Bargaining Update #29

KSA: Culturally specific knowledge, skills, and abilities (related to premium pay)

COLA: Cost of Living Adjustment

DRC: Disaster Resource Center

EOC: Emergency Operations Center

PTU: Passenger Transportation Unit (related to emergency activation)

Last week our Bargaining Team presented  an economic package to the County. In bargaining, a “package” is a collection of interrelated articles and/or addendums that are reviewed and either accepted or rejected together. 

Union Proposals

Package: Article 7, Article 8, Article 10, Article 14, Addendum A, and Addendum N

• Article 7: Holidays

• • • We struck-out a lot of the language in this article that often results in our part-time employees not truly benefiting from a full paid day off in observance of holidays. We are proposing that part-time employees receive paid leave for the length of their scheduled shift on the observed holiday, or that if the part-time employee isn’t scheduled to work on the observed holiday, they receive a Saved Holiday for the duration of their longest shift. 
    • Win: The County already agreed to our proposal of one additional floating holiday per year in recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day. 
  • Article 8: Vacation Leave
    • We proposed that any accrued vacation hours that would be forfeited due to expiration instead be donated to the Catastrophic Leave Fund for use by workers with a need
    • Win: The County already agreed to our proposed language that allows an employee who separates from employment with the County and returns within twelve months to retain their vacation accrual rate they achieved before leaving the County.

• Article 10: Other Leaves

• • • We proposed that employees needing to travel more than 350 miles from their home due to loss of a loved one be able to receive five additional paid bereavement leave days.
    • The County agreed that Catastrophic Leave donations may be used for Immigration and Citizenship Leave, but countered our proposal with a cap on the amount of Catastrophic Leave that could be used. We are countering to allow employees to request up to 80 hours of catastrophic leave to address immigration and citizenship needs. 
    • We are also proposing that the County may only request to view written documentation to corroborate the need for Immigration and Citizenship Leave, not to receive copies of this documentation. We were transparent at the bargaining table about why we’re proposing this: in our current federal landscape, we want to do everything we can to help protect our workers. If the County is served with a warrant to provide citizenship information about an employee, they have a legal obligation to comply. In order to protect workers, we don’t want the County to require hardcopy documentation that can put a worker or their loved ones at risk. 
    • We proposed Trauma Leave again as we originally did back in May. When we first presented this article the County didn’t provide any response, they just didn’t include it in their counter. We are proposing Trauma Leave again because we know this is a priority for many of our members; we want the County to respond. Thank you to our members who bravely shared testimony at the bargaining table last week about the trauma they have experienced in their work as County employees; your advocacy makes our collective voice stronger and we’re hopeful that the County will recognize why we keep bringing Trauma Leave back to the table and why they need to respond.

• Wins: The County agreed that Bereavement Leave may be used for loss of pregnancy, and they’ve also agreed that Catastrophic Leave donations may be used for Immigration and Citizenship Leave.

• Article 14: Compensation

• • • We proposed a flat $3/hr increase to Step 1 and a 3% increase to Steps 2 and above in Year 1 of the contract, retroactive to July 1st, 2025.   
    • We proposed a flat $2/hr increase to Step 1 and a 3% increase to Steps 2 and above in Year 2 of the contract effective July 1st, 2026.
    • We proposed a flat $2/hr increase to Step 1 and a 3% increase to Steps 2 and above in Year 3 of the contract effective July 1st, 2027.
    • We brought back our proposal for Longevity Pay since 10% of our members identified this as a priority in our Bargaining Survey; the County didn’t respond to the section on Longevity Pay the first time we presented this article.
    • We proposed that the County must investigate and provide a determinative response to reports of payments in error within one pay period. Once an employee has indicated to their supervisor that there’s an error on their paystub, the employee has done their due diligence and we don’t want them to remain on the hook financially until the County gets around to resolving the issue.
    • Wins: The County agreed to increase the maximum allowed accumulation of Compensatory Time from 80 to 96 hours, and the language and KSA differential will both be increased to 5%. 

• Addendum A: Job Profiles Included in the Bargaining Unit with Pay Ranges

• • • Includes pay ranges adjusted for our proposed COLA in Year 1. 

• Addendum B: Lead Worker Assignment and Pay

• • • Maintained our stance that workers be able to request the creation of a Lead worker position at their worksite if there is currently no Lead assigned but workers at that location are assigned what are generally considered to be “Lead responsibilities”. 
    • Proposed that our Union be notified within 10 business days of a Lead position being eliminated. 
    • Proposed that any newly created Lead positions will be compensated a premium of at least 7%. 
    • Proposed a 2% increase to Lead premiums across all job profiles that are not already making the highest lead premium of 12%. 

• Addendum N: Shelter Staffing

• • Proposed that workers who volunteer to staff Disaster Resources Centers (DRC) or Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) receive the 20% premium for hours worked on top of any other differentials including language and KSA premiums. 
  • Proposed that saved holidays earned by volunteering to staff DRC or EOC efforts will expire on June 30th of the fiscal year after they are earned to ensure workers have enough time to actually use their saved holiday. 
  • Proposed partial payment for workers who volunteer to staff a DRC or EOC but have their shift cancelled with less than 4 hours notice. 
  • We rejected the County’s proposed language that would make volunteers at these DRC and EOC shelters “ad hoc essential workers”. 
  • Added roles within the Passenger Transportation Unit (PTU) to the list of Shelter Staffing Assignments. 

Non-Packaged Union Proposals

• Article 29: Termination

• • • Proposed changing the expiration date of our contract from June 30th to April 30th. This would allow our Union and the County to participate in the Multnomah County budget process more effectively before the start of bargaining, so that when we begin bargaining the budget isn’t already set-in-stone without consideration for meaningful wage adjustments.

• Addendum M: Jail Side Assignment Premium

• • Added Corrections Technician to the list of positions eligible for a 10% jailside premium. 

Action Items & Upcoming Events

Wage Survey

Please take a moment to fill out this AFSCME Local 88 Wage Survey. It includes breakdowns of the different kinds of wage proposals for COLA and a calculator so you can run through an example of what your wages might look like for any of the options. 

Solidarity Happy Hour with AFSCME L328 (OHSU)

Sunday, September 7th from 3 – 6pm

Join us for Solidarity Happy Hour at Baerlic Brewing, located at 2239 SE 11th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214. This event is organized by AFSCME’s OHSU workers in Local 328. These are fun, low-key opportunities to connect at Baerlic Brewery on every first Sunday of the month. The location is family-friendly, serves Ranch Pizza, and has a few arcade games. 

Member Action Team (MAT) Meeting

Monday, September 8th from 6:30 – 7:30pm

Join us for a virtual MAT meeting as we continue to plan escalating actions for our contract negotiations and work on internal member organizing. 

Oregon AFSCME’s 2025 Political Conference

Registration Deadline of September 12th, 2025

“Every two years we carve out time to come together at our political conference to learn how we can continue building our power to win better contracts and improve working conditions for AFSCME workers. Our member-driven political process is critical to ensure our voices are heard by the politicians making decisions that affect our day-to-day lives, and this conference brings together members from across the state to share and learn from one another.”

This convention will take place from October 17th – 19th in Hood River, Oregon. This event is travel-eligible, which means that Oregon AFSCME will cover hotel and mileage costs for one (1) member of each local. After the first member, our Local is responsible for covering the cost of attendee’s lodging and mileage. If you are interested in attending the Oregon AFSCME 2025 Political Conference, please fill out this online form.

Jobs with Justice (JwJ) 33rd Annual Dinner

Thursday, September 25th from 6:30 – 8:30pm

Jobs with Justice PDX “is a coalition of over 100 labor, faith, community and student organizations and individual activists taking action for workers rights and economic justice, especially those most marginalized by our economic system such as people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, and women.” This year’s theme is “Bread, Roses, and Resistance” and honors the legacy of the labor movement and the power of organized resistance. Our Union has purchased tickets for a table of 8. If you’d like to enjoy good food and good company in solidarity, please fill out this online form to indicate your interest in attending. Childcare is available upon request; if you will need childcare arrangements to attend this event, please indicate that in the online form.

Update your Profile Images and backgrounds: One simple way to show your support for the best possible contract is to change your virtual meeting backgrounds and profile images. You can find instructions and lots of beautiful images to use here!

Follow Us on Social Media: Stay up to date on all the latest news by following AFSCME Local 88 on Instagram and Facebook!

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us at Powell Park on Labor Day! We had a great time thanks to our vendors and the beautiful weather. We were joined by a few County Commissioners and the Chair as we continued to celebrate the great work that AFSCME Local 88 members do to make our communities function while advocating for a living wage so that we may continue to do this great work. We had attendance from AFSCME siblings at Metro and Central City Concern, and our AFSCME Council Staff and the bargaining team enjoyed connecting with staff from various departments at the County. Our connections and the work we do makes a difference. 

In Solidarity, 

Your Bargaining Team

Questions? Email us at bargaining@afscmelocal88.org