Oregon State University - Beaver Yearbook (Corvallis, OR)

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PROTE NEGOTIATIONS CAUSE OPEU WORKERS TO STRIKE AGAINST THE STATE. JUST BEFORE school started, students may have become temporarily alarmed when they found out that Oregon Public Employees Union (OPEU) had gone on strike. In fact, students may have been really concerned when they heard how difficult it was for University of Oregon students to register due to the strike. For most students, however, registration was carried out with only the usual difficulties and not many new ones. “We did not go on strike against Oregon State University, we went on strike against the State Executive Department.’ said Rod Davidson, president of the local chapter of OPEU. It has even been stated that John Byrne, president of Oregon State University, had expressed his support of the strike. OPEU was striking after trying for months to negotiate with the State Executive Department. Over four hundred people were involved unofficially, with two hundred people on the picket lines. The strike was of a different kind, what Rod called a “strategic strike. Strike, in general, meant to stop work in order to obtain a change in conditions of employment. Instead of everyone in OPEU participating at once, as was done in general strikes, the strongest chapters dropped off one by one. The first to go were those on hospital staffs. Toll booths were empty and truckers got to roll by weigh stations without stopping. Administrators found themselves laboring at jobs that ranged from nursing to gardening because the actual workers were on strike. It was a very effective method. As more time passed without a settlement, more groups joined in the striking. It wasn't a situation that could be ignored once they started in on the purpose. The strategic strike was much easier to control for the union than a general strike would have been. In Rod’s words, a general strike would have been a “disaster. Everyone would have been deciding his or her own demands, each employee would be arguing with every other employee and no one would get any of the advantages they were struggling to achieve in the first place. The difficulties began when Governor Goldschmidt asked the union for a two month extension before beginning negotiations for the next contract. Negotiations were expected to, and normally did. start six months before the contract ended. The postponement may have given those people considering a strike a little more fuel for the fire. OPEU gave the Governor his extension and held off for two months on negotiations. Later, during bargaining, the state said the effective date of any changes was also pushed back two months which meant that any salary increases would be two months later going into effect. Once negotiations began, the union and state were battling over five main issues. Other conditions were being considered but seemed to be less pressing than those the strikers believed of greater importance. The first issue concerned wages. OPEU originally had asked in March for a pay raise of six percent each year for two years. This changed to 4.5 percent in August and they eventually got a two percent increase retroactive July 1, 1987. They also got a four percent increase effective January 1. 1989 through June 30, 1989 when then-new contract was scheduled to go into effect. Secondly. OPEU asked for full time insurance coverage and did receive it. A third major issue, pay equity, ended up in a compromise, giving some of the job classes that OPEU wanted pay increases but not others. “It was a starting point, Rod said. “It gave us some hope. Fourth on the list involved the state wanting to change the current layoff policy. Under the revised policy, the last person hired was in jeopardy of being bumped by someone who had been laid oft' in their same job class. The state offered to protect 25% of the work force from layoffs at its discretion. The union felt the change would be used as a tool against the union, leaving the senior workers open to layoffs. The last major issue was the workload. The union wanted standards, based on national standards, that regulated how much work certain job classes did. The union lost this one, but the state agreed to “meet and confer about it at a later date. “We did the best we could. 87% voted yes on the contract, Rod noted happily. In the past the union had never received anything but what the state offered. This time they got money and a change in the contract language. “It set precedence and well be smarter next time. he claimed. Rod was especially pleased that they had broken the state’s old argument that there was no money to be allocated in this direction. “They can never again use the argument effectively. They got it from somewhere this time! he pointed out. Partly due to a fair share clause that forced non-members to pay the equivalent of union dues, membership went up and the union became stronger. College faculty members looked to being better paid and happier. Students reactions were mixed. Some were not fully aware of what had happened. “They probably knew what they were doing, remarked Lloyd Krauskoff, junior in Liberal Arts. “I don’t know much about it. but I was more on their (union) side. Kim Windows, a Junior in ARMY ROTC, reacted positively. “I thought it was great because the state had promised them a raise, she said. “I felt it was good that they took a stand and went on strike. “I think some of them went about in an immature manner,” commented Mike Sheehy, senior in Political Science. “I also feel that everybody has a right to strike if they think that is what they need to do. □ by Lenora Holcomb OPEU STRIKE • 17

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Food Service Workers from Arnold. Weatherford and McNary dining halls picket outside the Admin istration Building in protest against their low wages and benefits. Organizing the strike schedule outside the Administration Building Is Laurel Beusse. Physics department employee. WIUJAM SCHILOBACM OPEU member Dell Stuart from Housing listens to Michael Alexander give strike instructions at the Finley Hall shops. WII.IJAM SCIIIUJBACH WIUJAM SCHILDBACH 16 • OPEU STRIKE

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MICHAEL DOWLESS It's a difficult job and Keith McCreight, Student Financial Aid Director, is the man to do it MICHAEL DOWLESS One of the lucky one . Michelle Ducharme. a sophomore in liberal arts, picks up her Guaranteed Student Loan at the beginning of the term. The Financial Aid Application Is one most students dread to fill out. knowing that more than likely they will be putting in a lot of work for nothing in return. The backroom files of the Financial Aid office tell a story of their own, that being that more students receive financial aid than is normally believed. MICHAEL DOWLESS 18 • FINANCIAL Ain CREC NAPOLI