We are in the full swing of capital 'N' Negotiations now, folks! Session #5 had even more active discussion across the table, our first TA (or tentative agreement), our first sidebar, and a brief accidental "Stuart Cam" moment. With all of these discussion heavy sessions we really do strongly suggest folks listen to the recordings themselves whenever you can. We'll always do our best to help you make sense of the highlights and the buzzwords in these updates, but there is never a substitute for seeing for yourself. 

 🗣️ Who's that talking at the table?

Some folks have asked us about our two friends at the table who don't work at the ESD and have been doing a lot of the talking. On the ESD's side they've got Brian Hungerford, a lawyer from Hungerford  Law Firm. On our side we've got Baylor Turnbow, our union rep from the state OSEA office. 

Most folks don't get to see Baylor much unless they're involved in chapter leadership, the bargaining team, or he's supporting you when you need union representation. He is a critical part of our support system who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge and so we did want to take a moment to shout him out.  Here's some fun facts about Baylor:

🏫 He's a former school teacher!

🎷 He plays the saxophone

🥣 He makes incredible scones* 

*Anderson's note: Baylor say's they're just an America's Test kitchen recipe "and just sub jalapeños for a thing of chives" but I was a professional baker for a while and they're the best scones I've ever had so I suspect some kind of union magic

📢 Discussion Highlights

• There was a lot of back and forth about discrimination complaints (discussion from approximately 15:00 to 25:00) and our proposal to strike language that prohibits discrimination based grievances. Our stance is that we want employees to be able to use whatever complaint process they are most comfortable with in navigating discrimination complaints. That should include the union grievance process and the right to union representation.

  • 📙 For the folks who heard that discussion and thought that book sounded interesting, check out Complaint by Sarah Ahmed!

• Personnel files were another big topic of discussion (approximately 26:50 to 34:40). The issue centering around our proposed language allowing for discipline to be removed from employees files after three years, provided no new incidents have occurred are not considered flagrant misconduct. We believe that discipline should help people grow and learn from their mistakes and when stale or irrelevant discipline remain in employee files it can introduce bias. 

• We TA'd our first article! Article 7 - Union Dues. If you aren't sure what that (or some of the other jargon that got thrown around this session) means, you aren't alone! Check out Bargaining 101 to learn more!

Bargaining Session #5 April 23

⏰ What Was Discussed

• Our team proposed counters on several articles to begin with:

  1. 1. 1. 1. • • 1. • Article 7 - Union Dues

                     • Article 14 - Unpaid Leaves of Absence

                     • Article 23 - Strikes and Lockouts

                     • Article 24 - Contracting Out

                     • Article 25 - Labor Management Committee

                     • Article 26 - General Provisions

              • The ESD brought: 

                • 1. • Article 1 – Preamble

                     • Article 8 – Personnel Records

                     • Article 9 – Discipline and Dismissal

                     • Article 10 – Probation

              • We provided counterproposals to several articles:

                • Article 1 – Preamble

                • Article 8 – Personnel Records

                • Article 9 – Discipline and Dismissal

              • The ESD provided an amended proposal for Article 1 – Preamble

              • We then had a Sidebar to confidentially discuss Costing (confidentially comparing how we calculated the costs of our proposals)

✒️ What Was Decided:  

• ✨ Both parties reached out first Tentative Agreement (TA) on Article 7 - Union Dues (you can watch us all cheer at about 01:35:50)

• Both parties discussed what proposals each team would bring to next session and agreed to cancel the May 21st session due to scheduling conflicts

🗓️ What Comes Next: 

• April 30th at 6:00pm - OSEA Chapter Meeting (good opportunity to ask questions)

• May 7th at 2:30p - Bargaining Session #6

• Recordings will continue to be posted to our website

Session #4 is definitely one to watch the playback on if you missed it! On top of laying out our wage proposal, last night also included some of our most robust discussion, clerical hijinks, and probably too many jokes about cake.

📢 Discussion Highlights

Much of the discussion centered around why we're bringing so many changes in a one year contract. The ESD reiterated yet again that they believe our current contract is sufficient.

That's not what we're hearing from classified staff.
Unequal COLAS, lack of ability to reclass, no third party review for complaints- all of these things add up to a lack of voice for classified staff. Our team is committed to putting in the work to address that. That means we are willing to come back to bargaining in a year unless the ESD is able to meaningfully address concerns in a longer contract:

⭐ Fair wages

⭐ Third party arbitration for grievances

❌ No unilateral right to 15 furlough days without consulting us

❌ No unilateral right to contract out our jobs

❌ No blanket waiver of our right to bargain further issues

💸Our Wage Offer

Our package does three things: 

• Restructuring the wage schedule for clarity and consistency - ranges are alphabetical and steps increase a consistent percentage.

• An 8% cost of living adjustment to make up the 12.52% compounded purchasing power deficit accumulated since 2018 

• Targeted reclassifications for positions that would otherwise remain significantly under market rate

👀 Read the full Wages Summary we presented to the ESD and see for yourself!

Bargaining Session #4 April 9

⏰ What Was Discussed

• Our team a summary of our wage proposal laying out our intent and rationale along with:

  1. 1. 1. 1. • • 1. • Article 4 - Management Rights

                     • Article 5 - Union Rights

                     • Article 8 - Personnel Records

                     • Article 11 - Grievance Procedure

                     • Article 16 - Vacancies, Transfers, and Job Postings

                     • Article 20 - Compensation

                     • Article 22 - Reclassification, Job Descriptions

              • The ESD brought: 

                • 1. • Article 7  - Union Dues

                     • Article 14 - Leaves of Absence

                     • Article 23 - Strikes and Lockouts

                     • Article 24 - Contracting Out

                     • Article 25 - Labor Management Committee

              • There was a robust discussion, but no additional proposals were exchanged in the room.

✒️ What Was Decided:  

• Both parties discussed what proposals each team would bring to next session and agreed to finalize some date questions offline.

🗓️ What Comes Next: 

• April 23rd at 2:30p - Bargaining Session #5

• Recordings will continue to be posted to our website

Session #3 started the official 150 day bargaining timeline- we'll talk more about what this means and what it doesn't over the coming weeks. The ESD also presented on it's current financials and we all learned the fun fact that our classified staff collectively work around 500,000 hours every year- that's nearly 60 years per year! 

This session also laid out the remainder of the topics we'll be discussing for the throughout this process, which means (you guessed it!) we largely discussed compensation.

💸What's Up With Wages?

Our team did not present a wage package yet, but we did share what it will look like which should give you an idea of why we're taking our time. We're looking at a wage package that includes substantial reclassifications in addition to discussing step placement and cost of living adjustments. When we have some positions making 25% less than comparable jobs in our region, and other positions making poverty wages, we know we need to be using every tool in the toolbox and get creative.

 
The ESD affirmed again that they believe our current contract is sufficient and brought their remaining articles without intent to open anything else. They shared that when they looked at the overall cost of our contract, they wanted to prioritize wages which was why their proposal has:

❌No increase to professional development dollars

❌Insurance contributions that would result in a loss in benefits

🚨 All for a 2.81% salary increase in year one, reduced to 2% every year after

This would be dramatically less than our current adjustment which is already the lowest in the agency. 

Suffice to say, our proposal is going to look a little different so stay tuned.

✨Other Highlights

"PECBA, PECBA, PECBA" 

Everyone had a good laugh at Anderson's unique citation of the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act, commonly known as the PECBA. While we love the protections afforded under the PECBA, we want members to be able to navigate their rights without having to be familiar with every nuance of labor law and that's why we want things spelled out clearly.

Bargaining Session #3: March 12

⏰ What Was Discussed

• Our team expressed the remaining articles we'd be proposing in the future as well as several completed articles:

  1. 1. 1. 1. • • 1. • Article 7 - Union Dues

                     • Article 13 - Paid Leaves of Absences

                     • Article 14 - Unpaid Leaves of Absences

                     • Article 15 - Paid Vacation

                     • Article 17- Insurance Benefits

                     • Article 18 - Holidays

                     • Article 21 - Professional Development

                     • Intent to Open: 19 - Layoff/Recall, 20 - Compensation, 22 - Reclassification, Job Description, NEW X2 - Classified Staff with Licensure, Appendices A & B

              • The ESD brought: 

                • 1. • Article 21 - Professional Development

                     • Article 22 - Reclassification, Job Description

                     • Article 17 - Insurance Benefits

                     • Article 20 - Compensation

              • This was another session with a lot to chew on and neither party prepped responses in the room and ended early.

✒️ What Was Decided:  

• Both parties discussed what proposals each team would bring to next session

🗓️ What Comes Next: 

• April 9th at 2:30p - Bargaining Session #4

• Recordings will continue to be posted to our website

This week we started to get into some bigger swings and some longer questions. We are still early in the process with nothing tentatively agreed to and wrapped up early since we'd all need more time to propose a substantial counter.

The ESD affirmed what we shared in our last update: they are continuing to put forward existing contract language with minimal changes because they feel like our current contract is sufficient.

We all know our colleagues deserve better. There are serious issues that classified staff have raised that need to be addressed systemically. That's why our counter on Working Condition this week was more than double the length of the ESDs initial proposal. We included robust safety language and equitable supports for comp time, travel, and remote work as well as a brand new article on technology protections to safeguard staff privacy.

We all know our students deserve better. The issues that classified staff raise are because poor working conditions lead to worse outcomes for the communities we serve. The ESD had a lot of questions when we proposed removing language that gave them the right to replace classified staff with contractors. That type of language and power is both incredibly rare due to the way it can easily be weaponized to undermine employee rights, but it also just hasn't solved the problems that leave some positions hard to fill. We want to work together to actually solve those problems, improve working conditions for all staff, and provide the supports we know kids deserve.

*Shout out to a handful of our staff who started with us as contractors! The issue is not with the contractors themselves but with systems the ESD needs to work with us to fix!

Bargaining Session #2: Feb 26

⏰ What Was Discussed

• Our team brought some new proposed language as well as some responses from language on several articles all around working conditions:

  1. 1. 1. 1. • • 1. • Counter Proposal: Article 2 - Recognition

                     • Counter Proposal: Article 10 - Probation

                     • Counter Proposal: Article 12 -Working Conditions

                     • Article 16 - Vacancies, Transfers, and Job Postings

                     • Article 24 - Contracting Out

                     • Article 25 - Labor Management Committee

                     • NEW Article X1 Technology

              • The ESD brought several counters as well, in addition to new language: 

                • 1. • Counter Proposal: Article 8 - Personnel Records

                     • Article 13 - Paid Leaves of Absence

                     • Article 15 - Paid Vacation 

                     • Article 16 - Vacancies, Transfers, and Job Postings

                     • Article 19 - Layoff/Recall

              • This session had some big language to review, so neither party prepped responses in the room.

✒️ What Was Decided:  

• We agreed to send out the flyer that was jointly prepared regarding your legal right to discuss bargaining, proposals, and working conditions at work.

• We also agreed to just skip the bargaining session currently scheduled during spring break and instead resume as normal afterwards. With a make up session on April 3rd to potentially be added. More info on that as decisions are made.

🗓️ What Comes Next: 

• March 12th at 2:30p - Bargaining Session #3

• Recordings will continue to be posted to our website
  
  

Lastly- a very special shoutout to Scott and Tawny on our facilities team. They fixed the doorknob to our caucus room after last session and let us back in this session after we accidentally got locked out. Bargaining is serious business, but we're lucky to have a bargaining team and an entire unit that always brings a sense of humor!

This week our bargaining team sat down with the ESD to officially begin trading proposed contract language. No articles were tentatively agreed to yet (which is not unusual at this phase) and we were able to wrap up right on time ready to finalize our next round of proposals.

Shout out to the more than 50 staff who tuned from across all four counties in to stay informed and show support! It really is one of the best things you can do to support a fair wages and working conditions. For those that are able- we're looking forward to seeing you next time! 

Bargaining Session #1: Feb 12

⏰ What Was Discussed

• Our team brought proposed language on several articles all around contract enforcement:

  1. 1. 1. 1. • • 1. • Article 1 - Preamble 

                     • Article 3 - Term of Agreement

                     • Article 4 - Management Rights

                     • Article 5 - Union Rights

                     • Article 8 - Personnel Records

                     • Article 9 - Discipline and Dismissal

                     • Article 11 - Grievance Procedure

                     • Article 23 - Strikes and Lockouts

                     • Article 26 - General Provisions

              • The ESD brought several of these as well, in addition to: 

                • 1. • Article 2 - Recognition

                     • Article 6 - Payroll Deductions

                     • Article 10 - Probation

                     • Article 12 - Working Conditions

              • We prepared a counter to Article 6 with our proposed language around Payroll Deductions. Our proposed language largely focused on folks having access to accurate leave balances and protections in the event of payroll errors. 

              • We also discussed the joint message we will be sending out regarding legal right to discuss bargaining, proposals, and working conditions at work.

✒️ What Was Decided:  

• We tabled Article 3, meaning we will come back to it at a later session. This is very common as determining the length of the contract is heavily contingent on the rest of the contract.

• OSEA will be preparing counter proposals for: Articles 2, 6, and 10

• The ESD will be preparing counter proposals for Articles 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 23, and 26
  *The ESD largely presented status quo language (minimal changes) as compared to OSEA which is why they are preparing more of the counter proposals.

🗓️ What Comes Next: 

• Feb 26th at 2:30p - Bargaining Session #2

• The recording from last night is available on our website
  
  

Whenever you tune in, we hope everyone enjoyed us putting up a placeholder slide while we caucused. We all agreed we could do something more fun next time- so if you reply to this email with suggestions of songs to add to our new 🎺Raucous Caucus Playlist🎺 we'll try and keep things interesting while you wait!

⏰ Bargaining Begins: Tune in Tomorrow!

The webinar link is officially live which means you have everything you need to tune in to our first bargaining session this Thursday, Feb 12th at 2:30pm. Tuning in to bargaining is considered a protected activity which means you can do it during work hours. For folks who are student facing or otherwise unable to tune in, we will be recording meetings and making those recordings available. 

If you are able to, remember- the best thing you can do is also the easiest: just tune in! 

This small act of solidarity really does have a huge impact.

But what can you expect us to discuss at bargaining? What are the priority areas that our chapter has identified? 

🏆 We asked, you answered: Bargaining Survey Highlights

💸 87% of respondents ranked Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) as one of their highest priorities

🪜The next highest priority was Step Movement with 78% ranking it a high priority

There were a number of other themes that absolutely driven our draft proposals- but no other priority broke a 50% majority in the same way. This was also reflected in the narrative responses that were submitted with respondents consistently expressing that they love the work they get to do, but are struggling to make ends meet. 

We hear you loud and clear- wages are crucial. Which is why it won't be something that is discussed in our first session. What you can expect at a later session is a competitive, livable, and fair wage proposal that is also reasonable for the ESD based on the current budget forecast.

This past Tuesday our bargaining team sat down with the ESD for the first time to discuss contract negotiations. We were able to end early and walk out with our ground rules established, our first meeting set, and some additional next steps planned. Expect to receive regular updates after each session keeping you in the know about what is going on and what comes next.

Ground Rules Meeting: Jan 13

⏰ What Was Discussed

• Ground Rules & Bargaining Schedule

✒️ What Was Decided:  

• Ground Rules were tentatively agreed to (sometimes referred to as TA'ing or something being TA'd) with the intent to sign. A copy of this will be shared with membership once it is signed. 

  • Notably, these ground rules establish that all future meetings will be open to the public and virtually streamed.

• The first bargaining session was scheduled for Feb 12th with the intent to hold every other Thursday at 2:30p for subsequent sessions.

🗓️ What Comes Next: 

• Feb 12th at 2:30p - Bargaining Session #1 - stay tuned for a link to watch virtually!

• Prior to that you will see a follow up with the results from the bargaining survey about the priorities that you identified and how that's reflected in our proposals.
  
  

In the coming weeks, the ESD has also agreed to develop and distribute a joint message affirming bargaining unit members' legal right to discuss bargaining, proposals, and working conditions at work.

🚨 Remember- if you can talk about the weather, you can talk about your union!

We even have a handy flyer outlining all of the things you are legally allowed to discuss without threat or discipline for you to pin up in your space!