UE Local 170

Hay Group Compensation and Classification Plan for WV Public Employees

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:12:06 -0400

The Division of Personnel has contracted with the Hay Group, a global management consulting firm specializing in human resource consulting services. The end result of this study by the Hay Group is supposed to be a new classification and compensation plan. The Hay Group is looking at everything. Benefits, pay, holidays, sick time, etc., and comparing this to the private sector. We need to be very alert when the new classification plan is unveiled. We may need to act very fast with our legislators if the DOP wants to take any benefits away as a result of this study. The other big result of this study, will be the reallocation of personnel that the DOP feels are no longer needed in one area, to another work area.

During the 2010 legislative session the Department of Administration asked for legislation (SB 467 and HB 4330) that would have stripped employees of the right to file a grievance over any such reallocation. The mere fact that they asked for this legislation in advance of the classification plan being finished, or made available for public scrutiny, tells us that they are expecting many grievances to be filed over this as yet to be seen classification plan. The Senate passed the bill, but like the Furlough bill in 2009, thanks to the meetings with our legislators by our union members, our many phone calls and emails, this bill was stopped in the House of Delegates. So, for the time being, you still have the right to file a grievance if you are moved to a new job and work center as a result of the new classification plan.

Functional demotions of state workers are part of the "reallocation" already taking place. This Hay Group project and the blank check the administration tried to force on public workers are part of a larger trend of bad management practices, designed to cheat public employees out of wages, benefits and the opportunity for advancement. We strongly encourage retirees and current current union members to actively recruit new members to our union and fight back because of the simple fact that this administration is coming after our rights. They are targeting the benefits that we have now. We have to stand up for ourselves! No one is going to do it for us.

By now, state workers should be familiar with the Job Content Questionnaire that is being distributed by the Division of Personnel. This is part of the Hay Group study. If you have not filled one of these out, you should ask your immediate supervisor if you need to fill one out or complete one on line. All state employees are supposed to complete one of these surveys. For the entire transportation worker series within the DOH, a decision was made by the DOP for someone in management to complete one group questionnaire which covers all Transportation Workers. You will (or are supposed to) be given a chance to read this questionnaire and agree or disagree with it. You also have the right to submit one of these questionnaires on your own regardless of whether you agree or disagree. Do not let someone else water down your responsibilities and duties, and the hazards you face on a daily basis. The Hay Group is going to use these surveys to make recommendations that will update the current classification system and modernize the states compensation plan. You must make sure your job responsibilities are accurately reported.
The DOP has created a web sight that has information about the Hay Group Study. It is: http://www.plans.wv.gov/

The West Virginia Public Workers Union has identified the following concerns related to the state personnel system and the implementation of a new personnel management plan.

1) Recognize employee seniority in all hiring, promotion and lateral transfers and strengthen the rights of seniority by requiring recognition of tenure when considering merit pay and classification and compensation plans. These measures respecting seniority in hiring, classification and compensation will reduce nepotism and favoritism in hiring and provides an incentive for employee retention. Recognizing seniority allows the state to maintain the institutional knowledge that only experience can provide.

2) Enhance the recognition of employee seniority by increasing the annual increment (longevity pay) in 5 year increments. By increasing longevity compensation, rewarding seniority provides an incentive for continuous years of service in a manner similar to the process for accrual of annual and sick leave. This measure to enhance annual increment based on seniority will reward employees with tenured service, encouraging the retention of qualified personnel in the service to this state.

3) Investigate the intervention by the Division of Personnel in public employee grievances and evaluate the legal interpretations of the Division for any tortuous deviation from fairness or compliance with applicable laws. Evaluating the intervention by the Division of Personnel in public employee grievances will further enhance the fairness of the grievance process, promotes work place harmony by leveling the playing field when management is considered to be abusing their authority.

4) Require that the adoption of any Classification Plan, including the 2010 Classification Plan Modernization Project, be transparent and comply with the laws of the state. Including at a minimum, the adoption of all classification plans must be presented to the Legislature or the Division of Personnel Board, either of whom shall present the plan to the public, in writing not less than 30 days prior to conducting public hearings on the proposed plan, and allow for not less than a 30 day public comment period after such public hearings on the proposed plan before any classification plan is brought before the Legislature or the Board for final approval. Requiring transparency in the adoption of a classification and compensation plan for public employees, who have no collective bargaining rights, will provide affected employees with a process through which they can participate in regarding the determination of the terms of their employment, providing for employee buy in regarding the plan and therefore improving employee morale.

5) Require that any classification and compensation plan or any revision to such plan cannot create a disparity of wages, such as under the false pretense of a need for recruitment because the incentives for retention are nonexistent. Eliminating a disparity of wages will enhance retention, promotes workplace harmony by improving morale and creates additional incentives for retention.

6) Require that all benefits and pay grades are respected and maintained as they relate to the current terms of our employment. Any pay plan that serves to demote public workers or further reduce our benefits is unacceptable. Management wage inflation at the expense of the state employee work force has gone on long enough. No more discriminatory pay freeze! No more benefit cuts! No more functional demotions! Public employees have more than proved our worth by working through the statewide staffing shortages.

The WV Public Workers Union continues to investigate the Hay Group and the Division of Personnel. Join us today, the pay and benefits you save might just be your own.

WV OSHA Survey

Sun, 16 May 2010 20:26:53 -0400

WV Public Employee OSHA Survey
Please fill out any part or all of this survey and return it to the WV Public Workers Union Hall or email your responses to our email address on this flier (Please use another sheet if necessary).

1) Is your work place always safe? Y / N

2) Do you feel that your health or safety is in jeopardy at work? Y / N

3) Describe your safety or health concern?

4) Is the safety hazard ongoing, frequent or occasional?

5) Are you concerned that you might be working in a sick building? Y / N

6) Are you (or your co-workers) experiencing sick-building symptoms (these may include respiratory problems, chronic illness, headaches or nausea), which may be caused by mold, lack of ventilation, maintenance or other chemical odor and indoor air quality issues?

7) Have you reported your health or safety concerns to an authority? Y / N

8) If yes, who did you report your concerns to, when and what was the result?

If you want more information about the public workers union or about representation regarding problems with your building or how to file an OSHA complaint, please send your name and contact information to the union today.

Your Name ____________________________________ Work location__________________________________
Address____________________________________________
City __________________ State _____ Zip code ___________
Phone # _____________________

Send your survey responses to:
West Virginia Public Workers Union, UE Local 170
1591 Washington St. E.,
Charleston, WV 25311
Call (304) 699-4401 - or email - uelocal170_info (at) yahoo.com

Why the Public Workers Union matters

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:08:42 -0500

Public workers are professionals. We take great pride in the work we do serving all of the people in this state. Public employees help our communities stay healthy, safe and educated and yet public workers in West Virginia are often ridiculed in the world of public opinion. While the public workers maintain the quality of life for all of the people in this state, wages for public workers have not kept pace with inflation, benefits have been cut and management decisions are routinely blamed on the work force.

Representation for a public employee starts when we take a professional attitude and seek to resolve a problem. It takes more than a simple willingness to stand up for compliance with the laws and rules of this state. Public employee professionalism means advocating for meaningful solutions to our problems. When a public employee is faced with noncompliance with the state civil service system regulations or if we raise a concern about other violations of the law or rules by the agencies or departments we work for, if we object, we have to appeal to a corrupt grievance process. Unfortunately what happens next is more often than not a reprisal.

Retaliation is common against public workers who stand up to bad managers. Because speaking out almost always results in reprisals, public employees need the representation a member run union provides. Harsh treatment, arbitrary work schedules, the imposition of corrective action plans, leave restrictions and other attacks against public workers are frequently the result of an employee who voices a concern.

Because we encounter situations where a state agency is violating the law or a state regulation, there needs to be a framework an employee can use to help resolve that problem without being ruthlessly attacked by management. When a public worker goes alone to resolve a problem with management it almost always results in retaliation and negative if not severe consequences to the concerned public employee. This pattern of retaliation is why a strong member run union is critical to restore and protect the rights of public employees in the work place.

Shop density, where a significant number of the employees in the work place belong to an employee union, helps to restore the rights of the employees because management knows the workers will not allow the mistreatment of the rank and file. This principle of union solidarity is the best way for workers to balance the power when management is out of control.

A member run public employee union is important because by working together we have an intimate understanding of the work we do. Working together we know each other and we know who the managers are. With this detailed understanding it is a union shop that is able to react quickly to defend an employee who is being attacked by a bad management decision.

Our most effective form of representation is a workplace with a solid base of union members. As a statewide union we have the added benefit that no single agency can retaliate against a union shop, because the network of union employees state wide will react to expose the retaliation and work to hold those managers accountable for any wrong doing.

A good steward requires more than just documentation and record keeping. The CORE functions of a union member are to communicate with each other, organize together and represent the employees effectively. Effective representation means problem solving. Because the grievance process is so dysfunctional, resolving problems in the work place without filing a grievance is crucial to promoting professionalism in our state government functions.

As public workers we have the legal right to representation. A member run union such as ours gives us the organizational structure to effectively represent the public workers in a variety of areas. In addition to aggressively fighting grievances, this union is fighting for WV OSHA compliance and enforcement. We are pushing for legislation to address the lack of caseload standards in the DHHR program areas and in the state hospital system. We are also asking for a modest Cost of Living Adjustment, enhanced seniority rights and the repeal of the authority to involuntarily transfer employees.

We continue to demand accountability of the PEIA Finance Board, such as requiring them to have a quorum of its members at each required public hearing. We continue to demand an end to PEIA benefit cuts and cost increases, which is significantly offensive when our pay remains frozen and among the lowest in the nation.

We oppose measures that limit and restrict the rights of public workers. We want the protection of seniority rights and the recognition of our dedicated public service.

We are very concerned about an alarming trend in some state agencies to implement restrictive sick leave policies and policies that infringe on the employees right to keep our health care information private.

We continue to investigate the ongoing privatization of our public services and we continue to demand that the cost benefit analysis be conducted as required by law, when these privatization plans are adopted.

We know that the only way we can have effective representation is through the organization of public workers statewide. A key part of effective organizing is steward training, providing union members with the information we need on the variety of ways we can represent public employees effectively.

To help our union shop stewards lead our state forward, the WV Public Workers Union continues to hold steward training workshops because we know an educated union member is an effective union member.

The next Steward Council Workshop will be held at the WV Public Workers Union Hall, Saturday, February 6, from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. Additional workshops will be scheduled this spring and summer and will be announced in our newsletter, through our chapter organizations and the schedule of workshops will be posted on the calendar pages of this website as soon as the schedules are developed.

2009 a Public Workers year in Review

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:12:39 -0500

2009 a Public Workers year in Review

In February, Governor Manchin promised to share the budget surplus with state employees. According to the state tax office public workers earned the 2009 budget surplus because of massive statewide staffing shortages.

Senators Helmick, McCabe, Foster and Wells sponsored SB 519, the bill to furlough state employees with no due process, with no accountability on the Governor who would be authorized to implement layoffs at will and with no recognition of seniority for employees to be furloughed. Public workers gathered 1,500 signatures on a petition to stop SB 519 before the bill could even leave the Senate. Thanks to Senator Randy White who agreed to receive the petitions and was the only Senator to vote against this draconian excuse for public policy. Before the bill could reach the House of Delegates the Public Workers Union gathered over 2,000 signatures on the petition to defeat SB 519. With your letters, emails and phone calls SB 519 was dead on arrival in the House of Delegates.

Lou Dobbs and CNN covered the Governors $55,000 pay raise in a story called West Virginia the Welfare State. This aftermath of our 2009 Presidents Day Rally focused on the Public Workers Union push for a living wage for all state workers compared to the Governors $55,000 pay raise. CNN interviewed several employees who qualify for welfare while working full time at Mildred Mitchell Batemen State Hospital in Huntington. The report ended with the comment from the Governors office that if there would be a budget surplus it would be shared with the state workers. The reporters joked with each other at the end of the segment that if there would be a budget surplus, it was unlikely the Governor would share it with the state workforce. It is rumored that the Governor was so mad about this news story that he kicked the furniture in the Governors mansion and broke his foot.

Mildred Mitchell Batemen Hospital and other DHHR programs received scrutiny in the courts over inadequate staffing levels, compromised patient care and other citations related to failed management. In response the Public Workers Union is calling for the adoption and implementation of caseload standards for DHHR and state hospital workers.

West Virginia did end fiscal year 2009 with a $168 Million Dollar Budget Surplus. Governor Manchin then called a special session of the legislature and proposed a meager $500 bonus for public workers. The Public Workers Union opposed this bonus proposal because a bonus system is ripe for abuse and favoritism, a bonus this year is a pay cut next year and the lowest paid state workforce in the nation deserve a minimum of a $1,000 cost of living raise, a measure fully funded by the budget surplus. The House of Delegates at least attempted to make the bonus fair by funding the bonus proposal from the budget surplus and applying the bonus to public employees and retirees. Instead the Governor called the Senate to kill the bill; he killed the very bonus he had promised to state employees.

PEIA also worked hard in 2009 to prove that the state personnel management system is being destroyed by our so called state leaders. PEIA first proposed to eliminate retiree health benefits for all employees hired after a date certain. At the public hearings required to be conducted by the PEIA Finance Board, the outrage across the state was universal. PEIA voted to implement the plan regardless of the unanimous opposition to the plan.

PEIA then proposed to cut benefits, increase premiums, and double the out of pocket expenses and deductibles for covered employees and retirees. Again the outrage across the state was universal. Public workers called this plan a company store imposed pay cut. Even though required to conduct public hearings, a majority of the PEIA Finance Board members did not attend a single one of the public hearings in November. According to witnesses PEIA almost never has a quorum of Finance Board members at any public hearing. PEIA then voted in December to implement many of these measures regardless of the nearly universal opposition to the plan.

West Virginias Public Workers Union also exposed the toxic work environment in several DHHR offices in 2009. Perpetuated by a lack of implementation, compliance and enforcement of the 22 year old WV OSHA law for public employees, these sick buildings represent another serious problem of failing personnel management in state government.

For 2010, the Public Workers Union calls for all state workers to take charge of our places of employment through enhanced professionalism and union organization. Take pride in your work serving the communities in our state. Through our professionalism and union strength, public workers are changing the way the state does business by standing up to bad management and demanding accountability of our public employers. By making a positive difference in our work place we are improving the quality of life for all West Virginians.

We thank you, your union thanks you and the people of West Virginia Thank You for your public service.

2010 Policy Objectives of Public Workers Unioin, UE Local 170

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:25:38 -0400

2010 Policy Objectives of UE Local 170, the West Virginia Public Workers Union

1) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for statewide recognition of the seniority rights of all public workers, by requiring consideration of seniority as a qualifying factor in all promotions and lateral transfers, and to provide security of tenure in all involuntary transfers and layoffs as may be provided for by law, rule or executive order.
2) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for an annual cost of living raise based on the actual rate of inflation for both current public workers and retired public employees, to exceed any cost increase for health insurance as passed onto public workers and retirees.
3) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the end of the questionable freeze on pay raises and to allow merit raises for public workers as currently provided for in law.
4) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for a minimum living wage for all public workers in this state of not less than $10.00 per hour or $20,000 per year.
5) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for collective bargaining rights for all state workers, Provided that no public worker shall be denied the right to chose to join a union of their choice and proportional representation shall be afforded all employee organizations.
6) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for an end to all mandatory forced overtime and an end to overtime without pay or appropriate compensation for hours worked outside of the normal work schedule. Flex time utilization shall be provided for at the rate of time and a half and all un-utilized flex time shall be paid at the standard overtime rate of time and a half for all hours worked outside of the normal work schedule.
7) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the immediate implementation of, and statewide compliance with the WV Occupational Safety and Health Act (enacted in 1987) to protect the health, safety and welfare of public workers on the job.
8) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the establishment of adequate safe case load standards for all offices of public employment, including state hospitals, in the offices of health and human services, and in all potentially dangerous work environments such as those found at the Division of Highways and the Department of Environmental Protection.

9) The West Virginia Public Workers Union supports employee flex time work schedules (4 ten hour work days), Provided that adequate and appropriate staff levels are maintained in order not to compromise employee safety, employee benefit utilization and the functional operation of any participating agency.
10) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for a moratorium on all privatization plans related to the delivery of public services. Privatization results in higher costs to the taxpayer and reduced quality of services for the communities we serve.
11) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the removal of administrative conflicts of interest in the Public Employees Grievance System by moving the grievance process from the executive branch to the judicial branch of government.
12) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the adoption in state law of specific penalties for all managers, supervisors and other agency administrative personnel for any insubordination act of retaliation, reprisal or bad faith related to any grievance or any other negotiation with public workers, or public employee retirees.
13) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for no further benefit reductions of employee and retiree health insurance coverage and an end to any increases in premium and deductible costs for health care currently covered by any employment insurance plan.
14) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the repeal of the law providing for the involuntary transfer of public employees, because the law as written provides no check on the potential abuse of this executive power.
15) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the end of any form of gender based discrimination and that the principle of equal pay for equal work shall be applied in all offices, agencies and political subdivisions of this state.
16) The West Virginia Public Workers Union calls for the Division of Personnel to announce by official notice to all covered public workers and their supervisors and managers, that all public employees have the absolute right to have an employee representative in any meeting with management that could result in any form of discipline.

UE Local 170, the West Virginia Public Workers Union
1591 Washington Street East, Charleston WV, 25311
(304) 699-4401 www.uelocal170.org
Representing Public Workers all across West Virginia

Say No to the Furlough!

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:20:00 -0400

While we recognize that the state has the same responsibility to be fiscally responsible that public workers have, given the track record for protecting state emplyees rights and wages, giving any Governor the power to furlough public workers, under the terms of ignoring seniority rights only encourages the further abuse of executive power.

Print the petition and mail it to the Union Hall Office in Charleston.

The petition reads:

Say No to the Furlough!

We, the undersigned, oppose passage of Senate Bill 519 as an unwarranted expansion of executive power and an attack upon seniority and grievance rights of public workers.

Steward Training Schedule

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:06:03 -0500

Steward Council Workshop Training Schedule

Saturday, March 28 at 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Location - UE Local 170 Union Hall
1591 Washington St E, Charleston
Steward Basics - Representation and Organizing

Saturday, April 18 at 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location - UE Local 170 Union Hall
1591 Washington St E, Charleston
In depth grievance workshop

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONISM IN WEST VIRGINIA

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:32:27 -0500

Comments to Division of Personnel

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:03:32 -0500

The following comments were approved by the UE Local 170 Executive Committee for submission to the Division of Personnel for the public hearing on the proposed pay plan changes. The public hearing is scheduled for January 15, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.

Union members and interested public workers may use this letter for talking points or you may copy and sign the letter and submit it to the Division of Personnel during the public comment period.

WV Public Workers Union History

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:56:12 -0500

On September 19, 2006, three West Virginia State workers took annual leave and met in Charleston for a drive to Pittsburgh. The trip would be the foundation to forming what is now known as the West Virginia Public Workers Union, UE Local 170.