Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon public employe. (Salem, Oregon) 1981-???? | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1981)
Cowpunching Cowpoke Gets Boot When a cowpuncher becomes a cow-puncher it may be grounds for dismissal. In a report appearing in the Wall Street Journal, an arbitrator ruled that a dairy worker was properly discharged for beating a cow. The arbitrator said that since it was the second charge of cow-punching brought against the cowpoke, he had little recourse. Besides, the arbitrator added that such attacks reduce milk produc tion and make cows cower from human contact, ..,S * .7... i - —i-j limm i Comparable Worth As the idea of comparable worth has gained growing recognition in the past two years, many of the nation’s corporate giants have come out opposing the concept. Thé Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC), a group funded by the Business Roundtable, has become more public in its opposition to com parable worth over the past year. The Roundtable is an organization made up of officers of such corporate heavy weights as Exxon, Général Motors, Sears, General Electric and Prudential Insurance. EEAC’s recent activities have focused on writing amicus briefs, responding to government regula tions and legislation and sponsoring symposiums where the value of comparable worth is questioned. In a recent transaction between Attacked State Alleges Wildcat Strike the EEAC and the Business Round table, the Roundtable put up over $130,000 for publication of an EEAC book attacking comparable worth. The book claims that comparable worth is ill-defined and dangerous. It says that the concept has little to do with discrimination and instead argues for job mobility for women, rather than for pay equity. Business Week magazine states that the book’s arguments are based largely on fear of success by those who support comparable worth. The magazine continued to state, “EEAC’s decision to move into the limelight is understandable. Comparable worth may be the civil rights issue of the 1980’s, and it could cost employers billions in payroll dollars.” i iiiììs '? ì ì .'.. iì * m Ì». i~ S i i i M ìm à i ™ti) The State is alleging that the failure of “some 26 teachers and several other employes” to report to work at MacLaren School on May 19 was a “wildcat strike." Approximately 30 employes called in sick prior to work on May 19. John Demusiak, Labor Relations Division administrator, has ordered that sick leave be denied for May 19 to any MacLaren employe. In addition, he levied a one-month, one-step salary reduction as disciplinary action for “misconduct and malfeasance.” MacLaren employes contacted by Thé Oregon Public Employe said that they were indeed sick and that they had doctors excuses to prove it. They added that as far as they know, all employes who reported-in sick were indeed sick. '■■>»' Males Bring Higher Pay to Secretarial Positions “It is so ingrained in their minds that a secretary has to be a female,” he said. “When a woman officer answers the phone, they assume she’s a secretary. “In contrast, men always are telling me ‘their girl’ will get back to me, meaning their secretary. I’m so glad my boss doesn’t tell his clients that ‘his boy’ will get back to them.” Bill Streepy, a legal secretary, says he doesn’t have to worry about job security as a man because, as a woman does in a mate-dominated field, he finds there are plenty of job openings. However, he said he also finds plenty of doors shut by bosses who haven’t changed their stereotype of the secretary. “One man fold me he wanted a woman around the office,” Streepy said; Two male secretaries and the office manager of a temporary employment agency told United Press International that more men in secretarial jobs has meant higher salaries, but some confusion due to the stereotyped role of secretaries. “Sad as it is to say, the salary for secretaries is increasing as more men get into the field,” said Kathy Moeller, office manager for a temporary employment agency. “The economic situation has hit a lot of people and more men are realizing they can make a good living working as a secretary.” Tom O ’Brien who now makes more as a secretary for a bank than h e did a s a n English te a c h e r, said that he has experienced “outright hostility” from some employers who thought a woman would do a better job as a secretary. “This action by the Labor Relations Division is nothing more than harrassment of state employes who have a legitimate claim to sick leave," said OPEU Executive Director Thomas Gallagher. “We will stand 100 percent behind our members at MacLaren arid fight any disciplinary action thé State may levy against thèse employes." State Employes at Commerce Seek Union Employes at the State Commerce Department have petitioned the Employment Relations Board (ERB) seeking union representation. Over 40 percent of the eligible employes at Commerce sighed cards indicating they would support a representation election with OPEU on the ballot. Thirty percent of the eligible employes of a unit must sign petition cards in order for an election to be held. The exact make-up of the proposed bargaining unit still has to be worked out between OPEU and the State. Once agreement is reached an election date will be set. OPEU is the only union to have expressed a desire to represent state employes at Commerce. Larry Oglesby, OPEU business agent responsible for Commerce, said that work area meetings concerning the representation election will begin this month. ......... .............. - -— ------------- -—-— State ULP Dismissed Just one week after the State filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) against OPEU, the Employment Relations Board (ERB) dismissed it. It found all allegations to be unwarranted. “We knew that there was no legal or factual basis for the State’s ULP,” said Alice Dale, Bargaining ’81 spokesperson. “All we could conclude was that it was an attempt to save face after their refusal to meet with the mediator was followed by a 180-degree turn the next day when they returned to the table with the mediator.” In ERB’s written dismissal of the ULP, the first three allegations were found to have no basis in Oregon law or in court rulings. bi responding to the State’s final charge—that OPEU was bargaining in bad faith—ERB said, “Even if all the facts alleged were found to be true, this Board could not find OPEU guilty of bad faith bargaining. Even taken in combination, the nine charges (of this section) do not constitute conduct sufficient to frustrate the collective bargaining process or to evidence a refusal to bargain in good faith.” The ULP followed OPEU’s request for a mediator to help facilitate bargaining. ________________ Sheriffs Vote torOPEU Curry County Sheriffs have voted overwhelmingly for OPEU to represent them in Contract negotia tions with county management. The announcement was made May 14 by the Employment Relations Board following a vote in which OPEU received 22 votes and no representation received none. Richard Wright, newly-named president of, the group,'says the sheriffs will begin to negotiate a new contract with the county irru. mediately, '..'.'f ■ . - b .......' .. .... : . . — Voters Reject Contracting Out An initiative petition which curbs the authority of the Gaston School Board to contract out district services without voter approval, was passed by better than a 2-to-l margin, by Gastón voters. However, the Gaston School District has gone to court in an effort to block implementation of the initiative., The school district does not dispute the right of district voters to file and pass initiative , petitions, but district officials are asking the court to rule on the limits, if any, of the subject matter which may be included in petitions. ■ Parking Lot Electioneering Disallowed A Teamsters Union representa tion victory has been disallowed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, because of electioneer ing by the union in the parking lot next to the polling place. On the day of the election, two former company employes stationed themselves in the parking lot near the line of voters. The former employes wore “Vote Teamsters” signs on their hats and repeatedly gestured to the “Yes” box on enlarged reproductions of the ballots that were pinned to their Office Hours for OPEU Branch Offices shirts. When alerted to thé electioneer ing, a polling official’ said she could only control conduct within the polling place. However, the court said that once the polls are open, employes waiting in line to vote become part of the polling place and are entitled to safeguards against interference. The decision was not altered by the Teamsters’ contention that the two former employes were not agents of the-union. Office hours for OPEU’s five branch offices are as follows for Monday through Friday: I Eugene—9 a.m . to 1 p.m. Medford—9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pendleton—9 a.m. to 1 p.m,. Portland—8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.) Salem—8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Page 3
