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