Page 2
MARCH, 1966
OREGON STATE EMPLOYEE NEWS
$2.6 Million Price Tag. . .
OSEA Recommends
Salary Adjustments
Salary increases for more than 40 percent of the state’s class
ified positions have been recommended to the Civil Service Commis
sion by OSEA. The recommended increases range from one to three
steps and will cost approximately $2.6 million to implement. The
commission will hold public hearings on the increases in May. and
after the compensation plan is approved, will request the Emer-
gency Board to release the funds.
The 1965 legislature approp
He pointed out that even if the
riated $1.3 million in general funds legislative intent had been to grant
to the Emergency Board and ear across the board salary increases
marked a like amount to be spent to all state employees, if the al
by the dedicated fund agencies for located maney was divided equal
salary adjustments after July 1, ly each employee would receive
1966.
$8.17 per month.
The bill appropriating the money
“Salary inequities now exist in
states the funds are to be used
nearly all classifications, and in
for adjusting those classifications many çlasses the discrepancies
which have fallen furthest behind. are becoming worse, ” he declar
It was not the legislative intent ed.
to give across the board salary
He pointed out that private sal
increases to all state employees aries are increasing in Oregon
during the mid-biennium.
at about three per cent per year.
OSEA Wage and Salary Analyst In addition, the Federal Pay Acts
Everett B. Stiles, in making the of 1962 and 1964 have resulted
recommendations to the Civil Ser
in major salary changes for fed
vice Commission, said“the pre
eral employees.'
sent salary picture in the State
“ These two federal adjustments
of Oregon is no better today than have resulted in an average 16
it was prior to the last salary per cent increase to all federal
plan.”
employees with advances up to
Stiles said that Melvin H. Cleve
39 per cent in the highest grades.
land, Director of Civil Service,
Federal employees were given an
stated in December, 1964 that over additional increase in October,
75 per cent of the state salary
1965. Congress is presently con
ranges for the surveyed Civil Ser
sidering an additional adjustment
vice classes were lower than the of from two to three per cent
rates being paid within the state for most federal employees,” he
by other employers. In December,
said.
1965 Cleveland made almost the
The cost of living is also on
same statement in his annual re the rise, Stiles said. “ The Con
port.
sumer Price Index has risen in
“ It is evident that the 1965-67 excess of three per cent per year
compensation plan was deficient,”
over the p ast four y ea rs in O re
Stiles said, “otherwise the state gon, o r a 12 p e r cent in crease
would not be back in the same since 1962. During 1965, the In
position.”
dex rose 1.8 per cent nationally;
In his salary recomendations,
in Oregon, the increase was three
Stiles said every available statis percent.”
tic regarding salary increases
“ I want to emphasize the fact
justified granting at least a one- that these salary increases will
step increase to all state employ
by no means bring the state’s
ees.
pay ranges into line with other
“ I am reluctant to confine my public and private employers,”
salary adjustment recommenda
Stiles said.
tions to only 40 per cent of the
“ Until the Oregon Legislature
state’s working force when the assumes the responsibility of ap
need for an across the board in
propriating sufficient funds, state
crease for all employees is so salaries will continue to fall be
apparent,” he said.
hind.”
The idea of a mid-biennium
salary adjustment fund has much
merit, Stiles said, but added that
in the future “a more realistic
sum of money must be allocated
by the legislature if we are ever
to correct the inequities that a-
This year’s primary election in
rise out of the time lag between Oregon will be held Tuesday, May
the annual Civil Service salary 24. In previous years the pri
survey, the commission’s recom mary election was held on the third
mendations to the legislature and Friday in May, but the 1965 leg
the legislature’s implementation islature amended the election laws,
of the salary plan.
making the fourth Tuesday in May
“ We can only approach the task the primary election date.
of salary administration by the
The general election will be held
inadequate ‘ finger in the dike * on Tuesday, November 8.
method as long as the legisla
Voter registration for the May
ture continues to appropriate such primary must be completed by no
meager amounts of money for sal
later than 8:00 p.m., Saturday,
April 23.
ary increases,” Stiles said;
Primary Election
Set For May 24th
MARION MOTOR HOTEL
f t Reduced $6.50 Model Rates Available Ta
State Employees
f t Velvet Horse Lounge
f t Free Off-Street Forking
f t Coffee Shop
Dining Room
f t Heated Swimming Pool
f t Free Television
MARION MOTOR HOTEL
363-4123
200 Commercial Street S.E., Salem
Enroll Now
For Medicare
The deadline to enroll for
Medicare is March 31, and
everyone 65 or older is urged
to sign up now for both parts
of the plan. You may sign
up whether you are actively
employed or retired.
Failure to sign up by March
31 will make it impossible to
enroll in Medicare until the
next general enrollment per
iod— October 1, 1967 to Dec
ember 31, 1967— and the
monthly payment may be high
er by that time.
Remember that Medicare
does not go into effect until
July, so do not cancel your
present health insurance. To
sign up, contact your district
Social Security office.
'CoverAge 65'
To Supplement
Medicare Plan
“CoverAge 65,” a new low-cost
medical-hospital insurance plan
designed to supplement the bene
fits offered by Medicare, is now
available from Blue Cross of Ore
gon according to OSEA Insurance
Manager Donald G. Olds.
Olds said any member of the
OSEA-Blue Cross medical-hosp
ital group plan who is 65 or old
er has two choices: he may con
tinue in the group plan or he
may convert, effective July 1,
1966, to Blue Cross’ new Cover-
Age 65 plan.
OSEA Enters Case. .
Legal Briefs Sought
In Bargaining Suit
Legal counsel for the State Civil
Service Commission, defendants
in a suit by the Oregon AFL-
CIO which seeks to have the 1965
collective negotiation procedures
law declared unconstitutional and
the Civil Service rules adopted
in accordance with the law void
ed, and OSEA, which has been
granted leave to intervene in the
suit to defend the law, this week
will file briefs with the Multnomah
County Court in behalf of their
legal positions.
A panel of three circuit court
judges who recently heard an as
sistant of the Attorney General,
representing the commission, and
counsel for OSEA argue that the
union suit should be dismissedbe-
cause it did not state a justi
ciable controversy, gave the AFL-
CIO attorney 10 days in which
to file a brief, and the defend
ant,and.inj;ervenor another 10 days
in which to file their briefs.
It is uncertain at this time
whether the panel of judges will
make a decision on the basis of
the complaint and answer in the
suit, and the legal briefs, or call
for further Oral argument and in
troduction of evidence.
Thomas C. Enright, legal coun
sel for OSEA, said that the first
defense submitted by the Attorney
General’s office and agreed to
by OSEA, is that the AFL-CIO
complaint merely states that it
may be hurt by the collective
negotiation law and rule but that
no damage to the unions was plead
ed or shown.
“The courts are reluctant to
grant judgments which are mere
ly advisory and before the fact
of any injury, ” he said.
The Supreme^ Court of the State
of Washington recently set aside
an injunction granted by a lower
court, ruling on an appeal that
a complaint filed by the Washing
ton State Employees Association
in an attempt to have that state’s
collective bargaining law declared
unconstitutional, did not state a
justiciable controversy for the
same reasons presented in the
Civil Service Commission and
OSEA briefs. The Washington court
made a similar ruling in a 1964
case.
If the defense of lack of just
iciable controversy is not sus
tained, the defendant and inter-
venor will defend the case on the
basis that the 1965 law is not
an unconstitutional legislative
delegation of authority to the Civil
Service Commission and that the
contested rules were properly
adopted.
An appeal to the Oregon Sup
reme Court may follow any de
cision which is reached by the
circuit court panel.
‘ ‘CoverAge 65 has four main ad
vantages, ” Olds said. “ The f ir s t
is that it will pay the $40 deduct
ible required by Medicare when
hospitalized.”
It will also pay $10 per day
from the 61st to the 90th day
of hospitalization, he said. Medi
care has a $10 per day deduct
ible during this period of hosp
italization.
Olds said CoverAge 65 Will pay
for hospital out-patient services
for minor surgery and accident
treatment within 72 hours of an
accident.
“ Finally, the Blue Cross plan
pays $3 towards medical or sur
gical expense each day of hosp
italization up to $270 maximum
each calendar year,” he said.
Olds said the cost of the plan
is $10.50 quarterly.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE CORNELIUS C. BATESON, who is a
candidate this year for the state senate, was invited by Capitol
Chapter 19 to speak on state employee legislation at the chap
ter's March meeting. Shown talking to Bateson after the meeting
are President W. J. LaClair, Bateson, Secretary Gloria Corry,
Treasurer Martha Turner and Vice-President R. L. Reimann.
Strike Draws
Stiff Fines,
Jail Terms
Thirty public school teachers
in Newark, New Jersey who went
on strike last month in defiance
of a court injunction have been
given stiff fines and suspended
jail sentences by a Superior Court
judge.
“ If we are to have an orderly
society, public employees must
seek redress for their grievances
within the framework afforded
them under the law,” Judge Nel
son K. Mintz said.
Mintz, who called the strike an
“incredible spectacle of open de
fiance of the law,” issued fines
totaling $19,500 and placed the
defendants on probation for one
year. He warned that failure to
pay the fines within 30 days would
be a violation of parole. Most
of the fines were $500 apiece.
Four members of the Newark
Teachers Association, which led
the strike in a wage dispute with
the city, also were fined.
A STRATEGY MEETING of the Employment Relations Commit
tee and the OSEA staff to discuss the latest developments in
collective bargaining was held in Salem recently. The committee
is composed of Harold W. Adams, Chairman; James G. Fisher,
Franklin G. Reynolds and John W. Gordon. Gordon was recently
appointed to the committee to replace Clint Laminers.
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ONGFORD MOTEL APTS.
1417 S. W . 10th at CO LUM BIA
PORTLAND
(4 blocks to State Office Bldg.)
REASONABLE RATES
BY DAY, WEEK, OR MONTH
ruuman Kitchens
rree rarking
Phone 227-9591 or 223-6603
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