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About The Oregon state employee news. (Salem, Oregon) 1959-1969 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1968)
Page 2 AUGUST, 1968 OREGON STATE EMPLOYEE NEWS OSEA Says Hwy. Maintenance Men Need Raises (Editor's Note: The Civil Service Commission, on July 10, held a public hearing on the classifications recommend ed fo r pay raises from the ad ditional mid-biennium adjust ment money released by the Emergency B o a r d . A pproxi mately 3,150 employees, in some 256 classifications, w ill get pay raises on August 1. Because of the interest ex pressed by many members, OSEA's statement to the com mission is printed below.) “ As requested by your staff in May, the Board of Directors of the Oregon State Employees Association recommended the mid-biennium salary adjust ment fund be spent to give four groups of employees pay raises on July 1st. Those four groups were: (1) All classifications being paid less than the new federal mini mum wage of $280 per month, (2) Institution Teachers, (3) Nurses, and (4) Highway Main- tenance Man and related class es. HMM's Given Nothing Three of these groups, among others, were given salary in creases. The Highway Main tenance Man series and some related classifications were given nothing. In indicating that more money might be made available for additional salary adjustments, the Emergency Board, at its June 14 meeting, directed the Civil Service Commission to supplement its original mid- biennium pay recommenda tions. Maintennace Pay Behind In developing this supplemen tal salary adjustment proposal, your staff has not adhered to the strict criteria of “ recruit ment and retention’’ of person nel as they did in developing the original recommendation. It is apparent in reviewing the proposal before you today that salary data and classifica- tion relationships have been given as much weight by your staff, in the cases .where they have recommended adjust ments, as the state’s ability to recruit and retain employ ees. The highway maintenance classes meet the previously established criteria, and, in addition, are seriously behind maintenance men in other Ore gon governmental employment. One-Step Hike Asked The proposal before you to day will take nearly all of the additional general funds that may be released by the Emer gency Board. OSEA would like to point out, for that reason, that what we propose will take only dedicated funds to imple ment. OSEA recommends that one- step salary adjustments be given to Highway Maintenance Man series and related classi fications. We do this for some specific and justifiable reasons. Present Pay Lags U 0 Electricians No Longer W ant Union A majority of the employees in a small collective bargaining unit at the University of Oregon no longer w ish to be represented by an AFL-CIO union. Six of the ten employees in the “ U n iv ersity of O regon And Not H e a lth y Exercise, Either OSEA and state agencies aré in the process of draw ing up salary recommenda tions for the Civil Service Commission’s 1969 compen sation plan. Everett B. Stiles, OSEA’s wage and salary analyst, asked the agencies to send copies of their recommenda tions to the association. Stiles received a letter from one agency outlining its recommended salaries. On the bottom of the letter this comment was added: “ If the one and one-half limitation passes, this will be just an exercise in memo writing.’’ Electrical Shop’’ unit have signed a petition asking the Civil Service Commission to de certify Local 280, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, as their exclusive b arg a in in g r e p re s e n ta tiv e . The IBEW was elected bar gaining representative in June, 1966. OSEA did not contest the election. The Civil Service Commis sion will conduct a decertifica tion election in the latter part of August. The exact date could not be learned before this issue of the NEWS went to press. All employees in the unitwill be informed of the electiondate and procedures by the com mission. This is the first request for a decertication election since collective bargaining began in state government two and one- half years ago. Civil Service rules provide that a decertification election may be authorized after: (1) the certified representative has served one year, and (2) at least 30 per cent of the employ ees in the unit request the rep resentative be decertified. The Maintenance Division of the Highway Department is in the throes of a’ reorganization process. For that reason, and that reason only, it is not pre sently recruiting maintenance personnel. When this reorganization is over and the Highway Depart ment this fall needs additional maintenance employees, it will not be able to recruit them at the presentsalary level. There fore, the ‘ recruiting argument’ should not be used in denying salary adjustments for these c la s s e s . Salaries for this group of em ployees are usually compared with county road departments across the state and mainten ance salaries in our neighbor ing states. Present pay for these classes lag those in at least seven Oregon counties. Current city and county salary sched ules, compiled by OSEA, are attached to this statement. Some Comparisons For instance, Multnomah County pays its Heavy Equip ment Operators, which are equivalent to the state’s High way Maintenance Men 3*s, in a range-of $628-$688. The state pays $460-$550. Coos County pays its Light Truck Drivers $540 a month. The state pays a maximum of $525 for this Highway Main tenance Man 2 job. W’e should also point out that this salary lag will soon become even An ideal spot in Salem for your group meeting or conference. — -always at reasonable rales greater as Coos County is presently adopting new sala ries. OSEA was told yesterday that the new rate will be at least $565, making this South ern Oregon county $40 ahead of the state. Columbia County pays its equivalent Highway Mainten ance Men l ’s in a range of $465-$505. The state pays $400-$480. State Pay Absurd Highway maintenance em ployees in Jackson County, with the exception of the 1 level, are paid more than the state’s highway personnel, and the county has not yet adopted its 1968 pay plan. Our neighboring states of Washington and California both exceed Oregon in salaries paid to highway maintenance em ployees. This data, collected by your staff and published last December in your annual salary survey, is on file. We want to point out that we are not comparing state highway personnel to those em ployed by private contractors. If we were to do this, the state’s range of $440-$525 would compare with the con tractor’s salary scale of $841.50 a month. Citing pay scales paid by private con tractors only makes state pay look absurd.* Would Im pair Morals Your ;staff has recommends ed one-step adjustments for the Equipment Operator series and the Highway Maintenance Man4 classifications. To increase th ese s a l a r i e s w ith o u t a d ju s t ing the pay of the remaining maintenance personnel will seriously impair the working relationship and morale in the State Highway Department. Pay Raise Justified The proposal before you to day recommends one-step pay raises for other large groups of employees within the High way Department, such as engin eers, weighmasters, right-of- -fa 24-H our Restaurant -fo 745 Commercial Street S.E., Salem Telephone: 363-2451 Board Approves Chapter Charter A charter for a new OSEA academic chapter at Eastern Oregon College in La Grande w a s a p p r o v e d -b y th e B o a rd o f D ir e c to rs m eeting in Salem July 27. Dr. George Arscott, director of the Academic, and Unclassir- fied Services Committee, pre sented the board w ith a petition bearing the signatures of 20 members of the EOC faculty rerequesting the chapter. It will be known as the “ EOC Faculty Chapter. Its number has not yet been se lected. IQCAL IOAN the Company that likes to say “ YES” Check the chart below for the amount you want to borrow and the payment plan best suited to your budget. Then, call or visit the Local Loan Manager nearest you and let him make all the arrangements. MONTHLY PAYMENTS AMOUNT OF LOAN $ 100 200 300 500 1,000 1,500 3 6 Monthly Monthly Payments Payments $ 35.35 70.71 106.06 — — — $18.46 36.92 55.38 91.66 — - 15 Monthly Payments 20 Monthly Payments 24 Monthly Payments $ 8.38 16.75 25.13 41.28 78.91 — $ 6.72 13.44 20.16 32.97 € 2 .21 90.37 $ 5.90 11.81 17.71 28.86 53.89 77.87 Pay Only for the Time You Keep the Money NO FINES — NO LATE CHARGES IQCAL IOAN 342 Capitol S t, NE Phone 364-8491 Paul Staight, Mgr. Pool OSEA Urges Increase Your staff has not improved the bleak salary picture of the highway maintenance employ ees by arbitrarily recommend ing adjustments to only the 37 employees at the four level. On the contrary, it will create a tremendous problem in terms of salary relationships and morale. Should a Highway Mainten ance Man 4 make the same salary as an Assistant Fore man? In conclusion, OSEA recom mends that the Civil Service Commission adopt one-step in creases for all highway main tenance personnel. This would cost approximately $450,000 and would come entirely from dedicated funds. The increases are certainly justified, the money appears to be available, and we urge you to adopt them. borrow the money you want from SALEM Lounge way agents and landscape per sonnel. Current salary data, including that collected by your staff, shows that the highway maintenance classifications are just as far behind. The Highway Maintenance Man 3 is as justified in receiv ing an adjustment as the High way Engineer 3, according to all available salary data. PORTLAND 208 Morgan Bldg. Phone 227-3211 Dick Van Dyke, Mgr. Four other offices are conveniently located in the Portland area. Also, offices in Eugene, Klamath Falls, Medford and Roseburg.
