For those of you who missed this last one, please review the minutes below:

General Announcements

• The citizens action and political education (CAPE) board is opening nominations for delegates. CAPE receives no funding from membership dues and is the political body of our union. CAPE has no affiliation with either major political party, instead endorsements are made based on interviewing candidates about their stance on labor-related issues. Micki Varney (Salem HQ) is a representative on this board for the entire Willamette valley and can be contacted with questions.
• We will be having a statewide full day meeting in October in conjunction with other agencies in our coalition as per the bylaws. Location to be determined. The 2020 statewide meeting was canceled last year due to covid. More information coming soon to your email or phone.

Contract Ratification

• All dues paying members should have received an email with a link to vote on accepting our new tentative agreement. Links are specific to each individual and cannot be forwarded. You may also request a paper ballot by emailing a union organizer, keeping in mind that it takes time to mail ballots and that they must be received before the end of August.
• CDL drivers - there are many new protections in the contract specific to you (yay!). These protections are part of a long-term vision for our future contracts. Within the new contract you may ask to have your CDL requirement reviewed if you haven't driven for the state in the past 2 years. Removing a CDL requirement for work purposes has no bearing on keeping a CDL for your resume in your private life. There will also be 3 openings on a CDL training committee for represented staff. We hope to have one representative from wildlife, liberation, and the screen shop. If you are interested, please email odfwunionsteward@gmail.com. Union organizers will be calling as many CDL license holders as possible to explain the new contract language and we will be sending out an additional email.

Covid/Office Reopening

• The state is reopening offices September 1st. The first few weeks people will be expected to come back to the office with flexibility of working from home. Our new contract has telework specific protections, but they only come into effect after the contract is ratified and implemented. Specifically, telework cannot be arbitrarily denied if requested. All protections are contingent on the employee first requesting a telework agreement, which we believe will be handled through workday once things settle after the initial reopening. As of now, further direction from DAS is required by both the union and our management before any specific information can be provided.
• Members asked whether temporary measures taken during Covid (e.g., the ability to take credit card information over the phone) will be reinstated at small offices in the event all staff become sick, and what the current notification process looks like when there is a presumptive Covid-19 exposure in an office prior to a positive test result. Union leadership commented that notifications by the agency only go out after the positive test result is in hand, such that people in the office who may have been exposed would likely still be working. The union will be following up to understand if and what current mitigation plans exist for keeping small offices open if all staff are sick or forced into quarantine.

Labor Management Committee (LMC)- BSA and Seasonal Support

• The next LMC meeting is September 22, where we will be talking  about current barriers to BSA career advancement and improving communication from Salem to other field offices.
• Leadership asked members to help provide barriers they've experienced because they are experiencing a credibility issue in which management does not believe the examples the union has previously brought forth as impacting staff, the biggest of which we have the tools and jurisdiction over which to improve being technology access
• Technology access was discussed as a significant barrier because seasonal staff often have no work spaces and can no longer access email on their cell phones.
• Members on the call commented that additional problems occur because managers do not forward the appropriate trainings to their staff, such as the recent hot weather training.
• Members commented that the OASIS team has a good system ensuring there is computer access for seasonal staff to stay up to date on training and that this program could be used as a model for other programs to emulate. OASIS appears to handle both notifications that trainings are required and access to technology successfully
• Members commented an additional barrier to technology access and access to trainings is lack of interaction with their supervisors, which could occur as infrequently as once per week. Ensuring that managers are accountable to ensure all staff are trained would be one tactic to help improve the situation
• Another option provided by a member as a potential solution for helping improve the training situation would be a pop-up on workday stating which trainings a person has that are outstanding
• A new LOA in the contract should be used to gain more computer access time (more info to come).

Open Agenda

• Members commented that there also needs to be changes to our uniform allowance for seasonals so that a week break in service doesn't reset the clock on qualifying for a $300 versus $100 reimbursement.
• Union leadership asked that if anyone had a delayed paycheck in July, please contact Chris Rodriguez who is currently handling a grievance associated with late payments, letting him know if you had any late-fees, rent problems, or other financial burdens caused by the delay. The purpose of the grievance is to ensure people are correctly compensated regardless of the cause of the delay.

Next Conference Call is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 14. Be on the lookout for the invite in your state email.