Feb 2014 - AFSCME Local 88

AFSCME
LOCAL 88
www.afscmelocal88.org
503-239-9858 • 1-800-792-0045
6025 E Burnside, Portland, OR 97215
AFSCME Local 88 Calendar
Political Action Committee (PAC) panel
interview for County Chair will talk place
Feb. 12, 2014 with Deborah Kafoury at 5:30
p.m. and Jim Francesconi 6:30 p.m. If you
are interested in being on the PAC interview panel, contact PAC Chair Jason Heilbrun at [email protected]
General Membership meets 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 19. Note: There is no
stewards training. Instead we will be holding a candidate forum for Multnomah
County Chair beginning at 6:45 p.m. All
members in good standing are encouraged to attend and engage in the political
process to determine candidate endorsements.
Executive Board meets the first Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. The next
meeting is 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 5.
Any member in good standing may attend as a non-voting visitor.
Oregon AFSCME Retirees meet 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 18. Call Michael Arken for
info: 1-800-521-5954, x226.
Meetings take place at the AFSCME office,
6025 E. Burnside, Portland.
President’s Message
By Deirdre Mahoney-Clark
Local 88 president
T
PAC Update
Local 88 endorses Jules Bailey
for District 1 Commissioner
By Jason Heilbrun
Vice President, PAC Chair
O
n January 15, the General Membership of AFSCME Local 88
voted unanimously to endorse State Representative Jules Bailey
for County Commissioner District 1.
Jules Bailey currently represents House District 42, inner southeast
Portland, in the Oregon Legislature. In the 2013 regular and special
sessions, Jules earned a 110 percent score on the Oregon AFSCME Legislative Scorecard (oregonafscme.com/docs/RollCall2013.pdf). The extra credit reflects Jules’ hard work going above and beyond voting favorably on bills important to AFSCME. It should also be noted that Jules
opposed and voted against the “Grand Bargain” package of bills that included cuts to PERS,
despite enormous pressure from the governor and his own House leadership.
Jules is part of the AFSCME family, his father being a lifelong AFSCME member and current PERS retiree. He understands our issues in a way that many elected officials do not, and
is an advocate for working families. He strongly opposes the anti-public employee Initiative
Petition 9, likely to be on the November ballot, and has championed retirement security for
all Oregonians.
An economist by trade and a self-described policy wonk, Jules’ priorities as commissioner
include (but are not limited to) Justice reinvestment in the form of the County’s implementation of HB 3194, implementation of healthcare reforms and the Affordable Care Act, and
funding programs that address housing and homelessness.
The endorsement process included a questionnaire phase, an interview with the Political
Action Committee, and finally a joint candidate forum with Brian Wilson at the January
General Membership meeting. Both the Political Action Committee and the general membership came away with very favorable opinions of both candidates, and we are extremely fortunate to have two such outstanding candidates to choose from. Ultimately, however, it was
Jules Bailey that earned the endorsement of AFSCME Local 88 in the race for County Commissioner, District 1. You can learn more about Jules at julesbailey.com and
facebook.com/juleskbailey.
The endorsement process is under way in the County Chair race. There will be a candidate forum at the February 19 General Membership meeting. A motion to make an endorsement is likely to follow.
PAGE 6
he Local 88 bargaining team for our
2014 contract negotiations has been selected,
and includes a member
from each county department. Staff representative
Bryan Lally is our AFSCME negotiator. In addition to the member
bargaining team, Local
88 has hired a limited-duration Member Action Team coordinator, Craig Miller. Miller has
a degree in political science with a minor in
history. He comes to us from New Jersey,
where he was most recently a regional field director for the Barbara Buono for Governor
campaign and ran the field program for Middlesex and Monmouth counties.
Miller’s other campaigns: Field organizer,
Nevada State Democratic Party, Coordinated
Campaign, CD3, July-November 2012; Regional Field Organizer, We Are Wisconsin, WI
SD21 March-June 2012; Field Organizer, Bar-
bara Buono for State Senate, NJ LD18, OctNovember 2011; Government Relations Intern, Healthcare Institute of New Jersey,
Bridgewater, NJ, January-April 2011;
and Campaign Volunteer, Obama for America, West Paterson, NJ, November 2008.
Besides his skill with campaigns and communication, Miller is experienced in building
engagement for rallies and events, small dollar
fundraising, and designing campaign literature. In the next few weeks, Miller and I will be
reaching out to members with brown bag site
visits to offices across the county and building
a bargaining communication network to keep
you in the know.
Nominations and election for
vacant E-Board positions
Local 88 currently has two vacant Executive Board
positions in General Government sector. We will take
nominations and hold an election at the Feb. 19, 2014,
General Membership meeting. One member must
work in the DCA, DCM, DCS or Non-departmental
departments and one member from Library.
Alternative work week schedule
update for Multnomah County
By Michael Hanna
T
he current AFSCME Local 88
contract recognizes two
alternate work week
schedules: the “4/10”
schedule consisting of
four 10-hour days, and
the “9/80” schedule consisting of eight nine-hour
days and one eight-hour
day in a two-week span,
with either a Monday or Friday off every other
week.
In the last round of bargaining, it was
agreed that an employee’s request for an alternative schedule option shall be approved unless
the supervisor indicates in writing that it
would interfere with county business needs,
which could include work requirements or
performance concerns. Since last year, departments have granted more alternate work
schedules.
To further support alternate work week
schedules, the parties negotiated the formation
of an Alternative Schedules Team (AST). The
group is made up of labor and management
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
representatives from across the county, and its
purpose is to establish a process for requesting
and criteria for assessing alternative work
schedule (AWS) requests. The group’s work included identifying examples of positions that
likely would or would not support an AWS,
and determining the request process, as well as
providing guidance documents for employees
and managers.
Beginning Feb.1, the process to request and
assess requests is being piloted in the Department of County Assets and in the Department
of County Human Services’ Aging and Disability Services division. The draft documents
for the pilot project are available on Commons. We will evaluate feedback from these
pilots, and then prepare to roll out the process
and criteria on a countywide basis later this
summer. In the meantime, even if your department is not part of the pilot, employees may
still work with their supervisor to request an
AWS.
If you have any questions, please contact
your Department Human Resources Manager
or Chris Radzom in Central Human Resources Labor Relations at: chris.radzom@
multco.us.
FEBRUARY 7, 2014