Your union and your member leaders have been fighting hard to stop or mitigate employee furloughs (“temporary layoffs”). First WFSE staff and members fought to block SSB 6503 (the furlough bill) which was finally passed by the legislature signed by the Governor into law in April. Then member leaders - stewards and the UMCC – listened to employees and raised their issues to agency management. Despite all our efforts, state managers have ignored the union, refusing to develop an agency plan to mitigate furlough impacts on employees.
By now you’ve probably read Ted’s e-mail. At 22 other agencies an almost identical e-mail has been sent out to staff. We want to fill you in on the rest of the furlough story.
WFSE filed a demand to bargain on furloughs because the state has proceeded with plans for implementation without bargaining (a requirement of our contract). WFSE will bargain over the furloughs on a statewide level. OFM has yet to schedule that bargaining with the union.
Furlough FAQ
Based on your input we developed a full page list of questions about the furloughs, including how it will work for staff with part-time and flex schedules, those funded by federal dollars, and Spills responders. We gave Ecology management that list in April. Ted’s e-mail has a link to a DOP page that provides some answers, and Ecology management has provided responses as well in Inside Ecology.
Furlough Alternatives
The furlough bill states that agencies need to implement compensation reductions and allows for agency plans to be developed to meet these reductions. The 10 furlough days are to be implemented if an alternative plan is not prepared. Member leaders urged Ted and Polly to develop an alternative plan. We developed a list of alternatives to furloughs that could meet or exceed the $3.2M overall savings required under the bill, and presented it to management. Our list includes:
- Elimination of funded vacancies (management said is this is not an option, although we’ve heard that the State Attorney General’s office is doing it).
- Accounting for educational and voluntary unpaid leave. (although many employees told us they would be willing to take extra days of unpaid leave, management says not enough people would be willing to do this and that it would be too hard for the agency to track)
- Providing incentives for early retirement. (the State Department of Commerce has done this, even though Ecology management told us this isn’t an option.)
- Now Ecology management has announced that it will not submit a plan, instead falling back to the 10 furlough days.
Ecology management stated that the Governor has told all cabinet agencies that she wants to see buildings shut down on the same days in order to have a noticeable impact to the public. However, according to union and media, some 75% of state employees are exempted from furloughs. We’ve also heard the Governor say that some agencies won’t have 10 furlough days. So the impact of the state government closures is watered down. Also, it’s unfair for only 25% of state employees to bear the burden of furloughs.
On a recent visit to NWRO, Ted said that if the agencies did develop plans and found furlough alternatives, it would look like we could absorb the cuts, and agencies could get hit even harder next session. So it seems that it’s more of a political than financial issue.
Mitigation for Furloughs
In May, we also provided management with a list of mitigation approaches to maximize flexibility and mitigation of pay if furloughs are implemented. Examples include allowing staff to take “voluntary temporary layoff” days on days of our own choosing in place of furlough days, select our own furlough days if we have to take them, and determine what work won’t get done so we’re not trying to do the same work in fewer days. By the way, Ted said he doesn’t want to see “do same with less” or “do more with less” and asked us to prioritize our work and talk to managers about what timelines may need to be adjusted.
So far, the only positive response we’ve seen is management’s acknowledgement that staff would get a double whammy in March 2011 with two paycheck hits in one month.
What Can We Do Now?
While we wait for the furlough bargaining to work its way through the system, we’re still working to find ways to lessen the impacts. Here’s what you can do:
- Read the three documents that Ecology member leaders developed: furlough questions, alternatives, and mitigations. They are posted on our Ecology blog at http://wfsec2-Ecology.blogspot.com/
- Block out the furlough dates on your calendar.
- Begin a discussion with your supervisor about reducing your workload to address the lost time from the furlough days.
- Keep in mind that the furloughs are still subject to bargaining.
- Call WFSE Carol Dotlich (WFSE Council 28 President) and Greg Devereux (WFSE Executive Director) at 1-800-562-6002 (on your own time and with a personal phone) and ask them to go to the mat for us. We’ve passed resolutions at the Local level asking them to seek an injunction and fight the furloughs, but they need to hear from you.
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