Central Table Update 6/12/09

What a difference a week can make!

Barely a week ago, DAS negotiators declared impasse, upping the ante and urgency in bargaining.

Sunday, thousands of SEIU members and allies from around the state made a big splash in Portland in the United for Oregon March calling for funding for vital services and fair treatment of workers who provide services. (See photos, video and media coverage)

Yesterday, legislators completed voting on measures to bring more fairness into our tax system and restore a significant amount of funding for our services. For many years we have been fighting to bring some balance back into our tax system and ensure that corporations and the wealthiest Oregonians contribute their fair share for public services. Yesterday we did it!

And today, we can report that there has been a new and unexpected development in bargaining with the State.

Late Thursday, DAS negotiators informed us that the State has withdrawn its declaration of impasse and its proposal to impose wage cuts on workers in certain classifications they did not want to furlough.  This also means that neither side is required to submit final offers today as previously planned. Instead we will return to mediation on Monday.

Why would the state withdraw its declaration of impasse?

It has to do with that proposed pay cut. In May, the State concluded what we had been telling them for months: that it was not practical to furlough employees in 24/7 institutions and certain other workers.  When they then substituted the proposed pay cut for these workers, the Union immediately filed an unfair labor practice charge with the State Employment Relations Board (ERB). We contended that the pay cut proposal was violation of the ground rules for bargaining, because it was submitted months after the deadline for making entirely new proposals.

It turns out that state negotiators, who have bumbled their way through this process from the start, may have been too clever by half.  Under certain circumstances, when an unfair labor practice charge is sustained by the ERB, the State forfeits its right to implement a final offer.  Fearful of this consequence, the State apparently decided that its best tactic was to withdraw the pay-cut proposal and un-do its impasse declaration.

On its face, that is a significant victory for those members targeted for the cut. It also should give us a chance to pick up the pace of bargaining when we return to the table Monday and continue our good-faith efforts to reach an agreement. But we are not deluding ourselves. The state is still looking for significant concessions that we find unwarranted, unfair and unreasonable.  They will continue to seek ways to force them upon us rather than engage in good-faith bargaining.

Thus while we return to the table with the best of intentions, we suspect that even if further progress is made, the State is likely to declare impasse at the next earliest moment it can, procedurally speaking, and re-start the clock ticking toward the date when, if we don't have a settlement, they can legally go ahead and implement their bad proposals-including furloughs and the step freeze proposal.

We will continue to dramatize our campaign to win a fair contract away from the table as well as in bargaining. Our next worksite actions will occur on Tuesday, June 30th- the last day of our current contract. Mark your calendars and get ready to let the Governor know that Oregon needs us and we need a fair contract. Watch for more details on the June 30th statewide day of action next week.