C O M M E N T A R Y
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
DEB BOLTON
684 «5th place SE
Salem 97301
VICE PRESIDENT
D. M. "PETE” PETRY
1304 3rd SI.
Baker 97814
SECRET ARYTREA9URER
a JUNE BLAKLEY
3383 Willamette Or. N.
Salem 97303
DIRECTORS
1. JAN BEALS
2880 NE Crocus CL
Hillsboro 97123
RICHARO H. WALKER
3818 N. Montana
Portland 97227
2. STEVEN GREEN
6883 Doral Driva SE
Salam 97302
KELLY CLEMENCE KATHRINER
472 C hemewa Rd. N.
Salam 97303
BARBARA PALMER
670 Chamawa Rd. N.
Salam 97303
3. RICHARD O. YOUNG
P.O. Box 3022
Eugene 97403
LYDOte BELLE SEDIVY
31778 Lawrence
Lebanon 973S5
4. TERRI ANOERSON
542 Morion SI.
Ashland 97520
RUTH MONTGOMERY
P.O. Box 213
Medtord 97501
Atiyeh’s Strategy to Bust OPEÜ
Relies on Complacent Members
Top management of the State
of Oregon apparently is engaged
in a union busting campaign and
their target is OPEU.
As the facts surrounding this
campaign slowly become appar
ent, one thing is clear: it is a well
calculated strategy, that has been
designed and authorized at the
highest levels of state govern
ment.
The State has one goal—to
destroy your union or weaken it to
the point that you w ill no longer
stand on equal footing with
management. If they achieve this
goal, management will be able to
take away your job security, take
away your benefits, deny you a
decent wage and even take away
your job in many cases.
This is a high stakes game of
power. It is a campaign that can
be waged only when authoriza
tion comes from one source—
from the governor—from Victor
Atiyeh.
However, once he has given his
okay, Atiyeh can step back and let
his surrogates in the Executive
Department fight the behind-the-
scenes battle. In doing so, he can
keep his hands clean and main
tain his image of the fair, gentle
manly governor. He can and
probably w ill publicly deny that
he would ever consider such a
campaign and that management
is offering state employes the
most it can under its difficult
financial situation.
If all this sounds a little harsh or
farfetched, consider this scenario
fo r b u stin g p u b lic em ploye
unions:
First, management draws out
th e n e g o tia tin g p ro c e s s by
making offers that are so prepos
terous that the union w ill never
accept them. Management then
forces the employes and their
union to impasse by proposing
that settlement can only be
reached if workers give back
hard-won provisions from pre
vious contracts. Once the desired
strike is secured, management
then initiates a detailed plan for
maintaining desired services.
Does this sound like what the
State is doing to you and your
union? It is considered the most
successful strategy for busting
public employe unions. It was
designed by the Chicago "man
agement consultant" firm of
Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and
Geraldson, specialists in break
ing public employe unions.
In its internal memos, manage
ment has indicated that state
employes are too weak, compla
cent and scared to effectively
resist a union busting campaign.
They are wrong!
If they would look in the work
areas they would see 10,000
"Must' I Strike” buttons being
worn by every classification of
employe. If they watched the
membership figures they would
see that over 1,000 employes have
joined the union in the last six
weeks. If they looked out the
window they would see hundreds
of employes holding informa
tional picket signs.
Employes are saying—and they
must continue to say—"I am not
going to give into your scare
tactics, I am not going to take any
more of your calculated strategy
to reduce my dignity and my
standard of living and I won’t lose
my union and my ability to stand
on an equal footing with manage
ment."
The governor and his managers
have laid down the most serious
challenge a union can ever face.
But the members of OPEU will
win a fair contract because the
governor is w rong—they are not
too frightened or too complacent
to fight for what they have earned.
5 PAT PETERSON
18103rd S t
La Granda 97860
CARAJONES
316 South Columbia
Milton Freewater 97882
8. RICHARD W. F R A S E R
P O . Box 604
Westport 97016
STAFF
THOMAS J. GALLAGHER
Executive Director
CHARLENE SHERWOOD
Counsel to the Board
BROMLEIOH LAMB
Attorney
F. PETER 0 E LUCA
Attorney
ALICE DALE
Attorney
MARIA KELTNER
Attorney
CHUCK MENDENHALL
Government Relations Director
ERIC PARKER
Legislative Lobbyist
JAN McMILUN
Public Relations Director
DOUGLAS CROOKS
Editor
FRED HASLEe
Membership and Education
ELEANOR M. MEYERS
Personnel and
Classification Analyst
RALPH JULL
Business Manager
GORDON WEBB
Director of Field Services
BUSINESS AGENTS
PHIL DEA8
FAITH DUBIN
JAN EZELL
SHARRON FARRELL
CAL HACKLER
DIANE LOVELL
JEAN MOYER
LARRY OGLESBY
JOE ROCHE
JEFF SCHRADER
GAIL WASHINGTON
JUNE WISSMATH
CINDY PARRISH
Insurance Administrator
Douglas Crooks
Editor
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