The Oregon State Capitol building, May 18, 2021. Legislative aides working in the building have reached a tentative labor agreement with lawmakers, after months of bargaining.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Oregon lawmakers can probably take labor strife within the Capitol off the list of pressing issues this legislative session.
Late last week, a union that bargains on behalf of around 150 legislative aides within the building announced it had reached a tentative agreement with management on a new two-year contract.
That timing was welcome: With the state’s five-month legislative session officially kicking off this week, legislators were keen on avoiding a clash with staff who are crucial to the building’s work. Legislative aides had considered several options, including picketing, to press their case for improvements like better parking and additional year-round staff in every lawmaker’s office.
In the end, the aides punted on those two issues.
A notice sent out last week by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 89, the union representing legislative staffers, made no mention of parking or increased staff as part of the tentative agreement.
Instead, it said that legislative aides will be granted the same 6.6% cost-of-living wage increase other state employees received as of New Year’s Day. The union and legislative administrators have also agreed to meet for three days at some point later in this year for a “re-opener bargaining session” that will include a discussion of wages and up to three other changes each side can suggest.
The union and legislative leadership had been hashing out a new agreement since September, and their previous contract lapsed Jan. 1. The new agreement will need to be approved by a vote of aides, and signed off on by House Speaker Julie Fahey and Senate President Rob Wagner, before taking effect.
The atypical nature of the Legislature, where aides are employed individually by elected lawmakers and routinely work for just months at a time, makes organizing tricky. Justin Roberts, an IBEW organizer, estimated only about a quarter of staff currently represented by the union are actually dues-paying members.
While the new tentative contract doesn’t include mention of creating more year-round staff positions in the Legislature, that matter is unlikely to go away.
In December, a bipartisan group of more than 30 lawmakers signed a letter calling for additional money for staff. The letter said that demands on legislative offices did not go away when the Legislature is out of session, and that the workload often proves too taxing for the single staff member most lawmakers keep year-round.
“Insufficient staffing levels to reasonably handle these duties lead to disproportionate workloads and burnout,” it said.
A new two-year budget lawmakers must pass this year will ultimately determine whether they scrounge up money for additional employees.
