Upcoming Labor Management meeting this Month

LMC update:  Your Local 733 leadership will be meeting with management on May 14th to discuss a number of issues, including the continued topic of Hosts/volunteers performing Ranger work per Letter of Agreement 00.00-13-237.  

LETTER OF AGREEMENT 00.00-13-237

Parks Volunteers (OPRD)

The Parties mutually agree volunteers are an integral part of Oregon

Parks and Recreation Department’s (OPRD) service delivery model

and that volunteer work assignments must be made to complement

and augment employee work assignments, rather than replace or

duplicate them.

The Parties agree to use the OPRD Labor/Management Committee

(LMC) forum to meet and discuss strategies for ensuring this message

is communicated consistently across the Agency. The LMC’s

recommendations will follow their normal course.

   

Election Results for 2014

Thanks to all who participated in the elections this year.  Here are the results:

President - Peggy Rinck

Vice president - Dan Icklan

Secretary/Treasurer - Barbara Lakey

 

Bargaining Delegates - President / Vice President / Elected Position Steve Hernandez

 

General Council Delegates -President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer.  Elected Positions Matt Brown, Teresa Boes.  Altrernate Serving Matt Baum

Election time!

Once again its your opportunity to vote on new leadership for Local 733.  You will be receiving ballots for officer elections along with a special vote for changes in our Local's Constitution and Bylaws.  To review the revised bylaws, click the link below.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/213343210/Local-733-Bylaws-Signed-12-16-13

To view the old version of the bylaws follow the link below.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/213346689/Bylaws-7-27-06

Wheres the new Contract?

So, if you don't already know, the contract has been ratified and there should be a final draft available by the end of September.  Contact your Shop Steward or nearest SEIU Organizer to get your worksite a copy.  I will be posting it electronically on the blog as soon as its available. 

The new differential for Pesticide applicators is $1.25/ per hour.  In the past we just use the standard shift diff coding but I assume payroll will have different solution since it has gone up by $0.75.

There should also be new boot forms, as the language has changed slightly to now include felt bottom shoes.  Talk to your OC for guidance.  If you need additional assistance contact your Local 733 Leadership.

Thanks to all who signed the Pledge to strike vote.  This tactic really brought swift movement to our contract negotiations this time around. 

Coalition Bargaining Update

At approximately 12:30am  June 18^th your Parks Local 733 delegates agreed with other ODOT coalition delegates to approve of the final tentative agreements discussed in this contract’s bargaining session.  Although we and other locals won some small victories, we did not however reach a compromise in article 66.3 in regards to allowing our seasonals to carry over up to 40 hours of vacation into the next season.   The response from management is that seasonals are hired each year to work and not take vacations.  Even when we discussed scenarios about seasonals with over 10 years of service and not able to spend a few days with their families on a holiday weekend, management refused to budge.   At the bitter end, we even offered compromises that would only allow seasonals with 6-9 month long positions to qualify for the carry over, yet still they refused any offers. 

Your Parks delegates were outraged that our agency refuses to grant such a simple request out of respect for our Park Ranger Assistants who have shown their loyalty over the years by returning each summer to make sure the restrooms are clean, our visitors are safe and having a memorable experience, and giving a needed hand to our Park Rangers! 

If you are as disappointed as we are, then I urge you to make contact with your shop steward or your Local 733 officers and get involved.  If this is an important topic or you have other issues that need to be addressed, then this is a great opportunity to start building up support for the next contract negotiation.

In the meantime, the battle is not over.  We are still fighting for Healthcare, COLA’s, and retirement at central table.  We will keep you posted as we receive updates.   

April Bargaining Update

Coalition Table

 In the last sessions, office coordinator reclassification was discussed including a sidebar with Parks and management for detailed talks on a draft Classification that includes all the duties our OCs do along with a newly proposed wage.   Thanks to all the Parks OCs who attended the session where Barb did her presentation on the reclass.  More to come on this topic

Other Parks specific proposals included a presentation on a Boot Reimbursement language upgrade to include other types of boots and our proposal for 66.3 to expand the seasonal definition to allow Parks seasonals to carry up to 40 hours of vacation into the next season.   We received immediate responses for both proposals from management giving us a good idea we may have a long fight ahead of us.

This upcoming session will be next Tuesday April 16^th at the OPRD Headquarter.   We will be presenting our differential proposals, included our Parks Shift Lead Differential.   Hopefully we can finish up all our proposal presentations by next session so we can start getting counters and responses from management (when the work really begins).

Central Table

 Our people on central table have been discussing many concepts proposed by both parties but so far management is not considering anymore furloughs or step freezes in the next contract.  However, no other economics will be discussed until May after the State’s budget plan has been ratified.  

An interesting example of a concept proposed by management  is to increase Trial Service to 1 full year.  They’re supporting argument is because of the lack of managers (after the 11:1 manager/employee ratio was implemented) they have to extend the time allowed so they can have enough time to evaluate whether or not those employees will be moved into regular status.  Really?

Bargaining Begins

Your Parks Local bargaining team just completed they're 2nd session which coincides with the last possible day that we had to hand our proposals to management.  Thanks to all you completed and turned in they're Bargaining Surveys. Your ideas helped formulate our fight for this contract.  Here are the proposals that we will be fighting for in the coming months.

Article 122.3 AB - improve boot language by removing section 3 and using section 1, striking out "odd year language" and using "appropriate footware" instead of ANSI references

Article 66.3 Section 1 a)- striking out most of the first paragraph to allow our seasonals to crarry over up to 40 hours of Vacation into next successive season if they choose

Office Coordinator Classification Study.....thats right!  Maybe DAS will give our OC's what they deserve!

Article 26 section 12 - Basically we are going for a 5% diff. for all our Park Rangers assigned shift lead duties.  the language mirrors Section 8 language. 

Park Hosts/Volunteer Language -  We all love them.  We couldn't do it without them.  Some of these folks I would consider my friends but...we need to make sure that volunteers are not being used to replace potential park positions and/or park ranger roles.  Sounds extreme?  Go visit a Forest service park sometime and count how many Forest service employees you can find. 

Vacation Leave LOA moved into 66.3 - this is the LOA that allows Rangers to have up to a week of vacation in any given season.  

As for a Central Table update, no economics have been discussed yet.  Stay tuned.

Next Coalition Session will be at 6:30pm at OPRD HQ on March  19th.  There will be an opportunity for OC's to do a presentation at this one.

Bargaining Surveys due October 31st!

Let your voice be heard!

If you haven't already done so, get your bargaining survey completed and turned in by October 31st.  Follow the link below to access the electronic version and get it done today.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DAS_survey_2012

If you have any suggestions for contract changes, you will find a section of the survey that will ask you to reference the Article if one exists.  You want park specific language?  This is the place in the survey to do so.  This is how we changed the vacation, holiday, and boot language in the last contract.

Shift Lead Differential?
Automatic purge of LOE's after 2 years?
Seasonal staff vacation carry over to next season?

These are examples of what some Parkys are putting on they're bargaining surveys.


Strikes of 2013

There is alot of emphasis on questions in regards to striking.  At this time we are not planning on a strike, but this is always a tool at hand that we may use if the offers of managment put employees into a position to vote on a strike.

SDE Error

Recently a grievance, in regards to Article 26, was won after it was decided that the language within the article under Section 5 has been misinterpreted by our agency. There have been similar cases with the half hour of SDE misunderstood by other agencies in the past.

Article 26 Section 5 "... All employees shall be paid a differential as outlined in Subsections (b) and (c) below, for each hour or major portion there of (thirty (30) minutes or more), worked between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and for each hour or major portion thereof worked on Saturday or Sunday."

 In a nutshell, this means that if you worked 30 minutes of SDE instead of a full hour, your rate of .75 should not change (.5 hours SDE x $.75 does not equal $.375).   I remember a few years ago when I worked weekends we were told if you worked 8.5 hours of SDE you are supposed to round up to 9. Then about 2 years ago an email went out and we were directed to no longer round up our total "shift diff" if it included a half hour. Looks like we may return to 9.

Most of you have probably received the email from our HR Department about this issue. Payroll will be performing an audit on all employees effected and there will be more to come, so stay tuned.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shop Steward Maurice Wray for his diligence in working on this case. He was the steward who represented the grievant that brought this issue to light.

General Council 2012

On August 3rd, your elected officers attended SEIU 503 General Council (GC) 2012.  This is the time (every 2 years) that elected SEIU delegates from all over the state representing many state and local government agencies come together and vote on the direction of SEIU 503.  Months prior, members get together with they're GC delegates and develop resolutions that if adopted by a committee, will have a chance to go to the "floor," of which delegates will have an opportunity to speak for or against the resolution.  Then, through a democratic and fair process, the proposed resolutions will be voted by those who are in attendance (a quorum).  Highlights also include fun evening parties put on by candidates running for State wide officer positions (President, VP, Treasurer of SEIU 503) and other events.

Here's what our GC newbie Tiffany Hicks had to say:

My first General Council and what an eye opener! It was empowering to see all of the state's delegates together talking and voting on our Union's issues. Attending my first ever protest with fellow delegates at Wells Fargo in Albany was also a very empowering experience. Like any organization, there were differing opinions and as the days unfolded I was reminded by others that we live in a democracy where every opinion not only matters but counts. How do we stay unified even though we have differing opinions? I think part of the answer to accomplishing unity is ongoing communication and all of us sharing ONE vision. I appreciated the opportunity to be a part of this important process.

Tiffany Hicks

Treasurer, Local 733

If you would like to view the resolutions that passed, I will be posting scanned copies in the "File Cabinet" on the upper right of this page labeled General Council 2012 Resolutions.

Next LMC on August 15th

Your Local 733 officers and management will once again meet on August 15th.  We have some topics of discussion, but if you have any issues that you would like us to bring to the table let us know!

LMC met on May 9th

LMC met on May 9th and the minutes of that meeting will be posted here soon.  Topics include the Director's response to the committees draft proposals on schedules and Park Ranger Supervisors.  There was also a discussion about schedule creation and using paid leave (VA, PB, ect). 

Does you manager ask you to find coverage when you request time off using Vacation or Personal business (exempting employee-to-employee day swaps)?

If you request time off using a Leave slip at least 15 days in advance of your time off, does your manager wait until the last minute (like the day before your time off) to Deni or accept your request?

Contact your Parks and Recreation Human Resources Department if you frequently encounter these scenario's. 

Dan Matta is also an Alternate

Apologies to Dan Matta.  He was also elected as a General Council Alternate.  Dan Matta is a a new officer as well as a shop steward from Reservations Northwest.  Recently (this winter) he has also accepted a temporary position as a MOC (Member Organizing Committee) for SEIU. 

MOC's are members who have been selected by organizers of SEIU to perform various roles promoting the union.  Assignments can include travel to other states to help organize other public and service employees.  A worker that is selected to be a MOC will retain their previous job position once they're service is completed (a couple months to a year).

New Meeting Format: We are coming to you!

Due to budget constraints (Long story), we will be coming to a park near you to hold our Quarterly Member Meetings. We cannot afford lodging for members, but we will pay for mileage perdiem depending on the Park that we visit.  We will have an agenda, but our main interest is what your issues are. 

As you well know we have been meeting regularly with management (LMC) to discuss specific park issues and drafting proposals to solve.them.  These meetings is your opportunity bring your park issues to the table.  Who knows other parks may have the same problem.

Our first of these new meeting will be held at Nehalem Bay State Park May 19th from 11-4.  It will be held at one of the yurts (look for the signs).  We will pay mileage for those comming as far as South Beach to Fort Stevens.

The Long Story:
Your past officers held quarterly meetings but no one showed up so they offered to pay full lodging for members who registered (family vacation?).  We continued this tradition but found that we could not sustain this offer as we began to have more than 12 members showing up regularly. Typically SEIU (other State Locals, like ODOT) only pay half the lodging for member meetings, but even at that rate we still could not afford lodging on top of mileage reimbursement (imagine someone driving from the Blue mountain district all the way to coosbay? expensive travel  bill for us).   SEIU wants us to continue meetings, as these are the heart of a Local to encourage members to meet and discuss concerns, so they told us to keep the meetings going while we went into the red (better red than dead?). So we eventually ended up pleading for money, rebates, ect to pay our debt.  The truth of the matter is that every time you pay your dues SEIU gets most of your money (they spend it well don't worry), but your local (us) gets a small portion to pay for meetings, paper, pencils, cards to send out to members, a laptop, travel to trainings, travel for bargaining, and even pizza every time your organizer visits your park.  We have made cuts to everything we can, even pizza, to keep our local going.  If a Ranger had to live off our local's 2 year budget, he/she would have to move in with Mom an Dad and get an extra job to pay for gas to get to work everyday. Believe me, your President is one hell of an accountant and she is all about fiscal responsibility!  There are other small Local's like Parks (ODA, ODF, ODFW, ect) in the same boat as far as Local budgets.  We are hoping in the future that SEIU will give us the funding we need to provide the kinds of things that THEY want us to provide in the first place....like paid lodging for members at Quarterly meetings.  Remember "The Shield?"  That was cut because of printing and paper costs, which is why you are reading this Blog instead of a newsletter.

Officers have been Elected!

Thank you to all who participated in voting for your Local 733 Officers. The results are Peggy Rinck (President), Steve Hernandez (Vice President), Barbara Lakey (Secretary), Tiffany Hicks (Treasurer), and Dan Icklan (General Council Delegate).

 Please welcome our new officers Tiffany and Dan.  Tiffany is an OC at Stub Stewart State Park and Dan Icklan is a Park Ranger 2 at the Cove Palisades, as well as they're MU's Shop Steward.

LMC Met on January 11th

Labor Management Committee met at the Fairgrounds on January 11th. Topics that were discussed included Schedules and "Operational Need", Park Ranger Supervisor Roles, OPRD's interpretation of SB2020 (1-11 management to employee ratio), and future topics.

To view the LMC minutes follow the link to the right of this page.

New Contract!

Its finally here! To download the contract in PDF format follow the link on the right of this page.

HINT: If you are having trouble finding a certain contract subject while viewing the contract in PDF form simply type the subject in the box labeled "Find."

Boot Allowance Forms on the Blog

Having trouble getting the boot allowance forms? They are now available on the blog. Go to the right and click "Boot Allowance forms" under "The file cabinet." Due to Internet Explorer being difficult, the first form is viewable on the blog and the rest of the forms are available by clicking on the links. The bottom links are completed examples of Hazard Assessment forms.

New contract language now applies to anyone who is eligible per Article 122.3 A,B

HEM Penalty Charges Dropped?

Recently (January 10th) our HEM Labor management committee unanimously agreed to recommend to PEBB that the HEM surcharges be suspended. Thousands of members throughout the state were unhappy being penalized for not participating with the HEM program during open enrollment. A common suggestion was to offer an incentive rather than a penalty to participate.

To view other recommendations by the committee to change HEM, click on the "January 10th HEM Committee minutes" page on the right under FILE CABINET heading.

Labor Management Committee for Parks Begins

On November 4th Members of Parks Local 733 and management will meet for the first time to begin Labor Management Committee (LMC) training. An LMC is another tool that our Local can utilize to solve member issues at the lowest possible level without resorting to grievances which can lead to arbitration or avoiding possible debates at contract bargaining. This is an opportunity for nominated members and management to discuss issues on equal terms as per Article 106 stated below.

"To facilitate communication between the Parties, joint Labor-Management Committees may be established at the Agency level by mutual agreement of the Union and the Agency Administrator and the Department of Administrative Services. The Committees shall take steps to ensure consistency with the Collective Bargaining Agreement."

Peggy Rink, Barb Lakey, Steve Hernandez, and Joe Bubier (Fairgrounds) will be representing labor. Sherri Miller (RNW), Rebeca Lasso (Accounting Manager), Steve J (District Manager), and Ann Madson (Fairgrounds) were nominated to represent management's side.

If members have any issues that the committee needs to address let us know!