Stewards' Corner, 10/2012

By Paul Pickett, Asst. Chief Steward

Oral Reprimands

One of the really tricky issues for stewards is understanding the gray line between “expectations” and “oral reprimands”. Sometimes employees are given verbal guidelines that feel like discipline. Sometime employees get an oral reprimand, but don’t know their rights. If you find yourself uncomfortable with what your supervisor is telling you, you should discuss it with a steward.
Some ideas to consider if you find yourself in this situation:

• Managers will often provide you with their expectations. This may well be “corrective”. You should take this as constructive if you can. Have a conversation around the manager’s expectations so you understand what she wants and she understands how you are going to try to meet them.

• If you are given expectations that you think may be unrealistic and you can’t resolve the disagreement through a conversation, try to document your concerns in writing (in an email). Talk to a steward so we can strategize and get the language of the email just right.

• If you are being called into a meeting where you believe some “corrective” actions will be discussed, you have a choice. You can go by yourself and find out what ‘s going on. Take really good written notes! Or tell your manager you want a steward to participate in the meeting, and find a steward who can help. A steward can be a witness, take better notes than you can (being on the hot seat) and then help you interpret what happened in the meeting. 

• Remember: it’s your legal right to have representation if you feel a meeting may lead to disciplinary action. This is called your Weingarten Rights, after a Supreme Court case. You can ask for representation at any time, including in the middle of a meeting. We’ve seen cases where in the middle of a meeting an employee asks to be represented, and the meeting is stopped right then and there and rescheduled to continue later with a steward present. Agency management and HR have been pretty good about allowing a steward in on a meeting even if it’s not exactly disciplinary.

• If you think you are getting an oral reprimand, they should tell you. If you aren’t sure, ask. If it’s an oral reprimand, you have the right to a grievance if you think it’s violating the contract. If it’s not, you may still need to have a plan to deal with the situation. So in either case, talk to a steward right away.

Evaluation Season is here!

It’s October, and once again you are facing your evaluation. Everyone has to be evaluated, but it’s probably the process most poorly understood. We are rerunning our tips from last year, as a reminder, refresher, or maybe an eye-opener.

Here are a few basic tips that should help:

1. Evaluations are just your supervisor’s opinion. They are supposed to be constructive, not disciplinary, and you don’t have to agree with what they say.
   
2. Review the evaluation and suggest edits. The best situation is where you can negotiate language that you can both live with. If something bugs you, try wording it differently.  And it’s ok to agree to work on areas of improvement.
   
3. If your supervisor won’t change language to something acceptable, write a rebuttal into Section 4. Feel free to add extra sheets. This is your chance to tell your side of the story. They have to include it whether they like it or not.
   
4. You have to sign the evaluation or face a charge of insubordination. You are just signing that you have read it, not that you agree. If you don’t like the evaluation, make a note above your signature that you have read the evaluation but disagree with the findings.

New PERS-2 rates adopted

By Pete Kmet

On July 25, the Select Committee on Pension Policy adopted new rates that will be effective next year on July 1, 2013. There is a significant increase in PERS 2 rates for employers and a modest PERS 2 rate increase for employees.  This will put additional pressure on the new biennium’s state budget, as well as result in a small decrease in take home pay for employees under PERS 2.

These pension fund increases are due to the unfunded anticipated liability for PERS 1, low rates of return, and the legislature’s goal of catching up the PERS Plan 1 by June 30, 2024. (All PERS pension funds are pooled together.)

Legislative action to reduce these rates is unlikely. This is because any reductions or deferrals will cause these pensions to get even further behind in future bienniums.

Below is a table showing the current and future contribution rates among many of the state’s retirement systems, including Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), School Employees' Retirement System (SERS), Public Safety Employees' Retirement System (PSERS), and Washington State Patrol Retirement System (WSPRS).



For additional information, go to the Department of Retirement Systems website.

2013-2015 Contract - Bargaining Update

July 11, 2012 UPDATE

The General Government Bargaining Team negotiated Tuesday, July 10th  and Wednesday, July 11th and sent a number of proposals and counterproposals to the management side of the table.
In the end, the parties reached tentative agreement on three more articles and an appendix. That means 32 of the 54 articles have been wrapped up – an amazing accomplishment at this early stage of negotiations.

The team also elected its three representatives to serve on the Health Care Coalition bargaining team: Gabe Hall, Local 862, Green Hill School; Craig Gibelyou, Local 793, Western State Hospital; and Jeff Paulsen, Local 443, Consolidated Technology Services.

The General Government Bargaining Team goes back to the table Aug. 14. The team wants members to stay tuned for any calls to action once the economic picture becomes clearer after the next two weeks.

• Visit WFSE.org from your home computer for more information! Bargaining updates appear in HOTLINE reports and are posted by team in the General Governement Bargaining Center (left column).

Stewards Corner

By Paul Pickett, EAP/HQ, Assistant Chief Steward

Summer brought a raft of challenges to your Ecology shop stewards:

• We discovered that the current stewards list shows jurisdictions that don’t allow stewards to represent employees who work in a different county. We are now working with WFSE to change jurisdictions from “work county” to all the counties in the same region.

• Stewards have been grappling with how management is using “in-training” positions. We recently filed a grievance because an ES2 was being hired at the ES1 level as “in-training”, but HR would not take a candidate from the ES1 layoff list. 

• Stewards helped an employee with a disability who was being asked to work under an “Emergency Plan” which included inappropriate judgments about the employee’s medical condition and work productivity. After intervention with HR the plan was withdrawn, and a Reasonable Accommodation plan put in place instead. 

• Problems in the Spills Program continue with disagreements over steward communication, Standby Pay, and security procedures.

• Bargaining season is crazy season. HR has cracked down on union communication, insisting on a very narrow interpretation of stewards’ use of agency email. They seem to think that one steward can email one employee to represent them on a particular problem, but that a steward cannot email multiple employees about a meeting to discuss contract-related issues, which is clearly allowed by the contract. This being grieved.

HQ/SWRO Local Update - Building a Foundation

A group of members from HQ and SWRO have been working hard to build a foundation for the newly approved Ecology local…but there is still a lot to be done. One of the most important building blocks of a new local is the election of officers. Are you interested in sharing your skills with the new local and want to run for an office?  Would you be interested in volunteering for a few hours to help run the election? We are looking for members interested in being active in the new local and helping shape its foundation. Contact Elena Guilfoil or Annie Szvetecz for more information about officer positions or volunteering for the ad-hoc Election Committee.

Keep an eye on the bulletin boards for notice of upcoming HQ/SWRO Local planning meetings!

Meeting July 23, re ES Series Changes

There will be a teleconference call about this topic on July 23 at Noon in Lacey,  Building Room 1s-16/17.

Contact Kerry Grabers for the teleconference phone number if you plan to participate.

Thank you!  Kerry

ES Series Changes

by Debbie Brookman, WFSE/AFSCME Labor Advocate

On 6/21/12, I sent out to all of you a notice from Ecology of their intent to make changes to the Environmental Specialist Series.

To date, none of you have responded with any concerns related to the proposed changes.

This is Ok but it seems a little odd to me, given all the discussion this issue has generated in the past.

So, I'm going to file a DTB today to ensure our time frames are preserved (7/5 is the deadline), just in case some of you forgot to get back to me.

If we truly have no issues with the proposed changes, I will withdraw the DTB.

Let me know your thoughts... if any... Thanks -Debbie  debbieb@wfse.org   800-562-6002

• Read the ES Series proposal here.