Union participates in joint subcommittee to review IT classification system

May 20, 2008 - For years, OCSEA has advocated for better career ladders, more valued training opportunities, and a better link between what Information Technology bargaining unit employees do and their ─very outdated ─ job classifications.

After agreeing last winter to the creation of a joint subcommittee, union and management representatives now are reviewing all IT classifications in all state agencies and developing a comprehensive proposal for a new system. The goal of this labor-management group is to bring the IT classification series into the 21st century, while involving the union and its members.

"If union leadership better understands the opportunities and challenges facing the IT industry, state government, and the people who do the work, we can be more effective in addressing them in a way that reflects the interests of our members," OCSEA Operations Director Bruce Wyngaard said.

This joint process represents a unique opportunity for the union to partner with management in the creation of an entirely new classification system. Wyngaard explained that the contract mandates the employer to bargain wages, but it does not require the employer to involve the union in defining jobs and creating classifications.

"The union wants to be sure that the people who do the work have a role in describing what they do," said OCSEA leader Ed Nagel, a System Analyst 2 from ODJFS, adding that, “The union is sensitive to the significant variation in job duties that exists among agencies. OCSEA also recognizes the varied and changing job skills and competencies thatexist in such a large, diverse employer as the State of Ohio.”

The IT subcommittee represents a wide swath of agencies, as well as a diversity of IT work and classifications on both management and union sides.

For the union, the IT committee is an outgrowth of a similar committee that’s been meeting for the last five years. The union members on that committee are active in the union and have been wrestling with the problems of an outdated IT classification system for years.

OCSEA's key objectives:

• Help to shape the outcomes in a way the incorporates the needs and concerns of union members.

• Be a part of improving the process of how government does business.

• Develop career pathways that are not possible under the current system

• Address training needs and hopefully find ways to solve serious problems

• Capture all bargaining unit work, including consultant's work in the new classifications and

• Position OCSEA to understand the implications for compensation and to address them (possibly in the future at the bargaining table).

Since its work began in late February, the subcommittee has made wide and deep progress. For example, workgroups headed up by subject matter experts and representing a range of classifications, are examining various classification groupings in an effort to make some draft recommendations about how skills could be sorted out.

Still, committee members acknowledge they have a lot of work to do.

“This is just the beginning. We will be asking all IT employees for their input,” said OCSEA member Tim Huntsman, a Programmer/Analyst 3 from the Industrial Commission, acknowledging that several factors will influence the timeline.

Union leaders and their management partners will be talking with members throughout the process to share more information about what's driving the state's need for new IT job classifications, the joint process that's helping to deliver a new system, and the ways union members can be a part of and benefit from the resulting changes.

The full joint committee is scheduled to deliver a one-hour status presentation on May 21. A final reclassification proposal will eventually be sent to Steve Edmonson, Director of Information Technology for DAS.

For information and to request a presentation in your agency, chapter or work area, OCSEA bargaining unit members can contact the following:

• Tim Huntsman, Industrial Commission,
  614-995-7142, thuntsman@ic.state.oh.us

• Ed Nagel, ODJFS, 614-387-8143, nagele@columbus.rr.com

• Kenny Keirns, DAS, 387-0122, Kenny.keirns@das.state.oh.us

• Lawrence McKissic, BWC, 216-584-0312, Mackman141@yahoo.com

• John Anthony, Taxation, 614-728-1946, janthony@columbus.rr.com