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Head Start workers approve contract OK by management is next step for pact By JONEL ALECCIA Union workers at Head Start of Southern Oregon voted overwhelmingly Monday to ratify a first-ever contract that guarantees pay raises of at least 4 percent, along with increased job security and a structured grievance system. Of the 216 Head Start members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, 119 returned ballots, said union representative Ken Spray. Of those, 109 - or 92 percent - voted to ratify the contract finalized May 7. "This was a long, hard battle, but in the end, it was a win-win situation," Spray said. Employees for the agency that includes 27 work sites in two counties said they welcome the contract - and the union. "When you get as large as we have, we need someone to speak for us," said Michael Steele, 51, an Ashland Head Start center assistant, who voted in favor of the agreement. "This gives me another voice, someone to mediate for me." The contract includes an across-the-board pay raise of 4 percent, retroactive to Nov. 1, plus a cost-of-living adjustment in the second year. The plan also includes an additional 3 percent increase for workers whose jobs require bilingual skills, and another 1.5 percent raise for teachers and family advocates who work in the agency's full-day, full-year program, Spray said. In addition, the contract grants a 1 percent pay increase for every 15 units of college credit completed by employees required by Congress to attain additional early childhood education. The contract also restores stepped pay increases frozen two years ago, amounting to an average raise that approaches the 5 percent union officials had requested. "We met our mark and probably surpassed it," Spray said. The new agreement, which runs from June 20 to April 30, 2003, continues fully paid health insurance for employees and agrees that the agency will absorb up to 17 percent of premium increases during the second year. It does not provide health coverage for family members, which union members requested. But it does provide job security from one school year to the next, ending summer uncertainty for workers. And the contract ensures that a structured grievance process will be created, replacing what Spray called "at-will employment." "That is extremely, dramatically different from current practice," Spray said. Alan Berlin, executive director of Head Start, said the new seven-step grievance plan is a typical union requirement that allows workers to protest incidents from written reprimand to termination, taking the issues as far as binding arbitration. Current policy allowed serious concerns to be addressed by Berlin or a grievance committee. The ratification nearly concludes negotiations that began in fall 1999, when employees sought information about unionization. They voted to join the union in March 2000; negotiations of more than 60 contract articles began that May. They concluded with several days of intense talks led by a federal mediator. The contract goes now to the Head Start board of directors and the agency's policy council for consideration. Berlin said he anticipates approval by both groups. Berlin said the intense negotiation process generated some friction among workers. "Something like this pulls people in lots of different directions," he said. But, he added, union and management workers toiled to come up with a plan that suits the needs of both. Head Start provides preschool education and other services to some 900 children annually in Jackson and Josephine counties. AFSCME represents 1.3 million workers nationwide, including nearly 7,000 Head Start employees. "My general sense is that the desire to provide good service for children and families has always been first in the hearts and minds of labor and management," Berlin said. "We labored hard to try to do a good job." Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.