Workers return to the Council 2 fold
COWLITZ COUNTY'S juvenile detention officers are back in Council 2.
About 10 years ago the group joined another organization. But now the 25 officers have voted overwhelmingly to rejoin the union and have become members of Local 1262.
“They had heard a lot of good things from other county employees about Staff Representative Trina Young, who works out of the Olympia office,” explains Council 2 Director of Organizing Bill Keenan. “They heard she was doing good things in that area and they wanted to join the bandwagon.”
The officers also felt they would be better served by being part of the larger existing bargaining coalition, Keenan adds.
“When they were a guild, the on-call part-time employees were not represented in their unit,” Keenan says. “But they were included when they filed with Council 2 and we will be bargaining for those employees’ rights, too.”
The Public Employees Relations Commission (perc) has significantly changed its views and now includes all employees who meet the one-sixth work rule. The result is that if an employee works 29 hours a month or more that person must be included in a bargaining unit.
The vote to join Council 2 was taken December 10 last year. More than 70 percent of the group sent cards through perc, meaning an election was unnecessary.
