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,”
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