Steward News

By Paul Pickett, Assistant Chief Steward

Layoffs – Stewards Respond

Ecology stewards and WFSE staff met last week to review the layoffs of April and May. We had filed a “Demand to Bargain” over the impacts of that layoff and wanted to prepare ourselves for negotiations. We also want to look ahead to further layoffs in June and July based on the final supplemental budget passed by the legislature this spring.

There were several impacts of the layoffs that we were concerned about:

• How do the layoffs affect workload, both for the employees left in the program where cuts occurred, and for the employees who bumped into new positions?
• How will staff placed in new positions receive training, mentoring, and other organizational support, so they are successful in their new position?
• Will staff who have “reasonable accommodations” for disabilities have their accommodations reviewed and updated to reflect new duties and work conditions?

We also identified several areas where we feel management fell short and that could be improved for the next round of layoffs:

• The union received notice of layoffs at the last minute and had to scramble to provide representation for staff being laid off. Employees were called into meetings on short notice, sometimes only a few hours, to be told they were being laid off, and then had only three days to provide updated and detailed resumes.
• Management could have provided more information up front about the layoffs, including the reasons for the layoffs. When requests for information were made, response was slow. We’d prefer prompt responses to our requests, rather than the appearance of “foot-dragging”.
• Negotiations weren’t scheduled until after layoffs and subsequent bumps were done. This defeats the intent of effectively negotiating impacts. Negotiations should be scheduled as soon as possible after the notice of layoffs.
• Management informed the union that no “Informal Options” would be offered. This is optional under the contract, but this position appears draconian and not helpful to employees being laid off.
• The union only had a seniority list that was over six months out of date, and did not include Veteran’s time, the layoff units, or part-time/full-time status. Therefore we had no clear idea what seniority criteria management was using for choosing Formal Options.
• Communication to employees could have been improved, especially about their representation rights, and about their options for finding a job in their old job class after a demotion.

Stewards will be part of on-going negotiations and discussions on these topics. Meanwhile, we are already working on the next round of cuts. If you have any questions – ask a steward!