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About The OSEA news. (Salem, Oregon) 1970-1981 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1970)
Page 9 The OSEA News July, 1970 From The Inquiring Photographer Mailbox Study Will Be Considered Due Process Threatened To the Editor: My thanks to the Oregon State Employes Association for making available the several copies of the Fringe Benefit Study. I am par ticularly pleased that Bill Hughes of the Personnel Division was able to be of assistance to the com mittee in its efforts. Be assured the members of my staff w ill review the recommendations in detail and that they shall receive every consideration as we develop the budget for the next legislative session. Tom McCall Governor To the Editor: Would civil service groups like it if the Per sonnel Division announced that it was going to fire employes without any lower level hearings? Obviously such action would be Inflammatory and, yet, that is exactly what faculty people in the State System of Higher Education face today. Factually, the Board of Higher Education is now studying a recommendation that it "assume jurisdiction in certain exceptional cases related to dismissal charges." As a faculty member, I deplore this con templated action and urge all OSEA members to join professors in trying to defeat it. Events this spring have shown a clear need for improved control over professor conduct, but the control machinery should not take away an individual's rig h t to due process. As a suggested alternative, why not direct the faculties in the individual In stitutions to come up with a code of conduct and with the machinery for enforcing it? I realize that many of our members, as Oregon citizens and taxpayers, have been antagonized by how a few teachers have behaved. My appeal is thus to you as employes who know what it would mean to lose this kind of right. Let's not overact by allowing this kind of thing to go unchallenged. Les Strickler Chapter 29 Corvallis Thanks, Citizen's Committee To the Editor: We would like to offer our appreciation and congratulations to the citizen's committee that has been studying state employe fringe benefits for its very fine report. If its recommendations are implemented, it w ill go a long way toward making state government more competitive with industry and other governmental jurisdictions. Of particular m erit is the recommendation that the state contribute $10 per month toward the cost of employes' medicai-hospital-surgical insurance. A survey conducted by the old Civil Service Commission in 1968 shows that 86 percent of the private and public employers contacted within Oregon made contributions of this type. They included such large employers as the federal government, Pacific Northwest Bell and Portland General Electric. In addition, all of the’ western states except Oregon and Arizona pay at least a portion of their employes' health insurance. We also thought the committee made some excellent recommendations in the area of v a c a tio n s , h o lid a y s a n d Unnamed Visitor To the Editor: Will you please correct an omission in the caption for the picture of the Oregon State Hospital chapel opening on the front page of last month's issue? The unnamed "v is ito r" is Alma Cunningham, a patient who was a major supporter of the chapel project. George H. Allen Chaplain Oregon State Hospital re tire m e n t. M o re , un doubtedly, needs to be done in som e of these areas in addition to others such as group accident and life insurance, training programs and differential pay for employes who work at undesirable times or locations. But the committee has made a start. We hope the 1971 Legislature w ill respond to the com mittee's work by implementing at least the health insurance contribution. Here's also hoping that legislators w ill neither be limited by the recommendations nor feel that they can be granted in lieu of additional salary increases that are still badly needed during this inflationary period. OSEA Collective Bargaining Council, Water Resources Board Share the Idea To the Editor: Our chapter se cre tary, A rth u r Langley, rece ntly conducted a vigorous m em bership campaign to enroll new members into our growing Prison Chapter 56 at the penitentiary. He enrolled some 23 new members in just a matter of a few days, and most of them were not new employes. Here's the method he used: He ordered a list of OSE A members who work at the penitentiary from headquarters. With the list he was able to tell which employes were members of the association, and which were not. Whenever he had a chance to talk to a non-member, he would invite him to join. M r. Langley said he got stories like this from the non-members he invited to join: "Someone asked me to join OSE A when I first started to work here, but at that tim e I thought I would wait until I had my six months in because I didn't know if I would like the w ork." I think that kind of story points out the im portance of personal contact and a follow-up after the employe has been on the job for a while. Because he was so successful with this method of gaining new members, I thought we would share the idea with all of OSEA's chapters scat tered throughout the state. We need to increase the strength of our organization before the 1971 Legislature meets. Let's hope some of the chap ters w ill take advantage of Mr. Langley's suc cessful system of enrolling new members! L.L. Sullivan President Prison Chapter 56 - Salem Excellent Job To the Editor: I want to thank OSEA and its staff fo r their ef forts in my recent hearing. I would particularly like to thank John S. Irvin, staff attorney, for the excellent job he did. I was distinctly impressed with his competence and professional demeanor. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we could not have won without him. I would like to mention that John seemed very busy and was not able to prepare his brief as completely a$ he would have liked. An assistant or investigator seems to be called for as his work load increases. Bob Lawrence Chapter 31 Portland Greetings from Israel To the Editor: Pleasant greetings from the Holy Land! I was pleasantly mystified a few days ago by receipt of a check for $38 from the trust fund of the Oregon State Employes Association. I was a member of the association during all my years with the state, but had never known of fhe fund or its purpose, nor the method of its distribution. I w rite to thank the association and its members for the check and to ask if you w ill be good enough to enlighten me as to the fund and its distribution. Do say '’'hello" for me to old acquaintances. Lou Greenberg 26 Hish Street Rehovot, Israel (Editor's Note: Last December, OSEA's Board of Directors voted to return $72,000 in accumulated insurance premiums to some 5,500 OSEA mem bers who were insured under the OSEA-Standard life insurance group plan from July 1, 1968 through June 30, 1969. Some of the checks, however, were returned because of incorrect addresses. Mr. Greenberg's check was among those returned. Names of the missing members were printed in the May issue of The OSEA News. Apparently someone who knew Mr. Greenberg's address sent it to headquarters. His check, along with a letter which we hope cleared up the mystery, was promptly forwarded to him in Israel.) What is Your Opinion of the N ew OSEA-Highway Contract? (Asked at Highway Division Shops, Salem) SHERMAN BEALL Heavy Equipment Mechanic. I just got a copy of it this morning, but from what I've seen it's a lot more comprehensive than the old one. There was too much per missive language in the old contract—it left too many deicsions up to the Highway Division. The new contract gives employes more voice in the decisions about the things that affect them on the job. MAX M ITCHELL Heavy Equipment Mechanic From what I've seen of it I think it's all right. I think we need the contract to spell out rules governing working conditions and grievan ces. I really like the grievance arbitration procedure; I think it w ill help employes more satisfactorily settle their grievances by going outside the agency for an impartial decision. DOUGLAS RALSTON Heavy Equipment Mechanic I just got my copy today and haven't had the chance to read it thoroughly. I'm glad we have it. Working conditions and benefits have to be written down in black and white so everyone understands them . W ithout a contract, the boss doesn't always listen to employes like he should, or else he forgets about them entirely. ROY BOTTENS Heavy Equipment Mechanic I'm satisfied with it. I can't find any faults with it. I'm in favor of the whole collective bargaining procedure. I th ink it has really helped state employes. In my opinion, collective bargaining contracts are needed to inform every employe of his working con ditions and rights. I think the contracts are helpful to the agency, too. VERLAND SANDERSON Heavy Equipment Mechanic I think it is good. There is no doubt that state employes need to be represented, and this new contract through OSEA is one sure way of making sure we get it. I think we will notice the effects of the hew arbitrated grievance procedure right away. I've already noticed a change in the attitude of some higher per sonnel. JOHN CLUTTER Maintenance Repairman I just got a copy of the contract today, but there's no doubt we need it. The public seems to think state employes have excellent working conditions, job security and all that. But if you work for the state you know that's not true. We need our working conditions and job rights spelled out in a contract as muçh as any worker.
