Report to the PSEA Board of
Directors Fiscal year 2006 / 07
Negotiations
PSEA has had what can only be described
as a very busy year in the negotiations arena. We have
concluded negotiations with the City of Fairbanks and have a
new contract for the first time since 1993. The settlement
provided for a substantial raise at signing and a 2.5% to
3.5% increase on the base in calendar year 07 and 08
depending on the increase in the cost of living.
We were also successful in getting an
agreement signed in Sitka. This is the first contract for
our membership. It includes an entirely new matrix with a
5% + increase in year one and 3.5% increases in year two and
three. The contract also includes premium pay for
specialties as well as shift differentials. We also have
grievance language as well as an agency fee provision.
Unfortunately our members in Unalaska
are still without a contract. Impasse has been declared and
we have already gone through mediation without success. We
had one last round of talks scheduled for June 20th
and 21st with no progress made and the city
actually tendering a regressive proposal. I expect we will
go to arbitration sometime next fall or early winter. We
have been in contact with PSEA’s attorney and are preparing
to file ULP’s regarding the Cities regressive bargaining.
We also went to impasse in Juneau and
mediation on June 5th and 6th.
Mediation was successful and I am happy to report that the
membership and the Borough Assembly ratified the TA’ed
agreement. The proposal increases the merit steps to 3.5%
each and adds 3%, 2% and 3% to the base for every year of
the contract. We were also able to achieve some improvement
in the language of the contract as well as injury leave for
patrol and dispatch.
We have open preliminary discussions
with the State in regards to the SOA/APFO contract.
President Cox has selected a bargaining team and we are in
the process of analyzing the contract in order to draft a
preliminary proposal. Any input that the Board can gather
from the members would be extremely helpful. I expect to be
at the table by the end of summer.
Political Action / Legislation
The first session of Twenty-fifth
Legislature has ended without much accomplishment other that
the passage of AGIA. For the most part the legislature was
completely engrossed in the Gas bill and had little time for
any other issue. PSEA was successful in getting our
legislative priorities introduced by the majority and we
believe that with concentrated work in the interim we should
see more activity in the Second Session. Thanks should go
to Senators French and McGuire for their work on the APSC
legislation as well as Representative Roses for his
companion bill in the House side.
PSEA also had legislation introduced
that will allow veterans to purchase up to five years of
military time for retirement credit with credit for
health care upon retirement.Representatives
Nancy Dahlstrom, Bob Lynn, Craig Johnson, Gabrielle LeDoux,
and Andrea Doll should be thanked. The companion bill in the
Senate was introduced by Senators French, McGuire, and
Bettye Davis.
I would like to take this opportunity
to thank Vernon Marshall for all his work this session. His
council and expertise have been of great help.
Contract Enforcement and LOA’s
As you know, PSEA has had a number of
staff changes this year; we have hired a new business agent
Tamara Kleiner, TK, retained a new attorney, Steve Sorensen
from the law firm of Simpson, Tillinghast, & Sorensen and
lost Jim Gasper to the Washington Education Association.
Regardless of the changes, I believe that we are not only
maintaining a strong contract enforcement presence, but also
we have improved our delivery of these services to the
membership. TK has been at almost every AI and
pre-imposition meeting for every accused member and has been
successful at protecting our membership before they
have been formally disciplined. I believe this proactive
approach has lead to our members being better served than
waiting for the discipline to be administered and then
filing a grievance.
Adding Capacity to PSEA
As you know the membership nearly
unanimously approved our direct affiliation with AFSCME. I
have a series of meetings scheduled with Jim Duncan, AFSCME
Local 52’s Business manager and Tam Tocher, AFSCME’s
Northwest Area Director to finalize our agreement and begin
to more fully explore shared staffing with Local 52.
Financial Health of
PSEA
The financial health of PSEA continues
to improve. PSEA will finish the 2007 fiscal year in the
black and should be able to add staff to help with the work
load in the 2008 fiscal year. I will have a balanced budget
ready to present to the Board of Directors for approval at
there first regularly scheduled meeting in July.
John Cyr
Executive Director
Should
you have any questions regarding any of these issues or any
other concern please don’t hesitate to call me at the PSEA
office 1 877 337 1979 or e-mail me at
jcyr@psea.net
