tea » tea times: July 16, 2000 email: teaseattle  

TEA Times

Class / Comp
When the County began its reclassification / compensation project several years ago, TEA members requested to be included in the process. The County denied you access and representation, forcing TEA to file an Unfair Labor Complaint with the State Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC).

Since that time, TEA's attorney has warned the County twice, in writing, not to implement the Class/Comp recommendations to the TEA bargaining unit prior to formal bargaining.

At this point, however, it appears that the Office of Human Resource Management (OHRM) is moving ahead with the Class / Comp proposals. Administrative Specialists in WTD received notices recently from the WTD-HR rep. Transit-HR appears to be moving a bit slower in distributing the information.

Administrative Specialists
The TEA bargaining unit seeks to represent approximately 17 Administrative Specialists in water and transit. OHRM considers these workers to be "typing pool-clerical" job descriptions. However, TEA recognizes the important project support function that these workers perform on WTD and Transit D&C capital projects. As a result, OHRM's action will not go unchallenged.

TEA's attorney is currently preparing to file an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) complaint against the County. Administrative Specialists in WTD and Transit D&C are valued project team members and we will support the necessary efforts to see that they are compensated appropriately.

Professional / Technical
TEA has obtained the "proposed" wage scale for the P/T job classes. If you haven't seen this document yet, ask around. Chances are someone near you has a copy.

July Membership Meeting
The general membership meeting this month was held on July 12th at the Salmon Bay Café to accommodate the WTD North Satellite Construction (NSC) group. The TEA board set a goal this year to conduct status-update meetings with each of the remote work groups. So far this year, meetings have been held with the Renton (May) and NSC (July) groups; next will be ESC and Transit SC.

Court Action
TEA's attorney represented all of us at a pretrial conference with Judge Pomeroy, Thurston County Superior Court, on July 14, 2000.

The lawsuit was filed last year to compel PERC to conduct the necessary hearings on TEA's original (225 person) bargaining unit. As the date of the trial conference approached, Local 17's attorney submitted a request to intervene in the case. However, they provided no justification for their request.

Contributions Needed
We are requesting $10 per month to help with the effort. To make a contribution, please contact the TEA Treasurer, Ken Madden.

Next General Membership Meeting
You are invited to attend the next monthly meeting on August 9th during lunch. The standard meeting location is the Elliott Bay Bookstore Cafe.