Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon state employee news. (Salem, Oregon) 1959-1969 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1969)
OREGON STATE THE MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE OREGON STATE EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION ________ A member of the Assembly of Governmental Employees (AGE), which includes over 500,000 public employees VOLUME X ' DECEMBER, 1969 NUMBER 12 OSEA Members Due *7 2 ,0 0 0 Insurance Refund Some 5,500 members who were insured under the OSEA- Standard life insurance group plan from July 1, 1968 through June 30, 1969 w ill get an unexpected Christmas g ift during the next tw o weeks. They w ill share a $72,000 cash dividend in accumulated insurance premiums. "This cash dividend is the result of our excellent claims experience during 1968-69," Lester B. Strickler, OSEA in surance director, said. "Fewer people died during that time and, as a result, the m oney paid in premiums accumulated. We decided to return it. It's as simple as th at," he said. The money being returned to each individual is equivalent to about 17 per cent o f his annual premium, or the cost of his life insurance premium for nearly two months, he noted. Amounts to be returned range from a low of $1.00 to a high of $76.00. "T h e am ount each turned on any insurance plan. " I t is possible that it could happen again," he said. "B u t I want to make it quite clear that any future refund depends upon the claims experience o f that policy ye&r. Obviously we cannot refund money that has been used to settle claims." Instead of refunding the money, OSEA could have held it in reserve to pay future life insurance claims, Strickler ex plained. OSEA's Board of Directors, however, felt there were sufficient reserve funds.to protect the premium rate structure against future loss due to adverse claims and voted to return the money. The checks w ill be sent to agency payroll offices for dis tribution to members, w ith the exception o f those who work for the Highway Department and Oregon State University. Their checks w ill be mailed to home addresses listed on their insurance cards at head quarters. M oral: Read Your M a i! This is a story about what can happen to you if you don't read your mail. An OSEA member, who shall remain anonymous here, received a letter from head quarters last week .Upon open - ing the envelope, he saw a letter inside which began, "Dear OSEA Merhber....". T h in k in g in d i it u n im p o r ta n t and not wanting to take the time to read it, he threw both the letter and envelope into the wastebasket. But the envelope contained more than just a letter. It also held a check fo r $11.40— his share of the $72,000 in accum ulated Iife insu rance pre- miums being returned to OSEA members. Upon arriving at work, he vidual w ill receive depends, of course, upon the cost of his monthly premium and the length of time he was insured during the year," Strickler said. ■ "The higher the premium and length of time an indi vidual was insured, the higher his refund, and vice-versa." Strickler pointed out that this is the first time in the history of the association that a cash dividend has been re heard some of his fel low mem - bers" talking about the checks they received from OSEA. It was some time before the light dawned, but when it did he' immediately called his wife. Too late! An e ffic ie n t wife had teamed up with a super efficient garbageman to empty th e tra s h and haul i t away t c wherever they haul that sort of stuff. Now for the happy ending: He called headquarters and, rather sheepishly, explained the whole series o f events. He was assured a new check would be mailed to him. Now for the moral: Read your mail, especially if it's from OSEA. McCall Against Using Salary Fund To Finance Large Welfare D eficit If U A Gov. Tom McCall has urged the Emergency Board to turn down any proposal to use mid- biennium salary money to help finance a growing welfare de ficit. He said he is also against trimming welfare payments. " I hope, most earnestly that the Emergency Board w ill turn thumbs down on the re commendations to use salary increase money or reduction of welfare grants to eliminate the specter o f red in k ," McCall said in a letter to Senate President E. D. Potts (D-Grants Pass), who is also chairman of the Emergency Board. "The $4-plus m illion set aside for improving state pay next year was clearly promised to state employees," McCall said. "Even when it is reflected in their checks, their level o f com pensation w ill still be below parity w ith the pay in private business and other govern ments for similar work " he noted. "N o t only would it be un fair to withhold this money from their salaries," McCall de clared, "b u t thè resultant un- filfille d expectations would create problems o f morale and turnover." " I was glad to learn from our conversation that we share the view that they both need and earn it," he told the Grants Pass legislator. "O f the alternatives avail able to us," McCall said, "I would now rate as the least distasteful the suggestion that I 1970 MEMBERSHIP CARDS DUE SOON OSEA's 1970 membership cards w ill be mailed to all members later this month. If past experience is any indication, approximately tw o per cent o f them w ill not be delivered because o f recent address changes or incorrect addresses listed on head quarters records. Any member who does not received his card by the third week in January is asked to n otify his chapter secretary or headquarters. a 4 X, i l l Z X. .. we a use the - fu ll pay , u raise fund to adjust salaries on July 1, 1970, and to maintain welfare payments at present level in expectation that the 1971 Legislature w ill provide the su pplem ental appropriation necessary to carry the welfare program through the last few months of this biennium." Welfare payments have been exceeding the budget since the present biennium began last July 1. Some officials have predicted that welfare w ill be from $5 m illion to $7 m illion in the red by the end of the biennium. Use of the mid-biennium salary fund, or reduction in the level of welfare payments to make up the deficit were two of the possibilities proposed to the Emergency Board at its November meeting. A deficit appropriation from the 1971 Legislature was also suggested. .After the board's meeting, hundreds o f state employees wrote fetters to Gov. McCall and Emergency Board mem bers protesting any use of salary money to help finance the welfare deficit. a m UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS SIFT g H g f a but it will be even better for some 5,500 members when they re ceive their portion of some $72,000 in accumulated life insurance premiums being distributed by OSEA. Donald G. Olds, insurance manager, and Deanne Straw, staff secretary, have been working on the big job for the past two weeks. Hughes Named Head Of State Personnel William G. Hughes, 4 4 ,’ assistant state forester, has been named by Gov. Tom McCall as administrator of the state Personnel Division. He replaces Howard E. Gompert, who resigned last month after four and one-half months on the job. Hughes has spent the past 20 years w ith Oregon's Depart ment of Forestry. He began work as a forester and was later promoted to conservation in spector, training and safety d irector, land classification director and, for ten years, personnel director. He is a graduate of Roosevelt High School in Port land and Oregon State Uni versity. During his Arm y ser vice in World War II, he at tended both the Colorado S chool of M in e s and Nottingham University in En gland. Early in his career w ith the W ILLIA M G. HUGHES Gets Personnel Post Department of Forestry, he took a year's leave o f absence for graduate study in personnel management at Syracuse Uni versity in New York.
