Bargaining Updates: UWPM & WWU ratify contracts

• The members of the UW Police Management Bargaining Unit ratified their re-negotiated 2009-2011 contract on vote of 6-1. Onsite balloting took place June 10.

• Members at Western Washington University in Bellingham have ratified the re-negotiated Higher Education Coalition contract that will cover them. The vote was 111-14. Onsite balloting took place June 10.

Services pending for Howard Ocobock, WFSE/AFSCME's VP

To recap Sunday’s message, services are pending for Howard Ocobock, the longtime Department of Transportation member activist out of Yakima Local 1326 and WFSE/AFSCME’s vice president since 2004. Howard, 61, died Saturday night (June 6) at home in Longview after a battle with cancer.

The 27-year DOT member just recently retired as an equipment technician 3.

Ocobock, also a regional vice president of the Washington State Labor Council, battled his disease with dignity and grace while carrying out his duties as vice president. He visited just a little more than two weeks ago with Department of Corrections members who had just won a vote to keep their union and contract.

He will be remembered for his long service as a Local 1326 officer, WFSE/AFSCME Statewide Executive Board member, Transportation Policy Committee delegate and General Government Bargaining Team member. As vice president, Howard traveled the state to support members in job actions and other activities.

Check the link here for service information. There you can now view photos of Howard and leave your remembrances.

Here are some of the comments left on that blog already:

“My hunch is where ever we go after we die Howard is busy making friends with everyone and organizing to make it a better place.”

“I hope you are in a good place and no longer suffering. I will miss you.”

Reminder: Natural Resources Task Force meets this Saturday in SeaTac

A meeting to form the Federation’s Natural Resources Task Force to deal with possible state consolidation of services and agencies is this Saturday.

That meeting will follow the Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting at about 2 p.m., this Saturday, June 13, in the Grand 1 Ballroom at the SeaTac Doubletree Hotel.

At issue is a proviso in the 2009-2011 state budget (Section 907 of HB 1244) that directs the governor to convene a work group to “identify consolidation opportunities to improve service delivery and reduce costs” in natural resources agencies. A report is due Sept. 1.

Policy Committee delegates and alternates from Natural Resources agencies (or one like Health that might have some ties to natural resources) are encouraged to attend.

The Natural Resources agencies include the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Ecology, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Recreation and Conservation Office.

Budget Updates

As we get more information on potential layoffs and reductions brought on by the recession-affected budget, we will get information out.

Remember, all impacts of proposed layoffs must be bargained. That’s where your contract can mitigate impacts. And that process can also save many jobs.

The DSHS Statewide Union-Management Communications Committee met May 19 and got an overview of the situation there. The agency pegged the number of cuts at 500 positions. But UMCC at other levels can get a better fix on those numbers and our hope is they do not end up that high.

For instance, the DSHS Juvenile Rehabilitation Statewide Union-Management Communications Committee met June 3. Cuts on the table appear to be in the 10s, not 100s. Demands to bargain have been filed at each of the four JRA institutions to preserve the rights of members targeted for layoffs.

On JRA Probation and Parole, it’s hoped that most of the 41 positions targeted for layoff with the elimination of the Enhanced Parole Program can be saved through a new “Re-Entry Program.” But in JRA, the big cloud hanging over everything is the budget proviso calling for a possible elimination of 250 beds.

Steering Committee forming to keep ahead of Child Welfare Services Privatization Project

A teleconference of members in DSHS Child Welfare Services took place June 6 to get out front on the legislatively mandated privatization pilot projects. The Federation is forming a steering committee to assist with our representation on the Transformation Design Committee.

If you’re interested, e-mail Jeanine Livingston at jeaninel@wfse.org. A secure CWS Privatization blog has been set up; to request an invite to join, go to www.wfse.org > blogs > CWS Privatization Blog. Use the request invite link.

Once confirmed, you'll receive an email from WFSEc28.

Check out the LGBTQI blog for June Pride events

The Federation’s LGBTQI Committee has produced a blog listing all this month’s Pride events around the state. To view it, go to http://wfsec28-lgbtqi.blogspot.com/.

You can also get to it by going to the main Federation website at www.wfse.org and clicking on the link to all WFSE/AFSCME blogs.

BULLETIN: Union mourns Howard Ocobock, WFSE/AFSCME's VP

Howard Ocobock, the longtime Department of Transportation member activist out of Yakima Local 1326 and WFSE/AFSCME’s vice president since 2004, died Saturday night at home in Longview after a battle with cancer.

Ocobock, also a regional vice president of the Washington State Labor Council, battled his disease with dignity and grace while carrying out his duties as vice president. He visited just a little more than two weeks ago with Department of Corrections members who had just won a vote to keep their union and contract.

He will be remembered for his long service as a Local 1326 officer, WFSE/AFSCME Statewide Executive Board member, Transportation Policy Committee delegate and General Government Bargaining Team member. As vice president, Howard traveled the state to support members in job actions and other activities.

Services and other arrangements are pending.

We've set up a site where you can view photos and leave remembrances.

Flawed DOC assessment tool focus of story on NPR today

WFSE member Ton Johnson comments in today's story by NPR about the assessment tool used by DOC employees.  Listen here.

Massive "Health Care for All" Rallies Spark New Round in Fight for National Health Care

Last Saturday's massive "Health Care for All" rally in downtown Seattle has sparked renewed efforts to win national health care reform as several good-and bad-proposals make their way through the U.S. Congress.

Some 3,500 Federation and other marchers took part in the event.



Meanwhile, several dueling plans have hit Congress, according to the Federation Legislative and Political Action Department.

The House version is expected to head to the floor by July 31. The Senate is looking to get its version through by early August. The August recess will be spent hammering out differences between the two versions.

The House plan appears to include a public health insurance option. Sen. Ted Kennedy's version in Senate committee appears on the right track.

However, a small group of senators on the Senate Finance Committee, which will introduce its own version of reform later this month, is trying to forge a bipartisan compromise that would "trigger" a public health insurance plan only if the private insurance companies don't clean up their act first. If that plan succeeds, it would be a poison pill that kills health care reform.

In the coming weeks and months, watch for letters and online action directed at Sen. Maria Cantwell to strongly oppose the "trigger" plan and instead support Sen. Charles Schumer's proposal to include a public health insurance option in the Finance Committee's bill.

Go to www.wfse.org > Action Center to take action now.

Speaking Out for State Employees

WFSE/AFSCME President Carol Dotlich at the Mainstream Republic Conference in the Tri-Cities speaking on the experience of being characterized as "greedy state employees" by the press during the recent legislative session.

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AFL-CIO President Sweeney speaks about the AFSCME members of Washington and their ability to deal with the state's economic situation. This interview was during the meeting of the G20 in London.