NOVEMBER 2007: FORUM
Viewpoint
State employee union decries deal that gives raises to all
state managers
Rank-and-file state employees have been slapped in the face
with the news that Gov. Ted Kulongoski has issued top-heavy pay
raises for all state managers.
With 33 years of collective bargaining experience — 16 of
those years at various state “central table”
negotiations — I thought I’d heard and seen
everything. But we are outraged at this proposed package for
state managers. After months of face-to-face bargaining with
the state, we feel like we’ve been lied to.
Some quick background: We, AFSCME, are the second-largest union
of state employees, and we represent several state agencies
with unique jobs that are difficult to fill. We represent a
variety of scientists and others with advanced degrees at DEQ,
DLCD, the State Lands Division and more. We represent
correctional officers and others who work inside prison walls.
In the last 15 years these workers averaged a raise only about
every other year.
In late August, after months of negotiating for our members, we
signed off on a deal that the state said was the absolute
maximum it could afford. We spent weeks comparing data from
other states and some Oregon counties and with a special eye on
classifications where we know the state has special recruitment
and retention problems. But the Deparatment of Administrative
Services balks at using data from cities and other local
governments as comparators, especially the cities of Portland
and Salem that absolutely compete with the state for employees.
Yet DAS is happy to turn right around and use such cities as
comparators for justifying management raises.
This management package is more than triple what our agreement
was, and the state has unilaterally given this across-the-board
increase to every
manager. Every state agency will now have to eat the costs of
these raises, meaning our members could face layoffs or
increased workloads.
This move is shortsighted because it portends a bad future for
the state in upcoming negotiations. How can we trust DAS when
it tells us “this is all we can afford” in the
future? Why would we ever settle again before we find out what
managers are giving themselves? Our trust has been violated and
we will not forget it.
Ken Allen
Executive director
Oregon AFSCME Council 75
Portland
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