T E A

T i m e s

December 5, 2001

SPECIAL EDITION
RE: KC Global Announcement
To all represented employees anticipating retroactive implementation of the Professional and Technical Classification/Compensation Agreement

Thoughts and comments from three affected individuals:

Dear readers,

A large number of you are asking what, if anything, today's global announcement of a class/comp settlement means to members of the groups represented by TEA.

First, a little TEA history. The class/comp project is a County effort to 1) reduce the number of job classifications from over two thousand to under seven hundred, and 2) to assign compensation to those positions. The project began before we began our association.

Initially our old Technical Services workgroup had some representation in the class/comp project. But then our representatives were dropped; at that time King County said to us, "don't worry, unrepresented folks will get the what the unions negotiate." But we didn't like the direction the County and the unions were going, and we realized that we needed a voice in our own destiny.

Note that unrepresented employees are being excluded. Also note: "Of the 52 positions represented by TEA, the County salary study only has comparable salaries for 7." - (Roger Browne)

Class/Comp was probably the biggest reason we formed the Technical Employees Association and why we didn't join an existing union. So, as part of the TEA recognition agreement with King County, the County agreed that TEA would negotiate wages and classification for the employees we represent. Our day will come.
Wyatt Wood

From Elizabeth Morgan, Transit Design and Construction:

Several unions bargained in coalition to settle class/comp for their members. Then each agreement was taken to each membership for a vote. For the Transit Planner unit I was in, the agreement adjusted each pay range for each classification. The payout everyone is reading about assumes that that agreed upon pay scale was in effect on Jan 1, 1998, and makes everyone "whole" to their base pay step. For all those in these bargaining units, this means they have accepted class/comp study, and this is the end of that process for them.
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From Don Barr, Wastewater Design and Construction Section:

To all DCAM staff,

The global announcement below does not apply to you. This notice applies to represented employees covered under the coalition bargaining agreement. Call or email me if you have any questions.
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