e
OSEA News
Page 7
February 1981
Members
'We will not modify
our bargaining units'
Negotiations between the
State of Oregon and OSEA are
bogged down by the state’s
continued efforts to deny OSEA
members the final say in the
negotiation of their contracts.
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Coalition Teams
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BARGAINING
At issue is whether or not
state employes will ratify their
contracts by agency, rather
than as one large coalition.
The stakes are high.
When the 1979 Legislature
passed S B. 57, the rules for
contract negotiations changed.
Now all agency contracts must
be renegotiated a t the same
time as the central agreement.
The state wants all agency
contracts to be ratified by a
central coalition. The sheer
magnitude of this negotiating
load would make it impossible
to deal with all issues of concern
a t the agency levels.
The end result of such a
ground rule is simple. Em
ployes a t each agency will not
have the right to reject their
contract if it does not meet then-
needs.
The s ta te ’s negotiating
strength would be considerably
enhanced by such a position.
Needs of employes a t the
agency level could be traded off
against issues effecting all
OSEA employes in the central
contract.
Labor Relations
Agencies
“The point here is that the
state is meddling in the internal
affairs of OSEA,” says Alice
Dale, OSEA’s chief spokes
person for the state contract.
“A union has the right to
ratify a contract according to
its own rules. We have always
taken the stand that our
negotiations will be by a
democratic process. Manage-
Fact Finding
News on negotiations
Information about the negotiating process will be changing
with increasing rapidity as the bargaining process continues.
OSEA staff will provide you with regular coverage of the
negotiations in two formats, The OSEA News and a negotiating
newsletter.
The OSEA News will provide you with monthly overviews of
what is happening in and out of the negotiating sessions, along
with analysis of positions taken by the state and OSEA.
The negotiating newsletter will give you the most up to date
information possible on negotiations at the central, coalition
and agency levels of bargaining. You will find this newsletter
a t your workplace, or you can ask your shop steward for a
copy, whenever news breaks.
ment is just trying to squeeze
a little more out of state em
ployes.”
The OSEA bargaining team
met with state negotiators over
this issue on Jan. 29, which was
after press time. Prior to the
meeting, management gave no
indication of what its position
would be.
“We will not modify our
bargaining units under any
circumstances,” said Thomas
Gallagher, OSEA executive
director, before the Jan. 29
meeting. “It has taken 'a long
time to deal with this one issue
that is an internal union m atter.
“ If the state does not
recognize our right to ratify by
bargaining unit this week, we
will be forced to go to 46
separate agency negotiations
on the central contract.”
Once the state recognizes
OSEA’s right to establish its
own rules for ratification, all
ground rules for proceeding into
formal negotiations will be in
place.
If the state does not force
bargaining into se p a ra te
agency negotiations, a three-
tier system will go into effect.
Issues will be placed before a
central table, one of five
coalition tables or any of 46
agency tables.
At the central table bar
gaining will include nearly
all salary, fringe benefit and
classification issues, plus all
other Issues not negotiated at
the coalition or agency tables.
At least one representative
from each of the coalition tables
will sit at the central table.
Each of the five coalitions will
encompass a group of agencies
with similar needs or needs that
are easily grouped together for
negotiating. They will negotiate
all issues currently in agency
contracts; all issues that are
sent to them by m utual
agreement of the central table
and a yet-to-be determined
number of issues that either
OSEA or the s ta te can
unilaterally pass from the
central table to the coalition
level. This latter number of
issues will probably be 10 to 12
issues per side.
Each agency negotiating
table will discuss issues that are
germane to it that cannot be
resolved a t coalition tables.
These negotiating tables will
then give th e ir recom
mendation on each issue that is
passed to them for final passage
at the coalition level.
Employe pay for time spent
in negotiations was another
avenue where management
tried to limit participation by
state employes in the bargain
ing process.
Under the current contract,
six employes are allowed comp
time a t the central table. But
the state balked when OSEA
proposed that one member
from each agency receive comp
time a t the coalition level, since
agency contracts would be
negotiated a t these tables.
Instead, m anagem ent con
tended these employes could
receive comp time only as their
agency contracts came due.
This would have seriously
effected employe represen
tation a t' the OSEA coalition
tables. However, after some
negotiating the state agreed to
give comp time to one person at
the coalition level from each
agency bargaining unit.
“ The negotiating ground
rules our bargaining team has
hammered out are crucial for
our employes,” said Thomas
Gallagher, OSEA executive
director. “The employes of the
State of Oregon have had
collective bargaining, but now
they are demanding their right
for the next step in the
bargaining process — more
participation.”
Ratification
CONTRACT