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archives
WPEA Honored
to Once Again Represent BCC
On March 1, 2007, the ballots were counted
and almost a year of effort was rewarded. With 55% of the
vote, WPEA has returned to BCC.
The organizing drive was started in April of
last year, when WPEA was contacted by Elman McClain
and Marcia Wilson. They met with WPEA Organizer
Herb Harris and came up with a strategy that proved to
be a winner.
“We couldn’t file until August of 2006 at the
earliest because of the Public Employment Relations
Commission (PERC) rule. So we knew that we had time to
build a grass-roots effort, “ said Harris.
One-on-one conversations with the employees
seemed to be the right way to go. “Elman McClain was just
outstanding in his efforts to bring WPEA back to BCC,”
remarked Harris. “Elman would chat with people in the normal
course of his day and eventually bring the conversation
around to the union. Once he had them interested and wanting
to learn more, he would let me know and then we would talk
with them together.” This combination of union staff person
and co-worker was just the ticket to keep this campaign
moving. McClain took time out after his shift to stay on
campus and work with Harris to reach out to as many people
as possible.
During the campaign, WPEA held our Annual
Meeting at Bellevue Community College and McClain and Wilson
were able to see the inner workings of the union and how
open and transparent WPEA really is. After the meeting,
McClain wrote a letter to his co-workers sharing his
thoughts on the importance of being represented and how
impressed he was with the work WPEA does for our members.
Another key in this campaign was Terri
Halsey who also retained her membership in WPEA and was
a big supporter in bringing WPEA back to BCC. And, Halsey’s
case took on a very different perspective when she was
placed on Administrative Leave for no apparent reason. She
worked with WPEA Staff Rep Cari Trussell on what
turned out to be a five month process of trying to determine
from HR what the charges were against her, how they were
investigated, with the end result being to return her to
work. She was very thankful for her representation and the
job that WPEA did for her.
“If we had been under the WPEA contract this
would never have happened the way that it did. WPEA
supported me the whole way through. They were there every
time I needed them.”
The Organizing drive was a success but it was
not without its trials. Just before the stipulation
conference (where the list of eligible voters are defined
and the election dates set) BCC HR notified WPEA and PERC
that there may be as many as 150 more employees that had
never been disclosed to WPEA, even though we had requested a
list of ALL classified employees. “They gave us the names of
all the classified employees, even those in the WFSE
bargaining unit, or so we thought." said Harris. "But just
before the election they came up with these new employees.”
The actual number of part-time employees
turned out to be only 50. We felt that it was within our
comfort level to go forward with the election since the
amount of people that had signed interest cards far out
numbered those that had not signed, even with adding the
additional part-time employees.
Then, just before the ballots were to be sent
out, the Washington Federation of State Employees intervened
in the election, making three choices on the ballot: WPEA,
WFSE and No-Representation. Although this did give us pause,
we knew that the only real support that WFSE had were in the
group that lead the previous decert. WPEA supporters went to
WFSE's meetings and asked a simple question, “Where were you
in the last year? WPEA has been on campus talking and
representing employees, where have you been?”
Despite these bumps in the road the vote
totals show that the employees at BCC voted for WPEA to
represent them because they know the true value of being a
WPEA member.
The key to this organizing campaign was the
employee-to-employee conversations, outstanding
representation by WPEA, and a commitment to bringing
representation back to BCC. WPEA thanks all the employees in
the Bookstore and Cafeteria and those that supported WPEA by
talking to co-workers and/or wearing a button. This truly
was a team effort !!! We especially thank the
following for all of their hard work and dedication to
making this Organizing campaign a success.
Elman McClain
Marcia Wilson
Julie Griffin
Nancy Voigt
Kelly Baker
Sue Ferguson
Donna Flannery
Ann Slater
Melissa Sitzenstock
Diana Hagen
Jan Ng
Ramona Decker
Terri Halsey
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