From Glenn West, MGEC Executive Director 1996-2002

June 10, 2008

 

It’s been 40 years since MGEC was founded in the summer of 1968!!  I send my hearty congratulations to you, Rhonda, the Board, and the membership (past & present).

 

I visited your website yesterday and noted a number of familiar names on the current Board.  It’s nice to know that not everyone has left. 

 

The golf tournament location should be fun.  I have very fond memories of cruising the course with my daughter Amelia behind the wheel while I took pictures of the teams.  She passed her driver’s license test the first try and we both believe it was due to the experience she gained at MGEC’s golf tournaments.  She even learned to parallel park with the golf cart.

 

Life in Oregon is great.  I’m really enjoying the ability to visit the central coast region, the Portland metro area, or the Cascade mountain range, all within an hour’s drive of our home in Salem.  Seattle’s a 4-hour drive from here, so the Puget Sound area is quite feasible for a week-end visit.  When I drive to work and cross the Willamette River bridge into downtown Salem, I often have a great view of Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson, the two largest mountains/volcanoes in Oregon.

 

Work is also enjoyable, and challenging.  I’ve landed in a terrific job with the State of Oregon’s central office for Labor Relations, similar to Minnesota’s DOER.  I am chief spokesperson during the bargaining year for eight contracts.  Some are for whole departments, others are for sub-sections of departments (for example: Fire Fighters with the Oregon Military Department have two separate contracts – one in Portland and one in Klamath Falls), and yet another is a sub-section of a multi-agency contract (which as a whole covers 18,000 of the 35,000 state employees).  Bargaining Units and the associated unions are structured quite differently here.  AFSCME is like MAPE, since it is the smaller of the two major unions (SEIU being the big one with 18,000 members).  There is a union similar to MGEC, called AEE (Association of Engineering Employees), that seems quite familiar in its structure and representation in various departments.  However, other unions and bargaining units are just different.  My main agencies that I provide advice (and bargaining assistance) to are the Oregon Military Department, Department of Corrections, Oregon Youth Authority (juvenile corrections), DPSST (law enforcement training and licensing academy), and the Employment Department.  The biggest challenge has been learning the history of the language for each contract.  Discipline-related issues (investigations, Just Cause, Due Process, grievances, etc.) were simple to be immediately effective, since the concepts and processes are nearly universal in the USA.

 

My wife, Sherri, is working for the State of Oregon also.  She’s a training and communications manager with the State Building Codes office.  She’s been learning a lot about LEED building standards, on-line training, and tracking legislation.

 

I again congratulate you and the Board.  If anyone wants to write back, here’s my home email:  glwest52@yahoo.com

 

Attached is photo of Sherri & I near Bend, Oregon, last Fall.  You’ll note I’ve got a little more gray hair (not more hair, just more of it is gray).

 

Glenn West, M.A.

State Labor Relations Manager

Labor Relations Unit

DAS - Human Resources Services Division