The Oregon state employee. (Salem, Oregon.) 1944-195?, November 01, 1947, Page 12, Image 12

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    10
with other groups subject to the Pro­
visions of the Public Employees Retire-
mént Act.
SALARIES AND WAGES
The salary and. wage ranges for the
various classifications recommended by
the Civil Service Commission were
based on a survey'of wages paid in
Oregon by private industry for com­
parable work. Through the efforts of
our Legal Counsel, Executive Secre­
tary and Legislative Committee, ’j t'w as
approved by the Legislature effective
as of March 1st, rather than July 1,.
1947.,
Many upward revisions and adjust­
ments have been made to the original
scales. In this work our Executive Sec­
retary has played an important part.
He has also worked diligently with the
Civil Service Commission to correct
differences ift ' pay rates between , em­
ployees doing like work, j
Our resolution requesting that wages
at time and one half shall be paid for
all work in excess of eight hours in one
day or forty hours in any one week,
and for all legal holidays worked, has
been presented to the Civil Service
Commission. To date ..they have , not
amended their rules pertaining to over­
time. W e have been informed that the
financial position of the State will not
permit such an amendment, also that
the budgets of the institutions are in­
sufficient to grant such a request at
this time.
In response to resolutions by a num­
ber of our Chapters your Board of Db-
rectors authorized a study to determine
a comparison of the State salaries with
those paid in Oregon by private indus­
try. Floyd Query is the head of this
Committee and the results of this study
have been made available to the offi­
cers of the various Chapters.
As a result of this study and the in­
creased cost of living as shown by in­
dexes, this committee has prepared a
resolution requesting salary adjustments
to cover the increased cost of living.
This resolution was not presented to
the Civil Service Commission or the
Board of Control prior to the Sales
Tax election because the sponsors»if
the Sales Tax believed that it might
result in an unfavorable reaction Iby the
Voters. We were again prevented from
publicly preesnting this resolution by
the tragic accident which resulted in
the death of Governor Earl Snell, Sec­
retary of State Robert Farrell Jr., and
President of, the Senate, Marshall Cor­
nett, This resolution; is now available
for the consideration of this Council.
WAYS AND MEANS
Increased cost of supplies and serv­
ices,, the extraordinary expenses requir­
ed because; o f our extensive legislative
program, « and the adidtional work,
space and equipment required to put
our insurance program into effect has
caused some concern about our finan­
cial position. We are still solvent and
Wé anticipate that the increased mem­
bership, will; enable the Association to
. accumulate a sufficient surplus to take
care of thè* 1949 legislative program.
Virgil O’Neil, Director of Public Re­
lations, did an outstanding job of in­
forming our members about the Sales
Tax with his articles in the magazine.
The Board of Directors used consider­
able descretion in carrying out the res­
olution tq^support any tax measure
which would be beneficial to the gen­
eral welfare and economy of the State.
It appears that in carrying out the
spirit of this resolution, we have re­
tained the confidence and support of
most of the members of the Legisla­
ture.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Our request, for a -forty hour, five
day week was approved for most of
the employees in the State service.
Hours of < work fòr institution em­
ployees was reduced from sixty to
forty-eight hours per week and we
have every reason to. believe that these
employees will be granted a forty hour
week at the 1949 session of the Legis­
lature. Here again the financial condi­
tion of the State and budget limitations