Contents:

• Impending Layoffs
• President's Message - Russell Rogers
• WAFWP Demographics
• Am I Under Investigation?
• Job Duty Modifications
• Members Corner
• In Memoriam
• A Note On Overtime
• More Exchange Time and Over Time Issues
• Volunteering
• Shared Leave
• Member Survey
• Audit Report

Impending Layoffs: Information From recent Labor Management meeting

WAFWP and WDFW held a labor/ management meeting (see Collective Bargaining Agreement Article 37 for
details) on November 21, 2008. One area of discussion was the Agency plan for the projected 30-40 million dollar shortfall. Joe Stohr provided a significant amount of information on the shortfall and the Executive Management Team’s work to date on addressing the projected shortfall. The Agency has focused on three means of cost savings which do not include personnel loss. Those ideas are:

• Sell downtown Olympia properties – this idea would require work with the legislature to ensure that
  any monies obtained from the sale would be used as an offset to the Agency’s budget shortfall. Of course, property sales are currently slow and this may not result in short-term financial relief.

• Restructuring Agency Services – prioritization of mandated Agency services to reduce cost. This idea will likely result in personnel redeployment and/or vacancy management, each program has been asked to provide details regarding core function and to prioritize services.

• New Revenues – although Governor Gregoire has made it clear that she does not support additional
  fees or taxes, the legislature has asked the agencies to provide ideas on how to create new revenue streams.

Of course, the Agency will likely not be able to address the complete budget shortfall through these strategies and layoffs are likely. If the Agency is forced to layoff employees, it must do so by following the terms of your Collective Bargaining Agreement which states that employees will be laid off based upon your seniority. If you are laid off and have bumping rights, you can bump based upon your seniority so long as you have the “skills and abilities” to perform the position you are bumping into.

NOTE: The agency will be placing seniority dates on the intranet and mailing a hard copy it to you. Please check your date for accuracy. If your date is inaccurate, please contact your human resource officer and send us an email as well.

The key issue for WAFWP, at this point, is clarifying what is meant by “skills and abilities.” The Agency has commenced a position review, targeting positions which are likely to be subject to layoffs first. You may be asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding your individual skills and abilities. If you are asked to do so, please share your documents with us prior to submittal to the Agency so that we can point out any additions that may be necessary to support your movements to a different position.

We know that our membership will be facing stressful times in the near future, but we commit to work hard to minimize the impact of this budget shortfall on your livelihood.

[Editor’s note: See recent department emails from Joe Stohr (11 December 2008) and Cindy Lerch (16 December 2008) on these topics. Check our website often as we will post updates there as we get them.]

President’s Message - Russell Rogers

First, let me welcome the many people that joined our ranks in the last year. Our membership is now over 500! This is an important number as it means that we are no longer required to be part of the coalition of smaller unions that bargain as one big group. It gives us the unique ability to focus on the specific issues facing fish and wildlife professionals. In essence, we are now big enough to bargain one-on-one with the state and small enough to devote the time and energy to fight for the little things that are important to our members.

The value of our new status was clear during the recent negotiations for the 2009-2011 contract. We were effective in obtaining many small items that will make the work environment better for all of our members. If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment and visit the “2009-2011 Contract” page on our website.

Speaking of our website, you may have noticed it has been subject to some transformations lately. Our webmaster, Joe Evenson (Wildlife Program, Game Division), has been hard at work revamping and updating all aspects of our website. It is still a work in progress. Please take some time to look it over. If you have suggestions or comments, please feel free to let Joe know.

One of my goals as president of the association is to make the website the main conduit for the exchange of
information amongst our members. In fact, this newsletter is the first in an effort to move in that direction. Mailing things to our membership is one of the biggest costs we have. Keeping mailing costs low helps keep our dues low. My ultimate goal is to reduce our mailing cost to the point where we may be able to consider a reduction of our dues, which are already the lowest among all other unions that represent state employees. One way that you can help in this effort is to send me your home email address so that post cards notifying you of the newsletter and other updates can be replaced with an electronic message instead. As always, your email address will be kept in strict confidence. No one else other than the president of our organization, has access to our email list.

You may also notice that the look of the newsletter has changed as well. This is due to the efforts of our new
newsletter editor, Chris Sato (Wildlife Program, Wildlife Diversity Division). Chris has a great eye for detail and
graphic design. If you have any comments or suggestions about the newsletter please feel free to send them
directly to her.

Indeed, change is in the air, both within our association and out. I am reminded of the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium made popular by Stephan Jay Gould. Punctuated equilibrium is the evolutionary idea
where living things exist for very long periods of time with little change, then the “evolutionary feces” hits the fan causing a period of rapid change called cladogenesis. Our members and WDFW have been in a relatively long period of little change. I think there is no doubt that our department is about to enter a cladogenic event.

The first major change has already occurred, and it is one that most of our members probably welcome; the
resignation of our director, Jeff Koenings. Jeff’s tenure has been a long one, in fact, the longest of any director. Many would probably debate the value and effectiveness of his policies regarding our state’s natural resources, I am sure that some were good and some were not. However, I think that there is little debate that his relationship with his employees was poor and at times openly hostile. While we wish Jeff the best of luck in his future activities, I think I can speak for the overwhelmingly vast majority of our members in saying that a change in leadership is sorely needed and long overdue. With Jeff’s departure other changes in executive management will certainly occur. No one can be sure of what these changes will be, but I am hopeful that the changes will be positive.

The real storm looming on the horizon that will define this cladogenic event is the state’s budget crisis. Currently the projected shortfall for the department in the next biennium is 30-40 million dollars. The results of this shortfall on the department will undoubtably be deep and painful. I am already being contacted by many of our members who are worried how the shortfall may affect them and how potential RIFS and bumps will be
implemented. The best guide for this is our collective bargaining agreement, however many of the details are yet to be worked out.

There are many rumor’s flying around the department, very few of which have any truth to them. The department is still in the early stages of trying to find solutions to this issue. Any actions that will require layoffs are complicated and will take months to figure out. My best advice for all of you at this time is to try to keep your mind away from it all and try not to worry. You can trust that the association leadership along with our lawyer will make every effort to minimize any negative impacts to you, our members.

Please check our website often in the coming months. Whenever news reaches the association, we will post it there first. As always, if you have any questions about anything regarding our association or if I can be of service to you in any way, please feel free to contact me at anytime.

In solidarity,
Russell Rogers
(360) 582-3781
president@wafwp.org

2008 WAFWP Demographics

These figures are not exact, but they should be pretty close and should show what our membership demographics looks like. These figures are based on the WDFW Org Charts from November 2008 and our membership list. Some positions listed under HQ may actually be based away from Olympia, including eastern WA.

Am I Under Investigation?

The WAFWP Collective Bargaining Agreement requires the Agency to provide all employees who are under investigation written notice of the nature of the allegations levied against them , as well as notice of an interview (see CBA Article 30.5.A). If you receive such notification, please contact your Job Representative right away so that preparations can be made for a representative to be present during your interview.

If you do not receive written notification, but your supervisor and/or a personnel employee asks you to answer questions about a subject which you reasonably believe may result in discipline you have the right to stop the process and ask that a WAFWP representative be present. Sometimes a supervisor may not be aware of your contractual rights and may deny you access to a representative. In those cases, as soon as the interview is over, contact your Job Representative and let him know of this fact so that we can assist you after-the-fact. Remember, it is your responsibility to ask that an Association representative be present in disciplinary interviews!

Need a Job Rep? See the job rep page at our website for a list of job reps near you. If you need a job rep immediately, and the one you want is not available, then give any of the other job reps or a board member a call.

Job Duty Modifications… When to Bargain?

As the Agency faces impending budget cuts, job duty modifications will likely result from any layoffs or restructuring as part of this budget process. Some modifications will likely result in a re-prioritization of surveys, species protections and land management. So, when must the Agency bargain these job duty changes?

RCW 41.56.030(4) defines “Collective Bargaining” as “…the performance of mutual obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working conditions…” The Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) has interpreted this statutory section as creating an obligation to bargain when the changes proposed have a substantial and significant increase in the employee’s workload, and the increased workload was not evenly spread out among all employees (management and non-union alike.) The change must require you to perform more work which has unique obligations to your current workload.

If changes require you to do more work which if of a dissimilar nature to your current job duties then the Agency must engage in decision-based bargaining. If the changes require you to perform significantly more work which is of a similar nature to your current job duties, then it requires impact bargaining by the Agency. Regardless of the nature of the change, please keep your WAFWP leadership informed of the proposed changes so that we can evaluate whether negotiations are triggered by the changes.

MEMBERS’ CORNER

If you have news about yourself or another member that can be shared (a new baby or two, promotion, personal achievement, etc.) please feel free to contact the editor (Chris Sato) for inclusion in the next newsletter.

THANKS TO…

…Derek Stenson (Wildlife Program, Wildlife Diversity Division) for serving as WAFWP Treasurer from 2005 to 2008. Derek did a great job of keeping track of the Association membership and finances.

…Are Strom (Fish Program, Region 6 Shellfish Resources) for serving as the Fish Program Board Member from 2006 to 2008. Are is not completely off the hook as he will still be serving on various and sundry committees for the Association.

…Jeff Korth (Fish Program, Region 2) for serving as the Eastside/Fish Program/Region 2, Job Rep from the late Pleistocene to 2008. Good luck in your new position as the Region 2 Fish Program Manager.

…Terry Jackson (Habitat Program, Environmental Services) for serving as NRB Job Rep, also from the late Pleistocene to 2008.

…Michael Ulrich (Fish Program, Marine Resources) for lodging the Association President in Olympia during many contract negotiations sessions and for hosting the contract ballot counting session.

…The Contract Negotiation Team: Jeromy Jording (Fish Program, Salmon/Steelhead Division), Lynn Anderson (Fish Program, Science Division), Teresa Eturaspe (Habitat Program, Technical Applications), Steve Bell (Habitat Program, Region 5), Are Strom (Fish Program, Region 6), Bryan Murphie (Wildlife Program, Region 6), Russell Rogers (Fish Program, Marine Resources), and our lawyer Rhonda Fenrich.

Welcome New Board members...

...Adam Couto (Fish Program, Fish Management) Treasurer. Adam has served the Association in many roles including board member, Vice President, and Job Rep.

...Sheila Smith (Fish Program, Science Division) At-Large Board Member. Sheila has served on the board of WFSE and WPEA and is replacing, by appointment, Camille Speck, who moved into the Fish Program Board Representative position vacated by Are Strom. She has been with WDFW in the Fish Program since 1991.

Welcome New Job Reps...

...Brock Applegate (Habitat Program Major Projects Division), Region 3, Ellensburg.

...Lynn Anderson (Fish Program, Science Division), NRB.

...Chris Fulton (Fish Program, Region 1) Region 1, Dayton.

Get well soon to...

...Dana Anderson (Fish Program, Science Division) and a speedy recover from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident earlier this past summer.

Good Luck to...

...Jeff Lewis (Wildlife Program, Science Division) as he works towards a PhD at the University of Washington. Jeff’s studies coincide with his department position studying the habits of fishers in the north Olympic Peninsula.

Ciconia alba

The white stork has been generous to WAFWP members! Congratulations to…
 

…Sonia and Dave Lowery (Fish Program, Science Division) on the birth of first child, Roslyn Arabel Lowery on 4 September 2008 (6 lbs 6 oz). Click on photo of Roslyn to view the full image.

…David Geroux (Habitat Program, Major Projects Division) and Hannah Anderson on the birth of Desmond Geroux on 9 June 2008 (4 lbs 7 oz). He was a wee bit early and spent some quality time with doctors and nurses early on, but is home now and doing just fine.

…Andy and Lisa Hilliar (Fish Program, Marine Resources) on the upcoming birth of their second girl, 1 April 2009. They have not decided on a name yet and are open to suggestions.

…Larry LeClair (Fish Program, Marine Resources) and Ocean Eveningsong (Fish Program, Marine Resources) on the birth of a baby boy, their first, on 18 December 2008 (8 lbs 5 oz). They have not decided on a name yet and are also open to suggestions. [Note: Lisa and Ocean’s desk in the NRB are side by side. Whatever it is, it appears to be contagious!]

…Julia and Jeff Azerad (Wildlife Program, Wildlife Diversity Division) on the birth of twins Benedict Aquiba (5 lbs 14 oz) and Eleanor Beatrice (5 lbs) on 12 October 2008. Jeff and Julia welcome you to visit their website for photos of the twins at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31770247@N08/sets

…Shane and Valerie Tribble (Fish Program, Salmon/Steelhead Division) on the birth of Zackary Lewis, their first, on 4 November 2008 (8 lbs 12 oz).

…Scott and Kelly Henderson (Fish Program, Science Division) on the birth of Drew, their second, on 25 November 2008 (8 lbs 6 oz).

In Memoriam

Therese Armetta Cain 8 August 1954 – 28 July 2008

Remembering Therese -By Brain McLaughlin

Therese Cain passed away at her home in Port Townsend, WA on July 28th, 2008 after a long battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband Tom and her 12 year old son Mathew. She received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois and received a master’s degree from Oregon State University. She conducted crab research for NOAA in Alaska before she started working for the Washington Dept. of Fisheries in April of 1990.

Her colleagues at Pt. Whitney have set up a memorial scholarship fund at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center to honor her dedication to the crustacean resources of Puget Sound and her strong conservation ethic. Therese did some cooperative research studies with the marine science center and it is an organization she strongly believed in. The scholarship will help to fund an intern interested in a career in the marine sciences. Please consider making a donation in memory of Therese Cain to help fund this scholarship for an intern at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Donations may be sent directly to the PTMSC at:

Port Townsend Marine Science Center
Fort Worden State Park
532 Battery Way, Port Townsend
WA, USA 98368

Please be sure to write "Therese Cain Memorial Scholarship" in the memo line of your check. You can also donate by credit card by contacting PTMSC at info@ptmsc.org or by calling (360) 385-5582 or (800) 566-3932.

The is perhaps no better way to describe what a warm and giving person Therese was than by her own words that she left for her friends and family, at her memorial:
 

“To all of you I have known during some portion of my life, I didn’t say enough the last time I talked to you, to tell you how I cherished our memories of time together. I have very fond memories of all you people, in the many places I have lived, schooled, played and worked during my life! Thank you so much for enriching my life. I love you for that, and wish you the very best in the coming years. I was also overwhelmed by the support I have received during my final days of life from my loving family and by friends & neighbors in Port Townsend!” – Therese Cain

Therese doing what she loved most, Hood Canal shrimp test fishery (with Mark Millard). - Photo by Brain McLaughlin.

Twila Horn 28 March 1941 – 25 July 2008

Twila worked as a fish counter for WDFW for the past nine seasons at the John Day Dam and was a resident of Wasco, Oregon. She is truly missed by all her co-workers and everyone who knew her. She will be remembered for her kind and warm smile, her generous spirit and her always willing hand to help others. May she rest in loving peace. (Thanks to Andrea LaFazio for this remembrance and photo).

A Note On Overtime...

Most problems or concerns from our members regarding overtime have generally involved cases where overtime-eligible employees were denied overtime for legitimate hours worked where prior approval wasn’t obtainable or they were asked to flex their time to avoid overtime.

Our current contract allows overtime-eligible employees to be compensated for all hours worked; overtime is earned for those hours over 40 in a workweek. Although our current contract requires prior approval to work overtime and we strongly encourage employees to work with their supervisors to obtain approval, the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to compensate overtime-eligible employees for compensable hours worked over 40/week at the overtime rate. This overtime requirement cannot be waived by agreement between an employee and employer nor can overtime pay be denied for hours worked without employer approval.

The original intent of the current contract language requiring prior approval was to facilitate communication between employees and management, such that appropriate consideration for the budget is given, fairness and consistency between employees can be achieved, and to ensure overtime is worked for legitimate assignments only. The approval process was to be streamlined and improved to meet the needs of our members. Unfortunately this hasn’t occurred and problems continue to arise. We’ve attempted to remedy this in the next contract, 2009-2011, by reducing the threshold of approval/denial to the supervisor’s level.

The FLSA is clear on flex-time, as well. It states that, for overtime-eligible employees, hours cannot be averaged across a pay period; the 40-hour threshold applies and thus no flexing of time within the TotalTime pay period. This can often create problems for employees whose schedules vary week to week and are dependent upon factors that can’t be controlled. Comp-time should be the answer in these cases; where an employee earns and uses comp-time in lieu of flex-time. Comp-time can be accrued up to 80 hours at any given time (although there is no annual limit). This easy on, easy off approach has been the point of many debates and remains unresolved at this time, but this is the recommended course employees should request when asked to flex.

It is important to keep in mind that the Agency does have the right to determine if overtime is worked, when and by who, so we strongly recommend working through the approval process prior to working overtime and, if you are denied, work with your supervisor to determine how your schedule should be modified to reduce the number of hours you work. If you find yourself in the position where overtime is unavoidable and you are denied compensation after working those hours, let us know and we’ll work with the department to make sure you are compensated. The association highly recommends that members not work “off the books” to balance their schedule. This can result in disciplinary action and it doesn’t accurately account for all the good things we do. Accurate time accounting will better reflect the staffing needs of our agency and improve the agency’s ability to ask for funding increases.

A final word on the calculation of overtime, the rate is 1.5 to 1, but determining the amount is not as simple as determining your hourly rate of pay. The State of Washington uses the “fluctuating pay rate” to determine your overtime rate. What this means is they take the number of hours worked in a pay period, divide it by your ”salary” for that pay period to determine an overtime rate. The end result, the more you work the less your overtime rate of pay. This is a legal methodology for calculating overtime, just not one which is employee friendly.

More Exchange Time and Overtime Issues

We are still getting reports from members that they are being asked by managers to do strange things when recording the time that they work.

The most common thing that we hear is that people are being asked to work off the books. Whether you are overtime eligible or overtime exempt please don’t do this! There is no instance whatsoever where you should work off the books. When you do work for the agency you are given certain legal rights and protections. If a question arises about your job performance at a given time, and your time sheet shows you were off the clock you may put those rights in jeopardy.

Sometimes, the work that WAFWP members do simply does not fit into a regular 40 hour workweek.

Some overtime eligible employees have also been told that there is a limit to how much overtime they can accrue. Specifically, once they reach 80 hours of overtime, then they must work off the books. This is not true. There is no limit to how much overtime you can accrue. The CBA (8.5.B) states that you can accumulate no more than 80 hours of compensatory time. After that, you must be paid cash at the over time rate (For more information about overtime see “A Note On Overtime” article).

With exchange time we are hearing that members are still being told a wide range of incorrect information. For example, things like: you can’t get exchange time at all; you must have exchange time pre-approved – no exceptions; you must use exchange time by a given date; you must flex your time in the pay period. None of these things are true.

As an exchange time eligible member of our association you are entitled to exchange time for any time worked over 40 hours in a week, regardless of where the pay period falls. You are limited to accruing no more than 80 hours, and it is your responsibility to keep your exchange time below that figure.

The association has agreed that whenever possible, our members will seek pre-approval of exchange time when they can predict a need for it. However, pre-approval is not a limiting factor. For example, if you are working in the field and unforeseen factors cause you to work over forty hours in a workweek, then you are entitled to exchange time. The same is true for non-field positions. If a meeting you are in runs long, or travel time takes longer than you expected and you work over 40 hours, then you are entitled to exchange time.

Make sure when you fill out the exchange time request that you mark the coalition exception box in those cases. If you ask for pre-approval of exchange time and are denied then management and/or you supervisor needs to give you direction as to how your assigned task will be accomplished without accruing exchange time.

If you have any questions about accrual of exchange time or overtime, please feel free to contact a job rep or WAFWP President Russell Rogers at any time. If you are asked to work off the books or are denied accrued exchange time or overtime for any reason, please contact your job rep immediately. If necessary, we will file a grievance, however, keep in mind that there are strict time restraints involved, so don’t delay in contacting a job rep.

Volunteering

Volunteering for WDFW Recently, some of our members have been told that they must attend a public meeting or public event, but they must do so as a volunteer for the department. As an employee of the department you should never be asked to volunteer for anything that is similar to your fundamental job duties. This is a violation of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act as well as the department’s own policies.
	Volunteering for WAFWP Unlike the department, we ain’t got no complicating factors when it comes to people helping out. WAFWP is a member run organization. If you are passionate about workers rights, making the department a better place to work, the safety and well-being of field staff, etc, please feel free to give Russell Rogers a call. While we might not be able to provide exciting volunteer opportunities like those pictured here, we are always looking for a hand in one way or another.

Shared Leave Demystified (We Hope!)

If you think you may need to make use of shared leave, the most important advice is to PLAN AHEAD! Get to know Article 14 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Having recently navigated the muddy waters related to requesting and using shared leave, the key to making this work for you is to keep a close eye on your leave balances. You would be surprised how quickly this leave disappears when you are faced with a severe illness, absence related to an unforeseen accident, for you or a family member. Shared leave can be donated to a fellow state employee who has been called to service in the military or who is, or has a relative or household member, suffering from an “extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition which has caused or is likely to cause the employee to take leave without pay or terminate his or her employment”. (See article 14.1) Most importantly, shared leave CANNOT be used retroactively. You need to request it, be approved for shared leave by the Human Resources (HR) Office, receive shared leave through donations, and have these donations posted before you can begin to use them.

Shared leave can only be used once ALL your accrued leave balances have been exhausted (sick leave, vacation leave, personal holiday, comp time and exchange time). The exception to this is that if a person has been called to military service, sick leave balances do not need to be exhausted prior to using shared leave. A good rule of thumb is to start talking to your HR Representative when the combined time for all of types of leave nears 30 hours in total. At that time, your HR Rep will ask for a certificate from your doctor, which is simply a letter stating the expected duration of your condition and—this is very important—how your condition is “extraordinary and severe”. Make sure the letter incorporates those EXACT words if possible. Your HR Rep will investigate your request and make a determination. If you are told you are ineligible, DO NOT GIVE UP! It took me two attempts to be approved. Even though I had a serious medical condition that required physical therapy two times per week, additional appointments with a neurosurgeon, osteopath, chiropractor and massage therapist, and my duty station is a one hour drive from any of these care providers, I was told I did not have a “severe or extraordinary condition” on my first attempt. Since I was almost out of leave and would need to miss work and take leave without pay to attend these appointments, I questioned this determination. I wrote a detailed explanation of why I would need to miss work, copied the HR Director on my email, and was then approved.

The agency head will determine the amount of donated leave an employee may receive up to a maximum of 261 days during total state employment. The actual amount of shared leave that is donated may not become available in a single block of time. HR will provide a time frame for access to the donated leave in your letter of determination. If needed you must request any extensions (with another doctor’s certificate) in order to continue to the use of shared leave beyond the original time frame specified by your letter of determination. The original time frame is established by the certificate (letter) from your doctor. A certificate to request an extension can come from other physicians providing care, indicating that your condition is continuing and indicating a time frame for the extension. Obviously you will want to work with your medical providers to establish the longest possible anticipated duration of your care.

Shared leave will be made available in blocks of time and will be listed on your time sheet with its own code in TotalTime. Someone in the Personnel office will be assigned to determine how much leave you will need within certain blocks of time. Remember, as you accrue your own leave each month you will be required to exhaust these balances before using any shared leave for that pay period. To make this as seamless as possible, communicate with your HR Rep contact prior to the end of each pay period if possible.

Some important things to know:

• Household members are defined as persons who reside in the same home who have reciprocal duties to, and do, provide financial support for one another. This term will include foster children and legal wards even if they do not live in the household. The term does not include persons sharing the same general house, when the living style is primarily that of a dormitory or commune.

• Donated leave is transferable between employees in different state agencies with the agreement of both agency heads.

• Donating employees may donate any amount of vacation leave, provided the donation does not cause the donor’s vacation leave balance to fall below 80 hours (requirements are pro-rated for part-time employees). Any amount of sick leave may be donated provided the donation does not drop the donor’s sick leave balance below 176 hours. For the purposes of sick leave donation, a day equals the donor’s monthly sick leave accrual. All or part of a personal holiday may be donated. Any portion not used by the recipient will be returned to the donating employee.

• Employees may not donate excess vacation leave that the donor would not be able to take due to an approaching anniversary date.

• The receiving employee will be paid their regular rate of pay. This means one hour of shared leave may cover more or less than one hour of the recipient’s salary. The calculation of the recipient’s leave will be done in accordance with the Office of Financial Management policies, regulations and procedures, meaning the dollar value is converted from the donor to the recipient.

• Shared leave is maintained separately from all other leave.

• Any shared leave not used by the recipient during the incident/occurrence will be returned to the donor(s).  The remaining leave will be divided among the donors on a prorated basis based on the original donated value and returned at its original donor value, and reinstated to each donor’s appropriate leave balance.

• All donated leave must be given voluntarily.

• An employee who uses leave that is transferred under the Shared Leave rules will not be required to repay the value of the leave that is used.

2008 WAFWP Membership Survey

As you may recall each year the Washington Department of Personnel ask that all state employees take part in a survey to get a measure of employee sentiment in relation to their jobs. When the results of the 2007 survey became available, WDFW was one of the few departments in the state that showed a negative trend in employee attitudes towards their work. In July our director sent an email to staff wondering why. While the WAFWP board has a pretty good pulse on how our members feel about their work place, we thought we would approach you, our members, to ask you directly how you feel about working in WDFW.

In all, we mailed 549 survey forms to our membership, of which 238 were mailed back to us, for a 43.3% rate of return. Apparently, the survey struck a chord as the association has never gotten anything close to this response on other issues such as board elections or contract ratification. Many of you took the opportunity to write lengthy comments, while a few you took the time to type out multi-page essays as to how WDFW could improve our workplace. Some of you simply took the opportunity to vent your frustrations with your work environment. Your response has given us the best data we could ask for to convey to management the sentiments of their employees. It also gives the leadership of our association good information as to the best places to put our time and energy to advocate more efficiently on your behalf. Thanks again to all of you who took the time to contribute to this effort.

On another note, some members told us privately that they did not respond or were hesitant to respond to the survey out of fear that the department would retaliate against them if they expressed unfavorable opinions. This fact alone reflects poorly on the department’s management for creating a culture of fear. We can assure you that retaliation would be impossible as there are no names attached to the actual survey data. We keep all sensitive information, such as these survey forms, safe from any kind of misuse. The information from the survey forms was entered into a database and is summarized below. Some of the comments that were written on the forms was manually typed in to a computer document and used by the association to support arguments beneficial to our members in negotiations or in labor-management meetings.

Basic demographics. Results, in percentages, for years worked, program, service in other programs, work location, and pay range are can be found in table 1, questions 1 through 5. [Note that the answers to some questions will equal greater than 100% because respondents marked more than one answer.]

The results for question 2 reflect almost precisely the actual percentages for each program that WAFWP represents.

Question 3 shows that we don’t move around between programs very much, in fact, only six members indicated that they worked in multiple programs. Question 4 accurately reflects the distribution of our members across the state.

In talking with our members, the general feeling we get is that morale is suffering and has been in a decline for the past several years. The responses for question 6 showed that for many of you this is the case, with 35.3% experiencing poor or very poor morale, 36.6% said that their morale was fair, and the rest (28.2%) said morale was good to excellent (Graph 1). A mere 4.2% said it was excellent. While the data for question 6 represents a classic bell curve, a bell curve however, is not what you would want to see here. Ideally you would want most of the responses to fall into the good to excellent side of the graph.

Looking at the morale issue by program Habitat shows the most favorable results with 70.9% saying that their morale was fair to good. For the Fish and Wildlife programs the majority of answers tilted more to the fair, poor, very poor side of the chart (Graph 1). Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, new employees (0-5 years) indicated a higher morale than those who have been around longer (20 years and over, Graph 2).

Graph 1. Question 6) How would you rate your overall morale at work at this time by program?	Graph 2. Question 6) How would you rate your overall morale at work at this time by longevity?

Perhaps a more telling sign that morale is not in a good state is when you look at the answers to question 7 as to how your morale has changed over the past five years. This graph shows a heavy bias toward the worse to much worse side of the chart. If this is true, then it tells us that perhaps five years ago, most of you may have answered question 6 more favorably.

Question 10 rating the current level of trust between you and mid to upper level management and Question 11 rating communication between you and mid to upper level management indicate that things between the rank and file employees and management could be better. Question 10 regarding trust, 43.8% gave poor to very poor marks (Graph 4) and with Question 11 regarding communication 40.8% gave poor to very poor marks (Graph 5). With Both Questions, 23.6% responded with Good or Excellent marks.

Graph 3. Question 7) How has your overall morale at work changed over the past five years?	Graph 4. Question 10) How would you rate the current level of trust between employees in your work-group and mid-to-upper level management?

Graph 5. Question 11) How would you characterize communication through the supervisory chain between you and mid-to-upper level management?	Graph 6. Question 16) Over the past five years, how would you rate the Director and the Executive Management Team (EMT) in terms of providing the leadership, tools, organization, and policies you need to get your work accomplished in an efficient and professional manner?

Question 12 asked if you were actively looking for work outside the agency at this time, to which 38.9% said yes and 61.1% said no (Table 1). A significant number of people wrote the comment that they were not looking for other work simply due to the fact that they were to close to retirement to do so. For those who were looking for work Question 13 asked why. Overwhelmingly the answers to this question was to seek better pay (55.3%) and seek a better work environment (45.3%, Table 1). Question 14 asked all members to characterize their current level of pay. To this, 61.4% said that pay was less than adequate, 38.1% said it was adequate, and 0.4% said that it was more than adequate (Table 1).

Question 16,17, and 18 addressed how well you think the director and the leadership of your program are doing their jobs. Question 16 asked how you would rate the job that the Director and Executive Management has done over the past five years in providing the leadership, tools, organization, and policies you need to get your work accomplished in an efficient and professional manner? To this 63.6% of respondents said that management’s job in this area had become worse or become much worse. Only 2.6% indicated that it had become better in any way (Graph 6).

Question 17 asked how the Director and Executive Management has done over the past 5 years to foster a positive and collegial work environment? Here things really steep into negative territory with 70.1% saying that things have gotten worse or much worse. Only 2.7% said that things were improved or much improved (Graph 7). Question 18 addressed how you would rate the leadership within your program specifically. Overall the responses were spread out fairly evenly between good and very poor. When the data was separated between programs, some clear differences were apparent (Graph 8). The fish program showed the worst results with 60% rating it poor or very poor and only 15.2% saying it was good or excellent. The results for the Habitat Program faired better with 40.0% saying the leadership was fair and 32.0% saying it was good. The results for the leadership of the Wildlife Program provide perhaps the only bright spot in the entire survey. Only 19.6% gave the Wildlife Program leadership a poor or very poor rating, while in contrast, 58.7% gave the leadership a good to excellent rating.

Graph 7. Question 17) Over the past five years how would you rate the Director and the Executive Management Team in term of fostering a positive and collegial work environment?	Graph 8. Question 18) In general how would you rate top leadership within your Program?

The results from this survey should speak for itself and we doubt that any of you find any of it a real surprise. As stated in the beginning we have already used your response to this survey to let the management of the department know where you stand. Overall, the results of this survey were fairly negative and reflect, we feel accurately, the mood of our membership at this time. However, with recent changes in the leadership of the department we are optimistic that future surveys will show an up swing in attitudes and morale amongst our members.

FINANCIAL RECORDS AUDIT - Report to members

Earlier this year, members voted for a change in the Association Bylaws regarding financial records. Due to changes in our handling and monitoring of these records, the Board felt that a full-fledged audit every ten years was no longer necessary. However the Board did feel that an annual review of a subset of our financial records, and a review of our CPA’s annual Agreed Upon Procedures by an Association member not involved in theses finances was still an appropriate safeguard.

Tom Cyra, WAFWP Secretary, recently completed a review of three months of our financial records for 2008. Monthly bank statements were reconciled with financial reports from our bookkeeper, invoices from members and business accounts, cancelled checks, and financial transfers approved by the Board. All accounts and record keeping were accurately reconciled and all expenditures were appropriately documented. Our Bookkeeper, Renee Welch at ShoeBox Bookkeeping is to be commended for an excellent job at managing our record keeping needs.

WAFWP BYLAWS - ARTICLE XI

The financial records of this Association shall be reviewed by a CPA annually. Results of annual reviews will be provided to members upon written request to the Treasurer. A member appointed by the Board not directly involved in the Association’s banking or finances, shall check the annual review by the CPA for irregularities, and shall review the bank statements and invoices periodically during each year.

[Editor’s note: At the recommendation of our lawyer, we no longer publish a Treasurers report of our finances publicly. If any member in good standing would like an update please contract Adam Couto, WAFWP Treasurer, directly.]

WAFWP Calendar

Please check our Web Calendar for board meetings, training sessions, membership meetings and other activities of  the association.

Contributors As with all the activities of WAFWP this newsletter is the result of many people who volunteer lots of time for something they feel strongly about. Thanks to: Tom Cyra Joe Evenson Rhonda Fenrich Bryan Murphie Russell Rogers Chris Sato Sheila Smith Camille Speck Are Strom

Want a copy of the original Newsletter?  Download PDF here.