OSEA Bargaining Session Update: April 18, 2018

The fourth bargaining session between Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) and Reynolds School District (RSD) was held on April 18, 2018 in the library at Woodland Elementary School from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

OSEA & District: All Present

OSEA Presented the Following Counter Proposals:

Article 1 - Recognition

Proposal includes changing “substitutes” to “Limited duration employees” and “temporary employees” and reduce the number of days for temporary staff from 65 days to 45 days.

Proposal also includes changing when balance of the year employees may be hired from March to April.

Article 14 – Seniority/Layoff/Recall

Language proposed by OSEA did not accurately reflect the intent. OSEA would like to look at District seniority first in a layoff situation followed by classification seniority. The language reads that classification seniority would be considered. When asked for the intent, the OSEA group indicated that if the District were laying off Educational Assistants, as an example, and there were a Bus Driver who had been with the District for 19 years as a driver and one year as an Educational Assistant (total = 20 years), he or she would be considered to have more seniority in a layoff than an employee who had been with the District for a total of 19 years, and had been employed for all 19 years as an Educational Assistant.

Article 19 – Discipline, Dismissal and Performance

Proposal includes adding “just cause” in place of “due process” and requires that all information forming the basis for disciplinary action will be made available to the unit member and the Association. Violations of this provision may be used as the basis for a grievance.

Proposal adopts the District’s language that 2.a. be eliminated, “In cases of misconduct a verbal conference will be held between the employee and the supervisor. At that conference, reasons which are regarded as cause for suspension or termination and specific examples of such shall be given,” as it is redundant with requirements in the opening paragraph for A. Dismissal and Discipline.

Article 21 - Transportation

Proposal requests that language be added to allow for an additional three (3) minutes to be added at the start and end time of shifts to get or return keys, route books, and walking to and from the bus.

Proposal adopts some of the District’s proposed language regarding definitions of various routes (regular, mid-day, EDO, cover, and shuttle routes) and how routes will be assigned and/or adjustments to start and end times will be approved.

Article 24 – Job Openings

OSEA counter proposes that in-district candidates do not have to be interviewed if they have previously been interviewed by the same supervisor for the same position in the previous twelve months.

Article 25 – Non-Discrimination

OSEA continues to propose that all categories such as race, color, creed, sex, sexual preference, age, national origin, political or religious affiliations, physical handicap, or activities within the employee’s union be listed individually in the article.

The District Presented the Following Counter Proposals:

Article 7 – Emergency Closure

District’s proposal did not adopt OSEA’s language related to being paid for inclement weather days without having to use leave in exchange for not being paid to work any make-up days at the end of the year. The District counter proposed that rather than granting one additional emergency day if all emergency days were used for inclement weather closure, the District would grant two additional emergency days under these circumstances for the reasons outlined as acceptable uses of emergency leave in Article 5 – Paid Leaves of Absence.

New Article – Complaints

The District did not adopt the new article as presented by OSEA at the previous session. The District feels it has a comprehensive district policy that covers any complaint made against a district employee. Details can be found in the AR that accompanies District Policy KL – Public Complaints (attached).

The teams caucused at 6:15 p.m. until 7:25 p.m. and then regrouped and signed off on tentative agreements as outlined:

Tentative Agreements Reached at this Session

Articles that were not opened by either party were signed off as tentative agreements as follows:

Article 3 – Physical Examination

Article 6 – Unpaid Leaves of Absence

Article 9 - Holidays

Article 15 – ~~Association~~ Union Dues

Article 16 – Strike and Work Stoppages

Article 17 - Separability

Article 20 – Grievance Procedure/Contract Maintenance

Article 22 – Meetings and Conventions

It was further agreed that the above-named articles would be reviewed in accordance with OSEA’s housekeeping proposal and that the following housekeeping changes would be made, where needed, in the final version presented for signatures:

Where the CBA refers to the pronoun “he”, the pronouns “he/she” will be inserted to replace the pronoun “he”.
Where the term “Association” appears in the CBA, the word “Union” shall replace the word “Association”.

Article 10 – Vacations

Payout schedule for less than 12-month employees receiving vacation payouts was eliminated as the schedule has sunsetted. Language was added to indicate that vacation days would be prorated during an employee’s final year should the employee leave prior to June 30^th.

Article 13 – Personnel Records

Tentative Agreement includes new language to B. File Review indicating that employees shall be allowed to view supervisors’ working files upon prior request.

Article 23 – Workshops/Courses

Tentative Agreement includes new language to update the reimbursable rate to the “current” PSU “graduate” rate rather than using actual years or assuming the undergraduate rate because it was not specifically stated.

The session ended at 7:45 p.m.

Agenda set for next session:

The District will bring counter proposals for Articles 14, 24, and 25.
OSEA will notify the District prior to the session regarding which articles will be brought.

Upcoming Bargaining Dates Scheduled as follows:

Woodland Elementary School Library: