Bargaining Update #30

ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act

CBA: collective bargaining agreement

DCJ: Department of Community Justice

MCSO: Office of the Sheriff, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office

PTU: Passenger Transportation Unit (related to emergency activation)

Last week the County presented non-economic counters. September 11th and 18th will be full-day caucus sessions and we will not be meeting with the County.

County Proposals

• Article 13: Work Schedules

• • • The County backed off of their earlier proposal to mandate the length of an employee’s scheduled meal period based on operational needs; employees may continue to request a one hour or 30 minute lunch due to our persistence. 
    • The County has accepted most of our language proposing standardization of the Same-Day Reassignment Process. One thing we had proposed that they have not agreed to is the ability for an employee who was reassigned to another location for the day to use work time to travel back to their original worksite, though they report this usually happens. 
  • Article 18: Settlement of Disputes
    • We had proposed pausing the grievance timeline while our Union and the County attempts to resolve matters informally; the County accepted this language but added that the grievance timeline may only be paused by mutual agreement.
    • The County rejected increasing the timeline to file a non-disciplinary grievance from 30 days to 60, but did accept our language that allows grievances to be filed up to 90 days from the date of the contract violation.
    • The County rejected our language that arbitration awards may be retroactive to the date an issue was first attempted to be resolved informally.
    • The County continues to reject our attempts to ensure that members can have a steward represent them with the full authority of their steward status during the ADA accommodation process. The County states that stewards can attend as a support person if the member desires, which is consistent with ADA law, so they have to allow this. However, the labor laws that give stewards equal rights to managers in representation only apply if they are acting within their role as a steward, NOT as a support person.

• Article 19: Modification of Work Performed by the Bargaining Unit – Contracting, Intergovernmental Agreements, and Use of Volunteers

• • • The County rejected our provision that volunteers may only be used so long as they don’t replace or prevent the filling of any bargaining unit positions.

• Article 21: Seniority and Layoff

• • • The County rejected our attempt to make the seniority calculation for On-Call employees more equitable.
    • The County rejected our language that would give folks on the recall list the right to reject up to 3 offers of recall before being taken off of the list. 

• Article 25: Safety and Health

• • • The County agreed to our language that they will “staff appropriately to provide safe and healthful workplaces for the safety of employees, clients, and members of the public.” 
    • The County is still refusing to allow our Union’s meaningful participation in addressing staffing issues. They think the status quo of stewards bringing workplace concerns to their Stewards and Managers meetings is sufficient; we disagree and have been advocating for proactive and collaborative Joint Staffing Reviews.
    • The County rejected our language that would have them acknowledge “that excessive workloads can contribute to employee stress, fatigue, and increased risk of injury.”

• Article 29: Termination

• • • The County rejected our language that would change the expiration date of our CBA to April 30th instead of June 30th of 2028. They cite budgeting around the fiscal year as the reason.

• Addendum G & Addendum I: Department of Community Justice & Office of the Sheriff

• • • In an effort to prevent workers from being scheduled to cover a shift on their day-off, we proposed that “no employee shall be scheduled to work on their first day of rest without employee approval.” The County countered by adding the provision that employees wouldn’t be scheduled to work on their first day of rest “without other coverage options first being explored”. The issue we’re trying to address here is that employees who work in the Department of Community Justice or the Office of the Sheriff may be in a job profile where they are not able to leave work until their relief has arrived, which can result in the same workers repeatedly being forced to stay for a double-shift into their first day of rest when someone calls out. 

• Addendum H: Drug and Alcohol Policy

• • The County rejected our language that essentially summarizes Garrity Rights for our members to easily find in our CBA. Garrity Rights are protected by federal law.

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. 

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 18th, 2025 (extended)

“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.

Pack the Room!

Thursday, October 2nd

We are asking our members to attend the County Commissioners board meeting at 9:30am on Thursday, October 2nd and to share testimony on key sticking points and priorities of our negotiations. We’ll need several individuals to speak and we want them to feel the support and solidarity of our co-workers around them as they address the Board. If you’re able to attend and would like to provide testimony or just stand in solidarity with our member speakers, please email us at bargaining@afscmelocal88.org; don’t forget to wear your AFSCME green!

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!

In Solidarity, 

Your Bargaining Team

Questions? Email us at bargaining@afscmelocal88.org