GENERAL GOVERNMENT BARGAINING UPDATES

6/26/08

First the facts, then what it’s really all about.

THE FACTS:

• As of the latest two-day bargaining session June 24 and 25, your General Government Bargaining Team has reached some important agreements on more than half of the contract. A lot of progress has been made. A lot of work on the big issues remains.

• They continue to press your priority issues as identified on the recent survey answered by some 5,400 of you: Pay increases; affordable health care; salary survey/closing the pay gap; additional paid time off; more flexible work schedules; and workload.

• And they have been bolstered by the thousands of handwritten comments you submitted on the surveys. For instance the comments on workplace bullying submitted by about 13 percent of those who turned in surveys.

• Negotiations on health care funding start July 10 by the Federation-led coalition of all state employee unions.

• It is likely that negotiations on your economic package will take place after that.

• Your General Government team is set to bargain again July 8 and 9 and July 15 and 16. It’s not known if more dates will be needed after that.

• The increasing number of worksite job actions (see below) is having a tremendous impact at the table. Please keep them going. Your nearest Federation field office has resources available. You can also e-mail tim@wfse.org with details about an upcoming job action or questions on logistics.

BUT WHAT’S IT REALLY ALL ABOUT?

Your General Government team has a contractual obligation under Article 39.12 to honor confidentiality at the table.

Your team continues to take their job seriously as they work through the details and the words on the page and try to write your values into the contract.

While they can’t divulge many details, they can remind you of the bigger picture, what it’s really about and why you need to continue job actions.

VALUE

Your teams at the table and you in your job actions are fighting for a contract that values you as state employees. A contract that’s based on your values. A contract that values the services you provide that make this state run. The services that keep our passes open and highways safe. The services that keep our children safe. The services that help workers injured on the job or those who lose their jobs. The services that protect the most vulnerable citizens in our state with developmental disabilities or mental illness. The services that rehabilitate youthful offenders. The law enforcement services that supervise released felons and keep our communities safe. The services that provide us a system of state parks, clean water, clean air, healthy forests and natural resources, safe agricultural products. A contract as good as your values.

RESPECT

Economics and affordable health care are important, but they’re important for what they mean in recruiting and keeping good state employees. It’s about state employees who want to make state service a decent career. State employees who want to buy a tank of gas and not give up their dream of sending their kids to college. State employees who want to be able to take their family to the doctor and still buy groceries. State employees who want to provide quality services and not face the economic catastrophes that would turn them into clients of those quality services. State employees who want the same American dream as everyone else. Nothing more, nothing less.

DECENT TREATMENT

That’s really why you should continue expressing those basic values in your job actions in support of a fair contract. There are signs. There’s buttons. There are placards. But management needs to see your faces. Management needs to see our members standing up for a contract that values what we do. You know the issues. You’ve always known the issues. You know what it’s like to be a state employee, day in and day out. The state needs to understand you deserve a contract that recognizes what you do to keep this state running.