State government and its largest employee union reached a two-year deal Friday morning after a marathon collective-bargaining session that lasted more than 24 hours. Exhausted state negotiators agreed that Oregon will remain one of only 3 states that pay 100% of its workers' health-insurance premiums. The agreement includes pay increases from 3 percent to 3.2 percent over the course of the two-year contract, with a minimum raise of at least $80 per month. Other unions waiting to negotiate will now expect at least as many concessions by the state.
The tentative deal was reached about 10:30 a.m. Friday.
SEIU members will vote in August on whether to ratify the contract.
"It's been rather tough this week, but I feel like we held onto our goals, and we achieved a lot of what we were trying to get," said Linda Burgin, the union's secretary and treasurer.
SEIU, which represents about 18,000 employees statewide, worked to help lower-wage workers in the new contract, Burgin said. By establishing minimum raises -- $80 per month as of July 1, 2007, and $85 per month as of Nov. 1, 2008 -- the lowest-paid workers will end up getting more than if they were to get cost-of-living compensation.
The state also agreed to increase the starting salary for lower-paid workers beginning in late 2008, said Susan Wilson, who oversees collective bargaining for the state. Furthermore, the state abandoned its proposal to establish a two-tier classification system for custodians, through which those with less-demanding jobs would be paid less.
The SEIU, however, also made concessions, Burgin said. For example, the union asked for salary increases for about 120 to 130 job classifications, but only got about a third of those.
In the end, those at both sides of the bargaining table cited a "fair" deal.
"It's probably one of the best contracts we've had in at least 15 years," Burgin said.
The Legislature provided $125 million to cover state worker pay and benefit increases for the 2007-09 contract.
The existing SEIU contract expired June 30 but has been extended until a new one is signed, officials said.
(statesmanjournal.com)
