members and to compel proper admin istration of emplover-employèe relation ships by means of its persuasive powers. Mr. McCormack pointed out the na tional basis on which his organization,' works’/ the support given one local by; other affiliated branches; and the gains made in other states and- by Oregon’s cpunties and cities through the efforts of Jthe‘ A. F. S. C. & M. E. Mr. Walker gave a report of his ac tivities' as their representative .Ecfore the last Oregon legislature/ which re port consisted* in large p art of explain ing why their 14-point legislative pro gram progressed so little:-; He stated th at the A. F. S. C. &,M. E. introduced the Civil Service A ct in 1943 w ithout' success, and in 194 5,I w ith the . aid of the O. S. E. A., succeeded in'-getting it, made law. They tried to get the "open back door” of Civil Servile? closed, but admitted that opposition .from the O. S. E. A. stopped their: effort. They promise renewal o f the effort in 1949. In Way of explanation, our present Civil zService "open back door” means that the right to dismiss an employee re- rnains with the appointing authority af ter à public hearing of thé issues. Pay Raises Stressed Another point in their program was for automatic'pay raises. It was Claimed that O. S. E. A. objections defeated their chances on this point. I think the read ers realize that Civit Service" was set Up on a merit basts and automatic raises m ight come I to undeserving employepy to the detrim ent-of morale and without fairness to the deserving! The A.F.S.G. & M.E. said they did get legislative. O.K. o'n the ^"statement of pay-roll de duction” /issue, even in spite of the avowed displeasure of the O. S. E. A ^ As I. recall, the O. S. E.A. sponsored, and supported this point. They admit ted failure to get regular pay days/set.; /by statute for the Highway D epart ment, stating that, the Ô. SiE. A. op posed' the measure. My memory says this department has regular pay days: Any O. S. E. A. opposition at the leg islature was an attem pt to ’ establish departmental policies w ithout unneces sary laws.. The most serious charge against the O. S. E. A. was that th é y d id not have' enough figures on hand so the AT.S.Q' & M.E. could get; full prior service cred it for state employees. They were 'cer ta in they could have made the grade, even, with our support, if we had only had better ’cost data tb show that the expense to the State w.ould be small. Mr*. Walker admitted th at the figures which bore the greatesjÇ weight came from the Public Retirement offices in Portland. The record shows th at | the O./S. E. A. figures, independently ob tained, were, more accurate,. though not acceptable to the Retirement Board of ficials or to the A.F.&C. & M.E. The O.S.E.A. has been invited by legislators
