On Thursday, February 24th we had our first negotiation session with the County management and with the exception of April we will be meeting regularly with the County on the first and third Thursday of each month.
Our union bargaining team presented a proposal to reduce the length of new workers’ initial trial service period from 1 year to 6 months. We believe reducing the length of initial trial service is critical for equity and is in line with most other public sector employers that Multnomah County compares itself for other matters.
The County team provided us with some initial proposals primarily on housekeeping changes. Our Union bargaining team and bargaining delegation are continuing to develop our bargaining goals based on feedback we’ve received in the bargaining survey as well as direct feedback delegates have received from members.
Both our Union team and County team will be presenting their remaining proposals including wages and other economic issues over the next three bargaining sessions.