After doing a candidate questionnaire, and evaluating the responses, AFSCME Local 3694 has decided to endorse Constance Roach for Assessor.  Connie has a proven track record in the Assessor's office, and has a clear understanding of  the State and County dynamics she works in.  Her knowledge, experience, and common sense approach to County government will be a welcome continuation of the current practices in the Assessor's Office.

The Local has decided not to make a recommendation for any of the BCC races until after the primary.

Council 75  endorsements for other races can be found at http://www.oregonafscme.com/?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=87334

As you may have heard by now Oregon AFSCME Council 75 after much member polling has decided to endorse Barack Obama.  There will be a leaflet canvas on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10 am.  Please contact Janice from the Portland AFSCME office at (503)739-3009 if you are interested.  Meet at 40 S Central Avenue in Medford at 10 am for a couple of hours.  Be sure to wear your AFSCME green, and call Daniel at 474-4480 if you would like an AFSCME for Obama button.

On Friday, March 7, 2008 the BCC voted 2-0 to pay 32 employees affected by the ULP ERB Order $15,796.29.  This is in addition to the civil penalty and back dues they paid Council directly.  That works out to an average of $493.63 an employee.  The high appears to be less than $2,300 and the low is around $30.  No Early Invention employees are currently expected to get checks.  We have an information request into the County to ascertain how they calculated these amounts, which people are getting checks, et cetera.  For all of you who have pointed out that the discrepancy of Commissioner Raffenburg trying to get $17k while the employees only get $15k because he and Commissioner Ellis did something illegal, you are correct.  More information about this pay issue  can be found at http://www.thedailycourier.com/articles/2008/03/14/front_page_news/news01.txt or about Commissioner Raffenburg in general can be found http://www.thedailycourier.com/articles/2008/03/22/front_page_news/news01.txt .

The BCC used the word “settlement” numerous times and the local TV and radio stations picked up that word and ran stories on the ULP settlement.  No media outlet other than the Daily Courier did any fact checking with AFSCME to our knowledge.  We received no messages, e-mails, or other contact to indicate they had even tried.  TO BE CLEAR, THERE HAS BEEN NO SETTLEMENT.  As near as AFSCME can tell, the BCC used the word settlement as a synonym for ruling.  There was a stay ruling from ERB, which I issued an update to employees on February 22, 2008.  We have not met with the County’s representatives in well over a month, and no settlement has been reached.  See the attached press release if you have more questions about this.

Our initial impression based on the limited information that we have is that the payments are incomplete.  While we are glad that some employees will be getting some of their money now, we are also frustrated that the County has chosen to flagrantly ignore ERB precedent on how to make employees whole.  This is despite the fact that we provided several pieces of case law to the County’s team in order to help them make accurate calculations.  When we last met with the County, AFSCME and the County agreed to disagree on what making employees whole meant.  The County very clearly informed us that they would make employees whole in a fashion that they believed was in accordance with the law.  We informed them what the law said, and let them know that if they implemented their current plan that we would pursue legal remedies to get employees ALL of their back due compensation.

We are encouraging employees to cash those checks if they receive one.  If you think the amount you receive is incorrect, did not receive a check, have questions about how it was calculated, or something else we encourage people to call Rosemary Padgett the CFO at 474-5222 to find out more information.  She was apparently a key player on the committee that determined the who, why, and how of these numbers.  They apparently calculated these numbers on what is known as a ‘least cost’ basis.  The majority of the checks are allegedly going to people that severed employment, particularly with Options.

FYI, the way the Employment Relations Board calculates make whole payments is in a fashion that is most beneficial to the prevailing party.  In this case, the prevailing party was the privatized employees.  Essentially that means make whole is more than what a lay person would think make whole means.  The system basically has a built in penalty against the losing party.  This is built into the payment to privatized employees as they were the main ones the BCC took “egregious” and “flagrant” unlawful actions against.

Once we receive a response from the County in regards to our information request we will evaluate that.  If we disagree with the calculations, which we expect we will, we will approach the County and highlight our concerns, and request they correct the discrepancies.  If they are unable or unwilling to do so, we will pursue legal avenues available for employees to get their long overdue compensation. 

Once we have more information we will issue an update that is more focused on what comes next.  Right now we are just trying to answer some of the questions and allay some of the fears that this latest unilateral action by the BCC has created.  Thank you for your continued patience and dedication.