Update from Saturday, July 12, 2025

This week, our Union met numerous times with ODOT leadership, the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), Legislative leadership and the Governor’s office. We have put pressure on all these decision makers to center the workers that are being impacted by the failure to pass the transportation package and the importance of negotiating an agreement that mitigates some of the negative effects of this situation. 

Late last night, we came to an agreement with the DAS on two letters of agreement that address some of the concerns we have heard from workers over the last week. There is more to be done, and your participation is critical for the next steps.

Here are some key highlights of the agreement (full agreements can be found here и также здесь):

• For workers who received a layoff notice on July 7th, the timeline to respond to that notice has been extended to Thursday, July 17th at 5pm. People who have already responded will have one more opportunity to change their response; we wanted to ensure that if the Letter of Agreement or bumping within the district changed someone’s decision, they still had time to act on it.
• The Geographic Areas for bumping have been updated to Maintenance Districts to avoid workers needing to move long distances for new positions. This includes non-maintenance staff. If there is no position to bump into within the district, then the current contract language will be used, and your geographic area will be your region. This change addresses concerns we heard about people being forced to relocate far from home through the bumping process.
• ODOT employees who receive final confirmation of layoff can utilize any combination of vacation, compensatory time, compensatory straight time or personal business to reach eighty (80) hours of paid time during the month of August so that they can meet PEBB requirements to maintain healthcare coverage through September.
  • Workers that do not have a combined 80 hours of vacation, compensatory time, compensatory straight time or personal business can request donated leave for this purpose. This gives all laid off workers a pathway to maintain their health insurance through September.
• Workers who received layoff notices can use work time to update their resume, attend agency sponsored informational meetings, rapid response sessions and to talk to recruiters about potential job opportunities.
• ODOT employees who currently live in ODOT housing and have final confirmation of layoff may remain in that housing through the end of the calendar year pursuant to the ODOT Housing Manual. If they are bumped and the person who bumped them requires housing, a written notice will be provided at least 30 days before the rental agreement is terminated.
• Some workers whose worksite changes as a result of the layoff process will qualify for relocation expenses.

These steps are important, and it’s critical for the legislature to go into a special session to fund ODOT now to put an end to these layoffs. Lawmakers can stop these layoffs and we need your help to make sure they feel our power and hear our stories. Please take a moment to создать видео that we can share with them. If you have a layoff notice, we are asking you to send that notice to your legislators (find them at this link) and cc: Anthony Castaneda at castanedaa@seiu503.org in your email so we can track their responses. Layoff notices were issued on July 7th  – it’s important to note that although some managers received notice earlier, represented workers are protected under SEIU-won policy changes, so the process is slightly different.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has confirmed that some maintenance shops will close, although specific locations and the full impact remain unclear. Seniority rights will apply, and bumping across job classes and locations is likely.

Information sessions are being held in the next week – here are details:

SEIU Drop-in Q&A Session  

Unemployment Q&A with AFL-CIO Expert Josh Hall

Joint ODOT HR/SEIU Info Sessions:

• Thursday, July 17th from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Teams Link Info Session 7.17
  
• Friday, July 18th from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM – Teams Link Info Session 7.18

Какие: These sessions will include both SEIU and ODOT HR staff to help walk through processes and answer questions.

SEIU 503 continues working with ODOT and the Department of Administrative Services to pursue alternatives to layoffs. We will share new information as soon as it’s available. Check out this slideshow for a comprehensive summary of the issues and layoff process:

Увольнения ODOT – что вам нужно знать

If you have questions, you can use this email address to reach an organizer.

Действуй!

Найдите своего законодателяЗаписать видеоSign the Release

Hundreds of ODOT workers have received layoff notices since the legislature failed to approve a budget package, but we’re not giving up. We’re collecting stories about the impacts of the layoffs to push onlegislators to hold a special session to solve this crisis. We’re encouraging workers like you to make short videos with the following information and send them to legislators:

Мы разослали электронное письмо о том, что законодательный орган не смог принять пакет финансирования в ходе сессии в понедельник, 30 июня, с которым вы можете ознакомиться Нажмите здесь, чтобы прочитать, и обновление во вторник, 1 июля после нашей встречи с руководством ODOT.

Мы здесь для вас — обращайтесь к своему управляющему или представителю профсоюза с любыми вопросами или проблемами.

Ресурсы для уволенных работников

Шаблон уведомления об увольнении

Руководство для уволенных работников в Орегоне

SEIU представил сотрудников – часто задаваемые вопросы об увольнениях (обновлено в июле 2025 г.)

Схема процесса увольнения штата

Координационная комиссия по высшему образованию. Ресурсы по увольнениям для работников

Помощь уволенным или отправленным в неоплачиваемый отпуск членам профсоюза

Наш коллективный договор ODOT