Dear AFSCME Local 88 Members,
A lot of folks have been asking me when we are voting to ratify our contract and the answer is NOW! Voting is taking place electronically this week (January 12-18th). The ballots went to your personal email we have in our database on Monday morning around 7am.
If you did not see it check, your spam or search for Election Buddy Elections or the email address: invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com The email subject line is: Vote now: AFSCME Local 88 – AFSCME Local 88 Contract Ratification
If you still can’t find it, please email our staff person Chris Johnson at 88reps@oregonafscme.org, so he can look you up in our database and help you vote. Voting ends this Sunday at 11:45pm PST so please try and reach out to him by this Friday if you can so he can assist you during his work week. If you wait until Sunday, you run the risk that no one will be available to assist you.
Many of you have shared your appreciation and Kudos for the hard work the bargaining team put in to reach this TA and we thank you for your support through this process. I have also heard from some folks that they are disappointed that it took so long for us to reach an agreement and that we did not get a larger COLA. Trust me, the bargaining team was disappointed too and we took some really big swings at trying to negotiate much larger increases. We based our wage proposals on what a living wage would be to afford to live in Multnomah County with the high cost of housing and other expenses. The County based theirs on the CPI (Consumer Price Index) which was very low at 2.4% and what they had budgeted for and generally the measure we use for COLA according to our contract.
We pushed very hard for higher wages, which in part is why our negotiations went so long as the County was not willing to budge and did not really negotiate until it was clear we would not leave the table without some movement. We also knew it was a hard budget year with the County forecasting large deficits for the next three years due to reduced commercial property tax income and the uncertainty of federal and state funding cuts for programs we provide. We also had a round of County layoffs during our bargaining period and the threat of more ahead. There was even a call from some members that we forgo a COLA entirely to see if we could offset layoffs, but neither the membership or bargaining team were willing to do that given that many folks were already suffering financially and others had forgone the COLA in the past, putting them behind in income earnings over their career.
So, as a team, we tried to improve the contract in ways that would improve working conditions, increase benefits, and give us a foothold for future negotiations. And, if you look at our wins document here, you will see the many areas of the contract we were able to improve. We were able to push on the COLA and give our lower and mid wage workers a boost that first year and we were able to clean up the wage scales so the step increases are really 3% per step which was not always true. This will help folks now and into the future.
The TA you are voting on represents the best possible agreement we were able to negotiate and we recommend you vote yes to ratify the agreement. Though there are things we wish we could have gotten and places where the County showed us their unwillingness to fully embrace equity or do what is right for employees, we were able to make gains in most areas of the contract. You can review all contract articles with changes here.
If you want more clarification on the wage scales, reach out to Chris Johnson at 88reps@oregonafscme.org directly to go over your pay under the new contract.
We invite you to stay engaged and active in our union. Our union is a workers collective and it takes all of us together to support each other, stand up for each other and fight together for what we want and what is right. Our power is our solidarity!
In Solidarity,
Jackie Tate
Local 88 President
