If you make sacrifices during hard times, you deserve to be paid back during the good times. That’s the case Oregon’s public service workers made for years, and they never quit fighting to make it a reality.
In the case of the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC), AFSCME Council 75 had to resort to a grievance and an arbitration to make things right. This month Oregon AFSCME won a grievance arbitration affecting about 100 employees and worth approximately $500,000.
Between 2007 and 2009, during the Great Recession, Oregon state employees took financial hits, including furloughs, pay freezes, delayed step increases and even rollbacks of pay increases that had already been awarded. During negotiations for the 2013-2015 collective bargaining agreements, Oregon Council 75 made it clear that fixing the inequities was one of its top priorities.
The DOC resisted making things right for employees who had fallen behind, but eventually agreed to correct an inequity in which new employees were getting paid more money than employees hired before them. After an agreement was reached in 2013, the DOC refused to correct the issue for approximately 100 employees that it claimed did not meet criteria outlined in a Letter of Agreement that settled those negotiations. Council 75 disagreed and took it to arbitration.
In a March 26 ruling, arbitrator Gary Axon agreed with AFSCME and concluded that DOC could not deny the correction to employees using criteria that was not in the agreement, and that had not been negotiated with AFSCME. He ordered the DOC to make the affected employees whole, which will include advancing those employees one step in the salary scale and large back-pay awards for most of them.
“This is a huge weight off of my shoulders and will mean a lot to my family,” said Cpl. Chad Duncan of the Santiam Correctional Institution and also a Council 75 member. “This was a long process, but the union came through for us and had our backs. I am so pleased and I know my family will be, too.”
Under the arbitration ruling, each affected employee will be awarded a full step increase this year, dating back to July 1, 2013, plus all the increased wages, differentials and overtime pay they should have gotten had they had this negotiated step increase.
After the state of Oregon agreed to a limited fix with other bargaining units, DOC proposed a similar agreement allowing some AFSCME-represented employees to reclaim the rights they deserve. When AFSCME found examples of employees who fit the criteria but were not paid, corrections coordinator Tim Woolery filed the grievance that led to this $500,000 win.
“We worked hard for this victory,” said Jennifer Chapman, Council 75’s general counsel. “Correcting this inequity for our members was very important. The decision proves that words, negotiations and fairness all matter. Just because an employer says something should be handled a certain way doesn’t make it so.”