OR Corrections Officers Lose Labor Decision
Oregon corrections officers have lost their yearlong contract dispute with the state, and with that loss will forfeit their holiday pay for the rest of the state’s current budget cycle. News from the Statesman Journal.
A labor arbitrator handed down an order during the weekend selecting the Oregon Department of Corrections’ proposed contract instead of the one offered by the officers’ union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 75.
Under the state contract, corrections officers during the next 13 months will forgo holiday pay, take four mandatory furlough days chosen by their supervisors and have their latest pay increase rolled back.
The ruling affects more than 1,800 corrections officers at 11 institutions across Oregon.
The terms of the state’s contract will save an estimated $12.6 million for Oregon taxpayers, according to an economist hired by the union who gave testimony during arbitration hearings in April.
The officers said Monday that they are disappointed by the decision, which they feel takes away their pay without giving them a day off. Nearly all other state workers get an unpaid day off when on furlough. The furlough days were demanded of all state employees by Gov. Ted Kulongoski to help balance the Oregon budget.
“I guess there’s a little disappointment because people were looking for equal treatment,” said Brian Balzer, a corrections officer at the state prison’s minimum-security unit.
During contract negotiations, both the union and the Department of Corrections struggled to make unpaid furlough days work within the context of correctional institutions that operate around-the-clock, often with minimum staffing.
Arbitrator Michael Cavanaugh said he chose the state’s proposed contract because it would be easier to implement and less disruptive to operations at the prisons.
The arbitrator also decided the corrections officers should have a salary rollback and pay freeze since nearly all other state employees have had the same happen to their salaries for the 2009-11 biennium.
The union’s furlough plan had employees taking 14 furlough days off, mainly during already-scheduled vacation. The union agreed to a pay freeze but not to the wage rollback proposed by the state.
“Our furlough proposal, even though it had more elements in it than the state’s did, was fairer to the employees,” said Tim Woolery, the officers’ AFSCME representative. “The state’s proposal is just stealing their employees’ pay. It runs afoul of fairness. But it is simpler.”
Department of Corrections leadership were unavailable for comment Monday.
“We acknowledge that there are sacrifices that all of our staff members are having to make in these challenging economic times, as is true for the rest of state government,” DOC spokeswoman Jeanine Hohn said. “We will continue to work in partnership with our labor leaders to implement the changes outlined in today’s order.”
The ruling is effective immediately, so corrections officers will lose additional holiday pay that would have applied to Memorial Day.
Officers who do not work Monday will not receive eight hours of holiday pay. Officers scheduled to work will receive time-and-a-half but will not receive an additional eight hours of holiday pay.
“Correctional officers work in an often-hostile environment with an unpredictable population, and all we ask is to be compensated fairly,” said Sgt. Amanda Rasmussen, who works at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. “We have no control over how managers spend money but all too often shoulder the fallout.”
The contract to be implemented closely resembles a tentative contract that the corrections officers voted down in November, objecting to the loss of holiday pay with no time off in return.
After the contract failed, the state declared an impasse. Corrections officers are not allowed to go on strike, so the contract dispute went before Cavanaugh for final arbitration. Under Oregon law, he could only pick one of the two competing contract proposals.
Corrections officers are frustrated by the loss of holiday pay but say they are very concerned about the four additional unpaid furlough days during which they will be sent home.
The furlough days will be scheduled on a floating basis. Officers are worried that scheduling furlough days without incurring overtime costs will leave prisons understaffed.
Uncategorized