Here’s a man-bites-dog situation: The 40 or so staff members of the Oregon Education Association, the powerful statewide teachers’ union, are themselves threatening to strike against the union.
Since June 30, OEA staffers—who work in 17 field offices around Oregon—have been working without a contract. Judging from a letter written by professional staff organization President Catherine Alexander, they are pretty fed up.
“It appears that management is willing to put everything else at risk to prevail in its drive to drastically reduce our contract,” Alexander wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to supporters.
“Ironically,” she continued, “management’s proposal is in direct conflict with OEA’s adopted bargaining goals and minimum standards for OEA members.”
The impasse comes at a time when OEA is spending heavily to elect sympathetic (mostly Democratic) candidates and help defeat a slew of measures that Bill Sizemore and Kevin Mannix put on the November ballot.
Even though there are only a few dozen employees in the OEA’s professional staff bargaining unit, the union’s 47,000 members play an enormous role in Oregon elections.
Earlier this week, OEA wrote a $2 million check to Defend Oregon, the umbrella group working to defeat the Sizemore and Mannix measures.
Alexander warns that OEA could be shooting itself in the foot by having an impasse with its staff in this election season.
“We are gravely concerned that this bargaining crisis threatens to eliminate OEA’s focus on candidates and ballot measure campaigns this fall,” she writes. “If our professional staff is on strike (an action that could occur as early as September 15) there will be no one to staff the Government Relations Department or to do political communication. There will be no staff in the 17 field offices around the state to recruit volunteers, organize phone banks, or engage in other activities.”
Reached today during a lunch break of a mediation session, Alexander expressed pessimism about a settlement. “We’re not close,” she says, explaining that the union views management’s offer as constituting “rollbacks,” on healthcare, retirement benefits, work load and comp time. “Salary is not the major issue.”
As for the possibility of a strike, Alexander says, “If I had to bet I would say it’s looking more and more likely.”
OEA Executive Director Jerry Caruthers stepped away from the bargaining table this afternoon to respond to WWire.
“We’re still working toward a settlement,” Caruthers says. “We’re hopeful that we can reach a fair settlement and that a strike will be avoided.”
Caruthers says the disagreement results not from any change in financial circumstances at OEA but from the board’s desire to implement changes.
“The board has worked for some time to make changes on several issues and the PSO [professional staff organization] has chosen not to accept those changes.”
Even if there should be a strike Caruthers says, he is confident that other OEA members can step in to perform election-related work.
The OEA staff will hold a rally on Saturday, Sept. 13 at its “strike headquarters” at 12600 SW 72nd Ave. in Tigard at 11 a.m.
I am disappointed that the OEA Board’s actions are similar to many school district bargaining experiences I have shared with my PSO Uniserve Consultant. My consultant has been available wherever and whenever we have needed her. No one should be asked to take rollbacks, especially folks who work as hard as they do.
Sounds like a school district to me. As a former teacher, the "changes" OEA asks for seem mysterious and not persuasive given this isn’t about finances. I bet they’re going after protections.
The OEA Board is supposed to represent what the members want. Many of the members with whom I have spoken (Washington County, Beaverton, St. Helens, Portland, Albany) feel that a qualified PSO staff for bargaining our contracts and protecting those contracts is the focus we want. (I’m a former OEA Board member.)
I am very disappointed in the OEA Board. They should be setting an example for the members who elected them by honoring a contract that promotes good working conditions. Instead, they are trying to rollback language. The OEA staff works everyday with members to try and improve their working conditions. No one wants to strike, but it appears they have been pushed into it by an elected Board. Every once in a while you need to stand in solidarity for what is right. The OEA staff is (no pun intended) not just talling the talk, but walking the walk.