Bargaining Update #35

ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act

County Proposals:

Article 13: Work Schedules

• The County has agreed to allow employees who are reassigned to another work location to travel back to their regularly assigned worksite during their scheduled shift, unless their supervisor provides a valid business reason to deny the request. 

Article 18: Settlement of Disputes

• The County has agreed that grievance timelines can be paused while an attempt is made to resolve the issue informally, by mutual agreement provided in writing.
  • The County also agreed that an arbitrator’s decision can provide for retroactivity to the date when the issue was first attempted to be resolved informally.
• The County has agreed to increase the deadline for filing non-disciplinary grievances from thirty (30) days to forty-five (45) days. 
• Representation in ADA Accommodation Process: The County proposed that stewards may serve as a support person to an employee during the reasonable accommodation process on County-paid time, but specified that stewards would not be representing the employee in an “official steward capacity”. When a steward is acting in their official capacity as a steward, they have equal standing to management which allows for more effective advocacy and representation of the member. 

Article 21: Seniority and Layoff

• Recall List: The County agreed to allow employees on the recall list to decline up to one offer of recall prior to being removed from the list.

Article 25: Safety and Health

• The County has again rebuffed our attempts to formalize a process for stewards to advocate for employees regarding safe staffing levels and unmanageable workload. The County has again stated that these concerns can already be shared in meetings between stewards and managers, but have not acknowledged that this current practice has not been sufficient to address concerns with meaningful action.

Addendum H: Drug and Alcohol Policy

• The County declined our language proposing that the County not provide information related to enforcement of our drug and alcohol policy to outside law enforcement agencies unless required by law or in the event of imminent risk to public safety.                         

Union Proposals:

Article 10: Other Leaves

• We again presented our language proposing that the County may only request to view documentation related to Immigration and Citizenship Leave rather than obtain a copy, since the first time we presented this language the County misinterpreted our intention. 
• As an alternative to Trauma Leave, which the County continuously declined, we have proposed Critical Incident Leave. The intent of Critical Incident Leave is the same, but the County had indicated that “Trauma Leave” would make the County sound responsible for trauma experienced by employees. 

Article 24: Non-Discrimination

• We are maintaining our language that defines microaggressions as acts that “maintain the power imbalance between protected classes and a dominant culture or group”. We have seen employees belonging to the communities who most often experience microaggressions be accused of committing microaggressions against individuals in a dominant group time and time again. Because microaggressions aren’t a legally-prohibited form of discrimination, it’s crucial that we define microaggressions appropriately in our contract.

Addendum M: Jail Side Assignment Premium

• We proposed that any disagreement between our Union and the County regarding eligibility for a jailside premium be subject to the grievance procedure.

Action Items & Upcoming Events

Upcoming Listening Sessions

Our bargaining team will be hosting several virtual listening sessions again over the next few weeks to receive member input on where we stand with bargaining right now. Dates and times for listening sessions are below.

Virtual Listening Sessions

Wednesday, October 15th from 9 – 10am: Join the listening session via this link.

Friday, October 17th from 8 -9am: Join the listening session via this link.

Monday, October 20th from 12 – 1pm: Join the listening session via this link.

Tuesday, October 21st from 12 – 1pm: Join the listening session via this link.

Wednesday, October 22nd from 9 – 10am: Join the listening session via this link.

Friday, October 24th from 12 – 1pm: Join the listening session via this link.

In-Person Listening Sessions

Monday, October 13th from 12:45 – 2pm: Multnomah County Inverness Jail

Wednesday, October 15th from 11am – 1pm: Donald E Long Juvenile Detention Center 

Steward Training

Interested in becoming a steward? We have another round of our two day intensive steward training coming up Oct. 21 and 22, which are a Tuesday and Wednesday. The training is 9-4 in person, both days, at the Union Hall: 525 NE Oregon St. If these are work days for you, please fill out the Lost Time form (linked in the registration) to get paid for your regular work shifts.  You would need to request the time off by October 14th. 

Please fill out the steward training 10/21-22 registration form to sign up for the training and let Michelle know if you have any questions:  mstadeli@oregonafscme.org

Did You Know?

• We had four members deliver testimony at the Multnomah County Board meeting on October 2nd regarding the need for safe staffing, a living wage, and Trauma Leave. You can rewatch the testimony on youtube; our members’ testimony ends around timestamp 16:20.

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 our Instagram and Local 88 Facebook!

In Solidarity, 

Your Bargaining Team

Questions? Email us at bargaining@afscmelocal88.org