Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The OSEA news. (Salem, Oregon) 1970-1981 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1970)
A member of the Association of Governmental Employees (AGE), which includes over 500,000 public employees <OSEA?&w Membership Help Needed to Finance Building OSEA's Board of Directors has asked the membership for its help in financing a new headquarters building in Salem. Action authorizing the financing plan was taken by the board at its July 25 meeting. The board put a $150,000 ceiling on the cost of the new structure. That amount in cludes a rch ite c t's fees and landscaping. The association will pay half of the cost from its reserve funds. it w ill attempt to raise the $75,000 balance through a subscription drive among in dividual members and chap ters. Shares w ill be sold in multiples of $5.00. They will be redeemed within five years at six per cent interest. There is no lim it on the number of shares that may be purchased. If the entire $75,000 is not raised by the subscription drive, the board has authorized OSEA to borrow the remainder. Construction of a new building was authorized by the 1968 General Council. The job of planning and supervising construction was given to OSEA Services, Inc. a subsidiary corporation wholly owned by OSEA. Following nearly a year-long study of building sites. Services, Inc. recommended that OSEA buy a half block of property on 25th Street, a ra p id ly developing area, as a site for the new building. A fte r it purchased the property, OSEA's present property on State Street was offered for sale. It is valued at about $90,000. The Services, Inc. plan called for the money received from sale of the State Street property, along with reserve funds, to be used to construct the new building. The property, however, has not been sold despite the fact that it has been on the market for a year. OSEA's State Street property will continue to be offered for sale. When it is sold, the proceeds from the sale w ill be used to redeem the sub scriptions and replenish the association's reserves. "There are two good reasons why the board voted to begin action on a new building," OSEA President Jerry Liebertz said. "One is the ever-increasing building costs. The other is the fact that we've simply outgrown our present facility. Its size and state of repair make it in creasingly unsuitable for ef ficient staff use/' OSEA moved into its present headquarters building with the help of its membership. In 1956, it organized the State Employes Building Corporation (SEBCO) in which members purchased shares. The money raised by SEBCO, which was later returned w ith interest to shareholders, was used to make the down payment on the State Street property. OSEA Disputes Alleged Misuse O f S t a te T e le p h o n e s , A u to s OSEA has disputed two recent reports that have criticized employes for wasting money by making personal use of state telephones and automobiles. The reports were issued by the Management 70's Task Force, a group of businessmen studying state government. First Week was a Strain! LaVelle Craig/ one of six state operators who work the new Centrex consoles, says the first week the system was in operation was as much of a strain on the operators as it was to those who tried to place a coil. But it's getting better, she says. F ora summary of what happened those first few days, see page I . _______a Ward Joins OSEA Staff Paul R. Ward has joined OSEA's headquarters staff as a field representative. He began his new job Aug. 1. In announcing the ap pointment, Executive Secretary Thomas C. Enright said Ward w ill undergo training for five months at OSEA's Salem office. Following the training period he will work out of the Portland branch o ffice w ith Field Representative Harry C. Ward. Ward comes to OSEA with a background of five years in state service, all with the Em ploym ent Division in Portland. He was supervisor of the agency's Intensive Placement Unit in the In dustrial and Service Office. Ward, 37, was a member of Success Chapter 30. He was completing his first year as assistant director of District One. Thomas C. Enright, OSEA executive secretary, wrote Gov. Tom McCall asking him to create a committee to review the reports. "We are not ready to concede the validity of the Task Force's conclusions," he noted. He said there are three questions that need to be asked about the reports: (1) Whether the Task Force gave su ffic ie n t attention to some of the extenuating c ir cumstances it m ig ht have considered. (2) Whether the practices the Task Force found regarding employe use of facilities differ substandtially from practices in private industry. (3) If misuse of facilities exixt, whether it might not to a great extent be explained by lack of guidelines and education on the use of facilities. E nright said most of the publicity on the Task Force fin d in g s 'h a s referred to telephones, although the use of state cars has also received mention. PAUL R. WARD Starts New Job He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1959 w ith a degree in p o litic a l science. He and his wife, Jean, have two sons. "We are very interested in the automobile subject, because we receive so many complaints about alleged unsafe and un clean conditions of the state cars," he said. Enright said the committee should investigate the following subjects: • The adequacy , and where a pp ro priate , safety and cleanliness of state com munication and transportation facilities. • Present policies and practices regarding employe use of those facilities. • Development of guidelines for use of the facilities. • An educational program on the use of the facilities. • A procedure for continued employe in-put regarding the adequacy and use of the facilities. " I am sure you agree that the great m ajority of state em ployes want to do their work as efficiently and as economically as Is reasonable p o s s ib le ," Enright said. "They are aware that they are subject to scrutiny and criticizm that would not be made of other employes, because their activities are paid for from tax funds instead of being passed on in the priceof a producf." "We are confident that a study such as we have suggested can make for better understanding by both em ployes and the public, and result in im proved u tiliz a tio n of facilities." Bad Faith Charge Dropped by OSE A An OSEA complaint against the Public Welfare Division charging it with lack of good faith bargaining has been w ith drawn . The charge was filed recently w ith the Public Employe Relations Board after collective bargaining negotiations bet ween OSEA and the agency broke down. In its charge, OSEA claimed Welfare refused to negotiate the association's proposed contract in the presence of Dennis Thompson, an employe of the agency. Thompson, chairm an of OSEA's Employes Bargaining Council in Welfare, had been asked by the association's negotiating team to attend the sessions as an advisor. W elfare representatives argued that Thompson could not attend the sessions because he is on the agency's "excluded lis t " and therefore not a member of the bargaining unit. OSEA denied the agency's contention that Thompson is excluded from the unit. It said he was never posted as ex cluded from the bargaining unit as required by PERB rules. Before PERB began its in vestigation of the charge, a meeting was held among representatives from OSEA, W elfare and the Executive Department. Following th a t m eeting, W elfare o ffic ia ls said they would p e rm it Thompson to participate in the negotiating sessions "u n d e r p ro te s t" pending a determination by the PERB on whether or not he is excluded from the bargaining unit.
