Bargaining June 3-4, 2010

WSU Bargaining Update

Washington Federation of State Employees • AFSCME Council 28 • AFL-CIO www.wfse.org

Schedule of Progress made this week Impasse reached

negotiations:
by Brett Clubbe, Team Communication Officer Both parties agreed that we are at impasse on the
Mon/Tue., June 7-8
A lot of progress was made this week, resulting remaining articles.
Mon/Tue., June 14
in the conclusion of the formal bargaining stage Article 1 regards the scope and interpretation of
of the contract negotiations. the contract. The University does not like our
WSU Bargaining request that they fund the contract through use
Team: Jodie Magers, Alternate Bargaining Team mem-
ber, joined us on June 3 and gave a fresh perspec- of other University funds should the Legislature
Curt Bod again fail to live up to its end of the bargain.
tive to many issues we had been beating around
Brett Clubbe for weeks. Article 5 issues at impasse regarding hours,
Roger Eberhardt schedule and overtime include the bargaining
Cecil Tibbits, the Director of Bargaining with the
David Goose Federation spent two days with the team observ- team’s insistence that sick leave count as time
Yvonne Kibbee ing and offering his sage advice from time to worked when it comes to calculating overtime(3),
Eric Needham time. the timely payment of overtime pay(2), and the
Lance Mitchell accumulation and usage of comp time.
In case you filled out our survey:
Gerry Stamper The option for additional work during an employ-
WFSE members ranked “No FUrloughs” as their ee’s cyclic time-off is an important issue. The
number one issue. bargaining team proposes the University to offer
Lead Negotiator:
There has been no talk of furloughs either during any work that comes up during an employee’s
Phedra Quincey official bargaining or friendly chatter. (A number cyclic absence from work, to the most senior em-
phedraq@wfse.org next to the issue indicates how it ranked in the ployee rather than assign the work to a temporary
survey). or student employee.

Contact the TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED Article 6 - Job Processes. The bargaining team
opposes the University’s proposal to greatly
team: Article 3 - Employee Rights and Responsibilities.
decrease the penalty for failing to properly notify
info@wfse.org Agreement was when all new language regarding
a worker before a reassignment.
Please put “Message reasonable suspicion drug testing was removed.
for the WSU Bargaining The University reserved the right to develop a The penalty would drop from up to 15 days of
Team” in the subject line. policy around this issue. WFSE can bargain with overtime pay in addition to regular pay, to a
the University regarding any impacts to members one-time payment of 1 day of overtime pay. It
of the new policy. is the position of the bargaining team that tough
Online at:
penalties encourage respect for the contract and
www.wfse.org > The University will present a new Nepotism
for workers.
Bargaining Center > Policy that the union will approve before final-
izing. Article 8 - Benefits. The bargaining team has pro-
WSU Bargaining posed some changes that will make up for gains
Team Info & News Article 4 - Union Rights and Responsibilities.
negotiated away for pay increases that never
The University backed down from its long held
came in 2009/2010:
position that there could be only one Steward for
Email alerts: • an increase equivalent to one more day of
each work unit under a first line supervisor. We
Sign-up to receive convinced them that they should not try to limit annual leave each year (7); and
email and/or text the way members represent each other. In return • an additional personal holiday each year.
message alerts from we agreed that only one Steward from a work When the Legislature refused to fund our
the team. unit would be absent from work on Representa- current contract and we went back to the
Go to WFSE.org, register tional duties at any one time. negotiating table most other agencies and
as a user and join the WSU Universities received a second personal
Bargaining Team email This will allow more members to go through
holiday, WSU employees did not get the ad-
group. Provide cell num- Steward training and learn how to represent
ditional day.
ber and carrier to start their coworkers informally with management or
receiving text alerts. through the grievance process to resolve prob- The day-for-a-day issue is a very important for
lems in the workplace.
continued on page 1

WSU Bargaining Update
continued from page 1
our members (2). Currently an employee
who works 4/10-hour-days a week must
use two hours of their annual leave to
take a full day off for Thanksgiving or
any other Holiday. The University only
allows 8 hours of Holiday Pay even
when a person works a ten-hour shift.
We propose treating WSU workers like
workers in other agencies and Univer-
sities who get a full paid day off for
holidays regardless of the length of their
regular work day.
Article 9 - Compensation. The WFSE
team wants the University to pay a
worker at a higher rate if they are called
upon to do their supervisor’s or lead
worker’s duties for any length of time
(2). The University likes the current time
frame; higher pay does not start until the
temporary upgrade reaches 14 days.
The bargaining team has asked for in-
creases in all premium pays; shift differ-
ential, call-back, standby, and hazardous
conditions pay (10).
The University says there is no money
for these increases. This is why the bar-
gaining team insists that the University
use funds outside those allocated by the
Legislature to pay for these and other
financial aspects of this contract:
• Cost of Living wage increase for
each year of the contract,
• Salary Survey increase for classifi-
cations more than 20% behind (6),
• 1% contribution each year to mem-
ber’s V.E.B.A. account.
The University is having none of it,
claiming poverty.
The University is not even willing to
forgo the annual parking fees each
member must pay in order to get to
work (4). A spot near one’s work site on
campus can range from $200 to as much
as $500/year.
Article 11 - Grievance and Arbitration.
The Grievance process is the tool kit
for maintaining the contract as a living
document. WFSE Reps, Stewards or the
University can initiate a Grievance when
they think an aspect of the contract is
not being adhered to.
The University does not agree that a
problem that one employee resolves
through the Grievance process should
also be fixed for all employees
affected by the same problem.
The University insists that each employ-
eemust file a grievance or be individu-
ally named in the same grievance. The
bargaining team wants to hold contract
NONPROFIT
US POSTAGE
PAID
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PERMIT NO. 238
6/3-4/10
violations to account for every
affected employee.
When an issue can not be solved in the
grievance process it is sent to Arbitra-
tion. Where a mediator would try and
help both parties reach an agreement,
the arbitrator hears both sides and makes
a decision he or she thinks is fair. Very
often both parties are not happy with the
arbiter’s decision, which is binding.
The Union prefers to use the Public Em-
ployees Benefits Commission (PERC)
when looking for an arbiter, mostly
because they do not charge a fee for
their service. The University prefers a
private company that charges hundreds
of dollars just for a list of arbiter who
might be available at the time needed. A
little thing but every few hundred dollars
saved is money better spent organizing
new bargaining units at WSU.
With all articles either tentatively agreed
upon or declared at impasse we have
completed the bargaining phase of the
process. Both teams have requested
that we move to the next step which is
mediation. A mediator will be assigned
by PERC to meet with both sides and try
to help find ways we can reach an agree-
ment on the outstanding issues. Due to
scheduling this may not begin until July.