Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon public employe. (Salem, Oregon) 1981-???? | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1981)
Coupon-Sharing Program Saving on Grocery Bills With double-digit inflation con tinuing year after year, many people question the validity of the old cliche, “A dollar saved is a dollar earned.” What few will argue though, is that any money saved on your grocery bill makes more dollars available for other needs. At the Education Department, OPEU members are saving on their grocery bills. For the past month, these employes have been pooling their grocery coupons for all their colleagues to use. “We started this program know ing that most people need to do anything they can to save a dime," says Lucille Kokel. “Everyone in the Department is invited to bring in coupons and to use all the coupons they need.” Democrats Plan ‘Grass Roots’ Conference The Oregon Democratic Party’s semi-annual Grass Roots Con ference will be held May 15-17 on the campus of Oregon College of Education in Monmouth. U.S. Senator Gary Hart (D-Col.) will be the keynote speaker. Before being elected to the Senate in 1972, Hart served as campaign manager for Presidential candidate George McGovern. Oregon Democrats have con ducted the conference every even year, during the legislature, since 1971. The purpose of the con ference is to bring “grass roots” D em ocrats into contact with elected Democrats, to expand the party by reaching out to interest groups and individuals who feel they have concerns that heed to be addressed and to debate issues of vital interest. A series of workshops on issues ranging from government productiv ity to civil liberties to energy development will be the central format for the conference. Kokel credits Local 216 president John Havery with getting the program off the ground. But it is Kokel who has put some organiza tion into the exchange. Each day employes bring coupons to Kokel, she files them according to product type and then during breaks, employes pull as many coupons as their shopping list requires. Kokel says the program uses all types of coupons, including those which are only good for a few days. She says that these short-term coupons are put into an open box so people will use them right away. “It’s hard to tell just how many people are using the program,” Kokel says, “but anyone who doesn’t is foolish.” Nominations for Officers Due June 20 Nominations for statewide office in OPEU will close at noon, June 20, according to Delbert Bolton, OPEU President. The General Council’s Candidate Search and Nomination Committee will meet at headquarters on June 20 to formally accept the nomina tions and seconds. The meeting is open to all members. Candidate nomination forms can be obtained from Candidate Com mittee members (all Assistant District Directors), Board members and Local presidents. Statewide offices include presi dent, vice president and secretary- treasurer. Each office is a one-year term. Librarians Begin Pay, Sex Study Investment Plan Open Period Begins May 15 State employes will be able to enroll in the State’s Deferred Compensation Program or may increase their investments in thé program beginning May 15. The program, which enables employes to gain interest rates that are substantially higher than those offered in traditional savings ac counts, is open only to state employes and will close on June 30. Interest earnings for the ap proximately 2,600 employes enrolled in the program averaged 9.96 percent in 1980, Employes may defer a minimum of $25 and up to a maximum of 15 percent from each paycheck. More information is available from payroll and personnel centers or from Nancy Crandall, Deferred Compensation Coordinator, at 378- 3156, in Salem. ________________________________ I Employe May Ask for Steward at Interview An employe’s request for assist ance from a union steward in an interview with management, must be honored by management, even if the supervisor believes that no disciplinary action will be taken. Enforcing a “cease and desist” order against Lennox Industries of Fort Worth, Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a risk of discipline is inherent in any interview in which work-related questions are asked, because discipline may result if the employe surprises management with an answer it finds unsatisfactory or threatening. The case arose when a Lennox supervisor told an assembly line worker that he wanted to talk to the worker in his office. Since the supervisor had previously criticized the worker for slow work, the worker requested to have a union steward present. The supervisor refused the request. After heated words were ex changed, the supervisor took the worker to the assembly manager, who accused the worker of instigating a slowdown and again denied the worker’s request to have a union steward present. GOP Plans Early Election Strategy Republicans are already making a major effort to expand upon the widespread congressional gains they realized in the 1980 elections. During the past two years, House and Senate Republican'campaign committees have outraised their Democratic counterparts by better than ten to' one. Senate GOP members plan to use $25-million of these funds to unseat their Democratic counterparts whose terms expire in 1982. They predict the party will pick up as many as eight Or nine seats. In the House, Republicans feel they have a good opportunity for major gains due to the 17-seat shift resulting from the 1980 Census. Most of these changes will move congressional seats from tradition ally Democratic districts in the Northeast and the Midwest to the Sunbelt states and the West. House Republicans have put together a nine-member field staff to work with state legislatures to see that House districts are reappor tioned to Republican advantage. Additionally, the National Con servative Political Action Com mittee, which helped topple House and Senate liberals last November, has targeted some 20 Senators for defeat in 1982. Among them are Democratic Senators Ted Kennedy (Mass.), Don Riegle (Mich.), Howard Metzenbaum (Ohio) and Paul Sarbanes (Md.). In a related move, House Republicans have approved spend ing nearly $20-million on advertising to support-President Reagan’s budget and tax cuts. Replacement Only Temporary During Strike Poverty Level Now at $8,450 Combating pay and sex discrimi nation will be the focus of a new project being funded and staffed by the American Library Association. Assistance will be given at the local level to library workers who are documenting and challenging both pay and sex discrimination. Particular attention is being focused on gathering information concerning comparable worth—equal pay for work of equal value. Besides offering assistance at the local level, the project will compile, analyze and publish case histories of library workers’ experiences with these types of discrimination and their efforts to circumvent them. For more information contact Helen Josephine at P.O. Box 246, Berkeley, CA 94701, or call (415) 841-1145. The federal government has boosted its official poverty level index for a family of four by $1,000 to $8,450, the Labor Department reported last month. The new figure, which is used by numerous federal agencies in deter mining income eligibility for pro grams that assist the poor, reflects increases in consumer prices over the past year. Under the new guideline, an urban family of four living in the continental United States is con sidered below the poverty level if its income totals $8,450 a year or less. A single-person is considered poor, under the revised guidelines, if his or her income is below $3,680. That ceiling is $430 higher than a year earlier. conducting a legal strike, the employer can still hire replacements on a temporary basis, according to Vince Vamas, an instructor at the University of Oregon Labor Educa tion Research Center (LERC). However, if management refuses to rehire a legally striking employe whose position was filled by a temporary employe during the job action, “management is guilty of an unfair labor practice,” says Vamas. Vamas made the statement to clarify a portion of an article in the April Oregon Public Employe which said, “hiring replacements (in legal public sector strikes) is grounds for filing an unfair labor practice,” Page 3 _ _____
