Loving the Tier 1 Attitude

The GTFF filed a grievance against the Art Department for violating the hell out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and their own internal policies. Like I always, I spent hours putting the grievance together, gathering facts, talking with our members, trying to settle with the UO. We had a Step 3 meeting with the UO's grievance officer for the GTFF. I presented a half hour of argument, the UO's representative from the Grad School did the same. At the end, the grievance officer from the UO asks each side to submit written statements. I indicate that I am going on vacation, but will come into the office to write something up. The Grad School agrees to write up a statement. The UO's grievance officer indicates he's going to need more than e working days to read all this and come up with a decision. We all agree that he can take another week.

I spent four hours crafting a six-page argument detailing each contract violation. The UO's representative from the Grad School was out sick, but she, too, came in and spent some time making careful arguments about the case. Her document was also about six pages, with many pages of supporting documents.

We got the decision yesterday and, aside from some boilerplate, here is the judgment that the UO's grievance officer came to after carefully weighing the twelve pages of argument, plus the supporting documents, detailing ten allegations of contract violation:

The GTFF alleged that the Art Department failed to give preference to applicants who are further advanced in the program. However, there are other factors that are also given special consideration with respect to assignments such as a student’s special skills. Therefore, it was not proven that the Art Department failed to give preference to applicants who are further advanced in the program.

Lesson learned.

Let's Put This State on Kruse Control!

My favorite Oregon State Senator got his Friday newsletter out to me a bit early this morning and believe you me it is a gem. Not a gem so much in execution, but it in that it a long and detailed gripe about what a bitch it is to be in the minority party. Get this, even if you offer the most reasonable amendments to health care bills, in the end, the majority party can ignore all your proposals and just do whatever it is they please. And they call this a democracy.

Unfortunately, Jeff doesn't post his e-newsletters right away, so I am forced to give you last week's scraps. But my God, they are delicious.

First of all the Tea Parties held all over the nation did not get much media attention, but should be a wakeup call for Congress and all state legislative assemblies.

Boom! The tea parties did not get much media attention. Jeff and I live in very different worlds, apparently.

Jeff then tells us he's a farmer and, therefore, a business man. He can't understand why the Legislature is not run more like a his business. He gives us an example:

We will be looking at those activities which have shown a profit as well as those that have not. We are continuously looking for ways to become more efficient and cost effective in our operation. We are always experimenting with new varieties of seed, different crop applications, different types of equipment, whatever we can find to make our operation better. Our goal is to be able to give our customers the best quality products at the best price.

When we are planning for the next year we never assume the status quo. We know there are some crops that make us money and some that don’t. We also know we will continue to grow many of those we lose money on simply because our customers expect it, which puts additional pressure on our profit centers. I could go on for a long time about my business, but the point is to show the perspective which I use to create my budget. I think one of the unfortunate realities is very few members of the Legislature have any real business experience.

Exactly. Experimentation, trying new things. Give the customers what they need at the lowest prices. I'm down. Some government programs will make money, some won't. We can't know which. Some government programs will continue to exist, even though they lose money, just because the customers (that's you and me Russ) expect those crops services to be there. Look, we could talk about this all day, but talking never put hay in the barn.

But wait a tick.

There is a way to create a balanced budget for the next biennium without tax and fee increases...We should be prioritizing core government services and funding only those determined to be essential. We should not be creating new programs or any other type of government expansion.

What happened to the experimentation? The growing crops just 'cause that's what the customers want? What happened to the somethings will work and some won't, but you got to keep plugging away? Well, as Jeff says, government is big business.

The Governor is the CEO and the Legislative Assembly is the board of directors. It is time we stepped up and did our job. As of now we are not operating in the best interest of our shareholders.

And if there's one thing Jeff knows about it's running a large company being a rural farmer.

Oddly Enough, I'm Wearing a Low Neck Sweater Right Now

I've been listening to a lot of Beatles lately, having spent my weekend downloading all their albums (official cannon plus Magical Mystery Tour) in lossless FLAC format, so everything in my life (boom!) is taking on kind of a Beatles flavor.

How do you explain to your twelve-year-old daughter than, no, she probably wouldn't have enjoyed the Magical Mystery Tour at all? Is this a teaching moment or should I let her enjoy the Beatles without having to try to figure out which lyrics are drug references?

And then there's this, for Lex:



Mixed message, for sure.

An Environmental Lesson for the Kids

I just reminded Amber that if her room is warm (she has a habit of overheating), then that means there is a baby polar bear sitting on a tiny little piece of ice in the ocean, just waiting to die.