a
P r e i i d e n t ’i
W jt
E. ..FiffH ID SEB
As an old employee of' the state cf
Oregon and one of the charter mem
bers of the employees’ association, I
would like to regress to the extent of
reminding other old employees of the
state and inform ing the n e \ ^ « m -
ployees of the state of working condi
tions as they existed before the Ore
gon State Employees Association was-
founded, comparing them
ing conditions as they now exist, and
to point out the possibility of future
impr o vemen t s in conditi ons whi ch
could be possible with proper support
from the employees and our continued
expenditure of effort through the as
sociation.
■ £ |§ fo S « 'O ^ B a there was a lack of
uniform ity in salaries, vacation privi
leges, sick leave, and merit ratings
between the various departments in
state service. Some groups of em
ployees having no earned vacation pe
riods, sick leave or workable merit
system. Salaries paid in tneTv S ^ ^ ^
departments were in many instances
set by the department heads and ad
justed frequently in order to meet
budget demands. In some departments
the spoils system was in effect and the
employee was given no assurance "-of
continuous employment therefore m ak-
ing it difficult to build up efficient
and well staffed personnel groups in
those departments.
O S E A Changes
Since the O S E A was founded it has
secured a multitude of benefits for the
^ r p g M ^MxmiclMKia vei^^W^^mnlBhet-
ter working conditions and improved
efficiency in state service. A few of
the benefits gained are: five increases
in salaries bet ween the year s of 19 4 5
and 1949, pas sage of retirement and
ci vil ser vice la ws, s tan d a r diz ation o f
vacation credit throughout all depart-
ments, and to all state employees; the
granting of sick leave benefits to all
regular state employees in all depart
ments, and a stronger feeling of se
curity in state service brought about
through the operation of the civil serv
ice and retirement laws. A ll t l^ ^ ^ o v ^
gains were made through the efforts of
the organization and with a member
ship cf less than 25 per cent of the
employees in state service.
Legislative Program Planned
We are now working out a legisla
tive program for our fifth session in
legislation. The success or failure of
this program w ill depend to a great
extent on the support it receives from
the state employees and the amount
of effort expended in its behalf. The
program contains impoi tant legislation
seeking to improve our retirement and
civil service laws, and working con
ditions in general. However, this is
only a part of our legislation pro
gram. Our most important function in
the legislature is the prevention of
the passage of bills which might crip
ple or repeal civil service or retire
ment 1 a ws, reduce our wages, or take
from us some of the many benefits
we have gained in past years.
This is probably the most important
function of our association at this
time. The war years are over and it
m ay be that we are facing the start'
$of a ® K e ip depression, in which case
our function w ill be to preserve the
.g'aws we • havbM ^jalured «and Uco pre-