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About The Oregon state employee news. (Salem, Oregon) 1959-1969 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1966)
MAY, 1966 Page 3 OREGON STATE EMPLOYEE NEWS Dale E. Leach Editor Oregon State Employee News 1515 State Street Salem, Oregon Published monthly by the Oregon State Employees Association HEADQUARTERS OFFICE 1515 State Street Salem, Oregon 97301 or P. O. Box 2307 Salem, Oregon 97308 Telephone: 581*1505 PORTLAND BRANCH OFFICE 1008 S.W. Sixth Avenue Portland, Oregon 97204 Room 206 Telephone: 224-1870 (Address all communications to the Salem address) Second Class Postage Paid at Salem, Oregon. Subscription rates: $1.50 per year to association mem bers; $3.00 to all others; 25c per copy. Official publica tion of the Oregon State Employees Association, a non profit organization. OSEA BOARD OF DIRECTORS President.....................R. M. Smith....................... -Highway Past-President............Chalmers Jones-—-....... Employment Vice-President............Smith French.....................Highway Secret ary-Treasurer—- Carroll Allison............ Employment Civil Service...............James F isher.......................Forestry Law-Legislation........ Harold Adams —................... .....SIAC Membership............... Dale Sturmer.......................Highway Insurance,............ ......Floyd Baxter................Employment Retirement..................Jerry Liebertz............................-PERS Public Relations........George Gearhart..........Employment A PiA HPTY7 1P AT*ld Unclassified............... H. Kent Farley......... —OCE Faculty DISTRICT DIRECTORS Dist. No. 1 (Hen Snyder.........................Board of Health 370 S.W. 345th, Hillsboro Dist. No. 2 Edward Euken-.................. -.......-............ SIAC 4082 Penny Drive, Salem Dist. No. 3 George Baker -----.....-............ -........... Highway 433 West 17th, Coquille Dist. No. 4 Belva M ayfield......... -......................Highway Box 930, Bend Dist. No. 5 Robert de Witt......... - ........................ EOSH D ist. N o. 6 D ist. N o. 7 D ist. No. 8 Rt. 1, M.H. 7, P en d leto n H e le n T o w n e ...................................................... U o f O 3 3 9 0 P o tte r , E u g e n e H . N . V a n C le a v e ...................................... - H i g h w a y 1504 V iew Court, T h e D alles R aym ond F a l le u r ................................H ighw ay Rt. 1, Box 574 N ,, W arrenton Dist. No. 9 Alvin Coulson..................... ..... ................ OSH 703 Faymar, N. E., Salem HEADQUARTERS STAFF Thomas C. Enright.............................. Executive Secretary Edward L. Wilson--............. -Assistant Executive Secretary ?' Stiles, ....... --.........Wage and Salary Analyst ...................................Field Representative A .................... ■.....Field Representative .ds, Manager.....«...............Insurance Services v'- T,ewiu' ‘ " ¿ " ................. ---6-.— — Office Manager Dale E. Leach.......Editor and Public Relations Manager t t j t Only 15 months ago, when state employees were re ceiving their first increased pay checks after the early January 1, 1965, implementation of the Civil Service com pensation plan by action of the Emergency Board, state pay conditions were looking fairly bright. The picture be came even brighter when the 1965 legislature voted to continue the plan for the 1965-67 biennium and appropri ated $1.3 m illion to the Emergency Board for emergency salary adjustments to be made after July 1, 1966, a de parture from the pre-1963 practice of giving pay raises only every two years. Now we are approaching the July 1, 1966, date, and a plan for use of the $1.3 m illion plus an almost equal amount from dedicated funds for emergency adjustments shows the amount to be completely inadequate. An unex pected amount of inflation, Viet Nam war effects, and decreases in take home pay because of increased social security contributions and a changed income tax withhold ing system have resulted in state pay being in a worse comparative position than it was before the December, 1964, Emergency Board action, with employees taking home less money than last year with which to try to keep up with rising living costs. W ith fu ll awareness of the dismal financial picture that faces low and middle income employees, and the crisis in recruitment and retention faced by state employ ers, especially in the greatly underpaid clerical and in stitutional classes, the question remains as to what can be done at this time. Funds available will not help the situa tion much when distributed to only about a third of the -employees, and if they were divided among all employees, in a "c o s t o f liv in g " increase instead o f th e em ergency a d ju s tm e n ts s p e c ifie d b y tb e le g is la tu r e , th e in c re a s e to e a c h in d iv id u a l w o u ld be so s m a ll as to be h a rd ly n o tic e a b le . Recent announcements o f a $32.6 million surplus o f state funds make state employees feel like the hungry man looking longingly at a delectable meal through a restaurant window, without any means to go inside and do anything about his situation. The money for needed in creases is there on the other side of the glass, but the chances of getting at it at this time are exceedingly remote. Because of the Emergency Board action of a year and a half ago, some employees are asking why the Board cannot now reach into the surplus and take similar action. The Board is only an arm of the legislature. It has no auth ority to vote funds unless they have been appropriated to it. In 1964 the Board had unexpended salary authority which had not been used because of the October, 1963, "ta x re bellion" election. An improved financial picture during 1964 made it possible for funds to be voted. This time the Board has available to it only the $1.3 m illion appropriation which it is expected to vote to spend in accordance with the Civil Service recommendation. The legislature is the only body which could bring the $32.6 m illion surplus out from behind the glass. To do so this year would require a special session called by the Governor. When two legislators on March 14 proposed a special session to deal w ith other financial problems, OSEA urged that such a session also deal with state salaries. The Governor, for understandable reasons, did not follow the suggestion of the legislators. It is not likely that a special session would be called for the primary purpose of adjust ing state pay. The most promising development which seems possible of taking place would be for the legislature in January to make state salaries a firs t order of business and implement the next pay plan at that time instead of waiting until July 1, 1967. A ll of the factors which were discussed at the be ginning of this column, plus the fact that the proposed new Federal minimum wage law is expected to set a figure for February 1, 1967, that w ill exceed some of the lower state salaries, would justify this course of action. When the OSEA state executive committee meets with Governor Hatfield on May 27 to discuss the salary situa tion, January implementation no doubt will be one of its proposals. It is hoped that the Governor, if he does not call a special session of the legisature this year, will include such a recommendation in his next budget message. Dear Sir: I wish to publicly thank OSEA Assistant Executive Secretary Ed ward L. Wilson for the assis tance he has given me in apply ing for my disability benefits un der the Public Employees Retire ment System. With his aid and co operation, I was saved from mak ing many trips to Salem which was very helpful, especially at a time like this. Sincerely, Ralph R. Crook Grain Division Chapter 62 Milwaukie Smith Appoints Committee Heads Chairmen of the OSEA District Nominating Committees for this year’s district director elections have been appointed by association President R. M. “ Hoad” Smith. Those appointed were Charles Thompson, District No. 1; Wil liam J. LaClair, District No. 2; Edward G. Bowers, District No. 3; Harry Marshall, District No. 4; Cal Fouts, District No. 5; John Michaud, District No. 6; Curtis H. Duval, District No. 7; Kurt Tonjes, District No. 8; and Ed die Kahut, District No. 9. , The committees, which are made up of chapter presidents and sec retaries within each district, have the responsibility of selecting and screening potential candidates. A minimum of two candidates for each office must be selected. The names of the nominees must be sent to headquarters by Aug ust 10. Field Representative C. D. Jo hansen said the nominating com mittees would also be responsible for securing a picture of each candidate plus a 40-word resume* of his experience and background in OSEA and state service for use in the NEWS. Johansen said each nominee would receive space in the NEWS for a 15-word campaign statement. Receipt of this material from each district committee by head quarters is August 5, he said. New District Council N ear Plans of eight OSEA chapters located in Southwestern Oregon to form a District No. 3 Presidents’ Council came one step closer to reality on May 14 when chapter representatives met in Roseburg. Director of Membership DaleE. Sturmer, District No. 6 Director Helen Towne and Field Represent ative C. D. Johansen also attend ed the meeting. Sturmer stressed the import ance of a presidents* council in coordinating membership activ ities of the chapters within the district. Mrs. Towne outlined the organ ization of the council in her dis trict. She discussed the proposed council and the constitution and by-laws, including in her address such subjects as the meeting place, frequency of meetings and the pur pose of the organization. Johansen said the District No. 3 chapter representatives will meet again in Roseburg sometime in July. It is expected that they will then form a council and elect officers.
