Leg-BAT Members Set New Benchmark for Legislative Activism

WPEA Staff, Leg-Bat volunteers and Member Lobbyists took our Legislative/Political Action program to a new level this past legislative session. This spirit of member activism started last spring at a Leadership and Communication training for our member leaders, conducted by Luis Moscoso, WPEA Government Relations.

Soon after that event, WPEA launched our new “Bulldog Action Team” to recruit member activists to provide support for collective bargaining, representation issues, and political/legislative activities. WPEA engaged in an all out effort to capitalize on the hope and excitement generated at the earlier training. His continuous promotion of the Bulldog program throughout the summer and fall yielded great results.

Our new Bulldog Action Team is the largest group of member activists in WPEA history – far exceeding WPEA’s initial expectations in the spring of 2006.  And the number keeps growing.  With every activity WPEA has engaged in, starting with CBA bargaining last summer, through the 2006 elections, and during the 2007 legislative session, more and more Bulldogs made their presence known. WPEA’s Member Lobby Day this past February was the best we’ve ever had. This was due largely to the efforts and enthusiasm of the newly formed Legislative Bulldog Action Team. These leaders provided valuable support on a number of issues throughout the session.  The most prominent effort being the fight WPEA led to retain gain-sharing for PERS 1 and 3 employees.

Extraordinary efforts from a group of members from the Department of Revenue deserve special recognition. These members used their exceptional knowledge and understanding of the pension system to provided valuable information about accounting procedures and practices. This information helped us convey the impact of repealing gain-sharing on employees to the State, the Office of Financial Management (OFM), and the legislature.

These efforts, coupled with the constant barrage of e-mails, phone calls and letters to legislators and the Governor gave WPEA more leverage to continue the fight right up to the end. Prior to opening debate on the House floor, Speaker Frank Chopp (D) called Moscoso into his office to confer with him on how the dilemma could be resolved. Soon after, Chopp was called to confer with Republican Caucus Leadership about what they could do for WPEA.

Although we didn’t convince the Governor or the legislature to retain gain-sharing, we did help them see that PERS 3 members are not getting proper compensation for the inevitable financial losses they will incur due to the repeal of gain-sharing. Speaker Frank Chopp, House Floor Leader Lynn Kessler and Representative Steve Conway (new Chair of the Select Committee on Pension Policy) have all committed to working directly with WPEA to develop legislation to redress this problem in the next session.  The Republican Caucus has also indicated their desire to work with WPEA on this same matter.  

WPEA’s legislative staff are organizing a Gain-Sharing Support Committee to monitor and engage with legislators and the Governor during the interim, so we will be ready for the 2008 session. All things considered, this has been a very successful legislative year for WPEA.  We did not get everything we asked for or deserved, but we have positioned ourselves better than ever to carry our program forward in 2008 and beyond. 

Having both Democratic and Republican leadership committed to working with WPEA in the future is quite an achievement. This would not have been possible without the individual efforts of those brave members who came forward and made their voices heard.