State workers to begin voting on unionization

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Thousands of state employees will begin casting votes today on whether to join a union, a first since Gov. Bob Holden expanded union powers this summer through an executive order authorizing collective bargaining.

Nearly 2,000 state employees, including probation and parole officers and unemployment caseworkers, will begin voting on whether they want to be represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 2000.

The SEIU is seeking to represent employees in the Department of Corrections and the divisions of Employment Security and Workforce Development.

The state Board of Mediation and representatives of the union and state agreed last month on an election beginning Wednesday and ending Nov. 30.

Mail-in ballots

The mail-in ballots are to be counted Dec. 3 in Jefferson City. It takes a majority of those voting to authorize union representation.

Ballots will be sent to about 1,240 probation and parole officers, 355 Employment Security workers and 335 Workforce Development employees.

Workers in the employment and workforce divisions will have the choice of joining the same bargaining unit as the corrections officers or forming a separate unit.

"I think the support out there is pretty solid," said Grant Williams, president of SEIU's local in St. Louis. "I think people feel that they have kind of been forgotten and left behind."

Williams said Tuesday that the union has been passing out literature and talking to employees about what the election could mean to them.

The union also is promoting a health-care plan for its members, which is designed to offset large premium increases through the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan.

"Workers realize that with the large health-care premium increases and (no) pay issues, if they are organized they will have a better chance on those issues," Williams said.

John Birch, who heads the state Board of Mediation which authorized the election, said it has been several years since such a large union election has been held in Missouri.

Unions have long had the ability to represent state workers but previously had no power to enter into binding negotiations with administrators.

Employees in the three agencies previously were represented by Service Employees International Union Local 50. But that local dropped its representation after Holden's order so that the union could reorganize.

Some displeased

Not everyone is pleased with the election or Holden's executive order.

Sen. John Russell, chairman of a committee looking into the process that led to the order, said he has several concerns including the numbers needed to approve union representation.

"They're moving ahead and I really question it, because the administration may be in the process of recognizing what is called in the private sector a minority union -- a union that represents a minority," said Russell, R-Lebanon.

Russell also said the proposed health-care coverage for union members is designed to sway workers when it comes time to cast a ballot.