Don Loving, Public Relations, Oregon AFSCME Council 75
December 20, 2000
About 60 AFSCME-represented transport officers at
the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) will be receiving a nice little
"bonus check" soon, as AFSCME has won a significant arbitration case
that entails almost a year's worth of retroactive pay.
Officer Ken Roberts filed the original grievance on Feb. 2; Council 75 Legal
Counsel Allison Hassler conducted the arbitration case.
"The grievance sought compensation for the fact that transport officers are
required to flex their schedules with no warning," explained Hassler.
"We argued that because of that, transport officers should at the very
least receive both a night shift differential and shift change penalty pay. And
on those counts, we won and won big."
At the arbitration hearing, there was discussion of giving transport officers
the exact same treatment as RFMs (relief factor management), or vacation relief
employees. Because of their widely-varying schedules, RFMs receive an additional
5 percent pay bump.
Since the arbitrator did not go all the way to declaring transport officers on
the exact same level as RFMs, DOC has been trying to convince some that this was
a split decision of sorts. Hassler says that's nonsense.
"Everyone understands that these types of arbitrations go under the loser
pays rule, and the arbitrator charged all of the fees to the state," said
Hassler. "We understood up front that we were on shaky ground on the RFM
issue because of Article 25 in the contract, and indeed, the arbitrator ruled
that Article 25 specifically allows the state to flex the hours of transport
staff.
"But," Hassler continued, "this was a big win nonetheless. The
arbitrator ruled that DOC should have been paying both shift differential and
shift change penalty retroactive to Jan. 15, which will total thousands of
dollars in retroactive pay for our members."
Hassler said the decision will also give transport officers some additional
bargaining power in upcoming negotiations.
Questions? Contact Allison Hassler: ahassler@afscmecn75.com