As we reported in the November edition of our CSEA News, P-4 Council members who negotiated the original OJE Agreement last winter and spring were able to separate several provisions so they could implement the re-class portion, including retroactivity, now. Read the October 23 letter from the Administration's Office of Labor Relations to our Union which details how both will be implemented.

In the Agreement that goes into effect now, we negotiated a new 37 1/2-hour workweek, available without increased accrual, which members wishing to work a 40-hour schedule in the future will need to volunteer for. The Labor/Management Committee at the DOT will coordinate the process, and provide notice so members can sign-up to work the additional 2 1/2 hours.

The separated Agreement, which creates voluntary 40-hour workweeks, will be submitted to the General Assembly for approval during the 2009 legislative session.

And that means all our members working at the DOT -- particularly our "reform messengers" who raised the profile of the need for change at the embattled transportation agency -- need to mobilize for next January. Unlike this past summer, when we worked to move legislative leaders to act in a special session, we'll have the full regular legislative calendar to make our case...

But we'll be making our case during a time of great economic uncertainty -- and with a budget deficit whose complete size and scope is yet unknown -- so we will need to be united to be heard!