Re-Classification and the New State Contract

Our state contract was ratified with 88% approval. Many of you have a huge investment in the Re-classification study that began 2 years ago. The hard work to reclassify some Forestry classifications has finally come to a reality. You will be placed into your new classification with your new salary range on October 1st 2009. Below is a breakdown of the new classifications.

• Forest Lookout - no new class - new S/R 11



• New Class - Wildland Fire Dispatcher Entry - S/R 11



• Forestry Communications Dispatcher - Wildland Fire Dispatcher - S/R 15



• Forestry Communications Dispatcher Coord. - Wildland Fire Dispatcher - S/R 15



• New Class - Wildland Fire Suppression Specialist Entry - S/R 13



• Student Worker/Trades - Wildland Fire Suppression Specialist - S/R 17



• Laborer 1 - Wildland Fire Suppression Specialist - S/R 17



• Laborer 2 - Wildland Fire Suppression Specialist - S/R 17



• New Class - Forest Officer Entry - S/R 19



• Forest Officer - Forest Officer - S/R 23

Here is the Language
(a) Implementation Procedure for Above Classifications. Effective October 1, 2009 all employees will retain their current salary rate in the new classification except employees whose current rate is below the first step of the new range shall be moved to the first step in the new range and a new salary eligibility of October 1, 2010 will be assigned. For an employee whose rate is within the new salary range, but not at a corresponding salary step, his/her salary shall be adjusted to the next higher rate closest to his/her current salary, effective October 1, 2009. “Red-circle” under Article 81, Section 3 will apply when appropriate, (i.e., in cases of downward reclassification).

The step freeze lifts on 9/1/10, but the only employees who get a new salary eligibility date are those who go to the new step 1. Anyone else retains the same salary eligibility date they had before the new classification. Those moving but staying at the same pay will get an increase on their salary eligibility date that occurs on 9/1/10 or after.

If you have any questions please contact your steward, statewide officer or union organizer.

A Message From Local 629 President Kevin Cole

Good Day All,

I hope that you all enjoyed your weekend. Local 629 Forestry had its statewide union meeting on Saturday the 20th of June at my home in Molalla. We also had a social Barbeque on Friday night. The Friday night social had very good attendance and with some very good food consumed as well as enjoyable festivities. No rain actually fell on us during the event and we did take full advantage of the fire pit as well as the horse shoe pit. Saturday was less attended but still enjoyable. We discussed how the lay-offs were going as well as how our contract negotiations were coming along and what we may like to see in future contracts pertaining to Forestry. We made the decision to purchase some items with the 629 Local insignia on them. These will be distributed this summer when you attend some 629 union functions. I want to personally thank the Department of Forestry finance section, particularly Betsy Kelly and Debbie Baugh, for the information on the states EAP program. Debbie came out and presented us with some useful information about the program and where to find it on the states internal web site She also had information on the Deffered Comp Program. Thank you, Debbie for your attendance and thank you, Betsy for setting this up.

I do have a concern. With all the lay-offs, our agencies strapped budget, and uncertainty with the current contract as it pertains to our pay, furloughs, and steps I believed we would have better attendance at our statewide meetings. Here are my thoughts: The state as well as the union is getting you all or enough of the information that you need. You do not have any questions about the contract. You have no need to file a grievance. You don't care about your healthcare benefits. You don't care about getting paid holidays. You don't care about getting a cost of living increase. You don't think your voice will be heard. You think that is what we pay the union to do. Folks, I challenge you all to make your voice heard. I was elected by you to serve as your president of Local 629 and without your feedback and hearing your concerns about issues I do not know what you need me to fight for. That is why I am challenging you to attend our future meetings and make your voice heard.

I want to thank all of you who are attending and making your voice heard. WE are the union.

Kevin Cole
President
Local 629 Forestry


Links to helpful programs:
Need some personal or family assistance?
The Employee Assistance Program:
http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/PEBB/EAP.shtml

It's your money. Know your benefits package.
Public Employee Benefits Board - PEBB
http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/PEBB/PDB/index.shtml

Statewide Forestry Meeting

Want to know more about your Forestry Local? Get engaged. You are invited to the Statewide Forestry Local Meeting slated for June 19 & June 20. See details below.

Forestry Local 629 Statewide Meeting
When: June 19th and 20th
Where: Kevin Cole’s House
36506 S. Sawtell Rd
Molalla, Or 97038
503-829-9018

Family Members Welcome.

Friday night:

6:00 pm
Come complete a preseason checkout of your camping gear. Yes, this is a camp out.
Barbeque and Social,
Horseshoe pit is open.
Dinner around 7pm
Come and enjoy your evening by a camp fire until the wee hours, BYOB (bring your own booze) and drink. Food will be provided.

Saturday meeting;

Sun-up – 09:00 -Breakfast
09:00- 11:00 -Meeting - Bargaining updates
- Forest Officer Re-class update
- Lay-Off procedures, are they working?
- Union representation?
1100 -12:00 - Financial guest speaker to talk about EAP programs - Betsy Kelly or staff member
12:00 – 13:00 -Lunch
13:00 – 15:00 - Meeting - What’s next?
- Questions for Management at LMI Meeting?
- Contract changes 2010-2011?

15:00 - Meeting adjourned

Sunday
Happy Fathers Day!!

Please RSVP by June 12, 2009, 17:00 hours so that we can get an accurate count for food. You can RSVP to either Kevin Cole at kcole@odf.state.or.us or call and leave a message 503-829-9018, or Lisa Donoho at donohol@opeuseiu.org or 503-408-4090 ext 459.
Here is a link to the Cole’s house: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Molalla&state=OR&address=36506+S.+Sawtell+Rd&zipcode=97038

What's Going on Right Now...

This is not meant to be a complete list of everything happening in Local 629 but rather a quick overview of the big things we are currently working on. If you have questions about how to get involved and help move things forward or just want more details contact your Steward or Area Rep, members of your Local Leadership or your Organizer.

• State-Wide ODOT/Forestry Meeting (January 23rd & 24th. South Pheonix Inn 4370 Commercial St. Salem, OR 97302. Contact Robin Rico for more information: 503-581-1505 ext 173. Friday, January 23rd will be an ODOT/Forestry Bargaining meeting. Saturday, January 24th will be our Forestry specific meeting. I will post our agenda after it is approved.)
• Bargaining (Begins January 26th 2009. So far our "main" bargaining items are: Work Capacity Testing/LOA 00.00 05 137, Tool Reimbursment/Article 122.3c Section 5, Vacation Leave/Article 66.3 Section(s) 1, 3 and 4.)
• Incident Standards (Formerly known as tent rent, we have asked for the minimum standards and were successful in getting a few things added to this list, we are waiting to see the final version but planning goes on for how to address this issue during fire season. We will need to act together on this one so please stay tuned for more information)
• Elections (New officers have been elected, see post below)
• Mechanics Reclass (UPDATE: January 30th we will receive the last Mechanic's re-classification decision. All others were denied. However, we have discussed alternative steps that can be taken. Please contact Nakita Santiago or Kevin Cole for further information)
• Re-allocation (OUR VOICES HAVE BEEN HEARD!!!! The State has submitted their first re-allocation proposal. The step increases being offered are significant! For example, the Forest Officer step increase has moved from a 14 to a 23!!! And under Article 26- Differential Pay- Special Duty Pay, Section 3(b) we have gained a differential pay of 1.50 cents per hour -for actual air-time only-. An increase from .40 cents per hour. I provided a link to view the full re-allocation proposal.)
• Membership (We are asking everyone to check their membership status and sign an application if they are not a member yet, many people don't realize they are not. This gives us more strength in bargaining, it brings more money back to our Local where we get to determine how it is spent, it shows management that people care about the issues we are fighting for and of course with membership comes the right to vote on contracts-strikes-officer elections etc.)
• New Stewards (WE NEED STEWARDS!!! We are allowed up to 2 Stewards per District with no more than 1 per unit and 3 in Salem HQ, if you do NOT have a Steward in your area please talk to your Leadership or Organizer about holding an election.)
• Rights Quick Card (we are working on a business sized card to be distributed at the begining of fire school to all employees, the purpose is to remind folks of their important rights so that we are all exercising them...Use it or Lose it)

NEW OFFICERS

Congratulations to our newly elected officers of Forestry Local 629!

President - Kevin Cole
Vice President - Bryan Koehn
Treasurer - Dave Wells
Area Rep District 1 (Portland) - Kevin Geary
Area Rep District 2 (Salem) - Kristin Cotugno
Area Rep District 4 (Southern OR) - John Seward
Area Rep District 5 (Eastern OR) - David Weaver
Area Rep District 6 (Coast) - Gloria Clary
General Council Alternate Delegate - Diane Partridge

The write in candidates are still being verified and will be posted as soon as that is complete.

Re-Allocation Comment Period

Both Labor and Management agree that the classifications for Protection are long overdue of an overhaul. We are not however in agreement as to how to fix it. Many of the issues that have come up should be of concern to all ODF, the general public and land owners! We have experienced recruitment and retention problems and we know that both of these issues lead to safety concerns. Issues like creating an upwardly mobile path that rewards people for the level of responsibility they assume and attracts quality employees that will continue to keep our standards high are of great concern to our front line employees. If you have not seen the latest classification specifications proposed by ODF and DAS you can do so by cutting and pasting this link into your browser http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/HR/otherstudies.shtml
The concern that many have expressed is that the changes made only promote a downgrading of our recruitment process and fire program. You will notice that an underfill (entry) level position was added beneath the Forest Officers and the Wildland Fire Suppression Specialists, this is a sub class rather than recognizing the need for an upper level. The original talks indicated using the same titles as most fire programs that we work side by side with in the field but that was scrapped. We have been speaking up with our concerns but we need to continue. We don't want to stop this re-allocation, it's a good thing, but we do want to make sure that we've done everything we can to make it an accurate representation of what we do! Our Comment period is currently open and will close on April 30th. Our research department will be preparing these comments to submit to DAS but not without talking to you all first. We will be having a conference call on April 8th at 6pm so that people can share their feedback with one of our researchers. There will be a bit of time following this for people to send additional comments to our research dept. before they need to begin writing the comments. Stay tuned for information on how to participate in the call.

Raingear

Raingear Victory in Sight!!

We fought hard to win Raingear during bargaining and we were able to get language committing to determing who would receive Raingear through the Labor Management Committee. This committee is made up of representatives from both Labor and Managment. Through this process Jeff Hepler was selected to serve on a joint committee to determine the process. The committee decided to resurect the dormant Uniform Committee who has made great progress in amending the Uniform Directive to include Raingear. Jeff Hepler continues to serve on that committee as our Labor seat and Dana Gordon is the Manager that is heading things up. Thanks to both for their excellent work. So far they have determined a list of folks that they are proposing should receive Raingear. That list is...

• Equipment Operators
• Energy Technicians
• Facility Maintenance Specialists
• Forest Inmate Crew Coordinators
• Forest Management Technicians
• Forest Officers (permanent & seasonal)
• Grounds Maintenance Worker 2's
• NRS 1's
• NRS 2's
• Transportation Maintenance Specialist 2's
• Auto Technician 2's
• Constructions Project Manager 2's
• Heavy Equipment Tech's
• Laborer/Student Workers
• Communication System Analyst's
• other positions at management's discretion (eg some NRS 3's)

If the proposal is approved those who work primarily outdoors and in adverse conditions in the above classifications will have raingear purchased for them. The committee is currently working out the details of what Raingear should be purchased.