The state of Washington is in the process of making a major change in its civil service system. It鈥檚 a change that might 鈥� or might not 鈥� affect the 12,000 classified staff members who work at the University.
The change is mandated by the Personnel System Reform Act of 2002, which calls for a new human resource system to replace the one that has been in force since 1960. But the law doesn鈥檛 spell out the components of that system 鈥� only that whatever system is devised must meet certain criteria 鈥� so the state Department of Personnel has been working to develop a nearly final system by the end of the year.
That鈥檚 because negotiations with unions begin during the first part of the new year.
鈥淪tate law says we have to start negotiations in the first half of the year and finish by October of 2004,鈥� said Howard Pripas, the UW鈥檚 director of labor relations. 鈥淭hen the contract will be effective in July 2005.鈥�
The new civil service system will also go into effect in July of 2005. During negotiations, the union and the University could agree to adopt some but not all aspects of the state system. That鈥檚 why classified staff at the University may or may not be governed by the new state system.
Of the 12,000 classified staff at the UW, about 10,000 are already represented by unions. There are petitions pending to represent 1,100 of the remaining 2,000, according to Pripas, meaning that potentially 90 percent of the UW鈥檚 classified staff could be unionized.
Also, since several unions represent 91探花staff, the contracts covering the various unionized employees could be different, depending on the final agrement that is reached between the 91探花and a particular union.
Meanwhile, the state is continuing its process toward developing a system. Initially, the Department of Personnel (DOP) did some research about what other states are doing, then convened work groups to focus on ideas or concepts for different aspects of the rules. There were five teams, and the 91探花had representation in four of the five, said Elizabeth Coveney, director of administration and information systems for Human Resources. 91探花managers also participated in focus groups invited to react to the 鈥渇irst draft鈥� of the new system.
Since then the DOP has been collecting feedback statewide and making adjustments in what it鈥檚 proposing, Coveney says.
Essentially the new system is an attempt to create more flexibility and efficiency. The law mandates, for example, that the current 2,400 job classifications be substantially reduced. The proposal now on the table would trim that down to 800 by creating job categories, such as the 鈥渙ffice support鈥� category, with four levels within most categories reflecting the skills needed to do the jobs at that level.
鈥淭he classification part of the proposal is reminiscent of what we already have here with the professional staff system,鈥� Coveney said. 鈥淏ut we have some areas where we have very identifiable, specific occupational categories, such as in health care, where you really need a scheme that discretely identifies those niche occupations. In other areas you may have jobs that band together. We鈥檇 be looking for a mix of approaches that would reflect our needs to recruit and retain staff.鈥�
The proposed new system also calls for salary ranges to be consolidated into fewer, wider bands and for merit to play a greater role relative to seniority in decisions about pay raises.
鈥淯nlike today, where progress is based on longevity, they鈥檙e envisioning coming up with a scheme that has some longevity increase and then beyond that, within the range, progress might be on satisfactory or better performances,鈥� Coveney explained. 鈥淵ou might progress from your starting point to a certain point on longevity, but beyond that point it would be more merit based.鈥�
In fact, the system would place greater emphasis on merit overall 鈥� in decisions about promotions and layoffs, for example.
Another key area of change is in disciplinary actions, where a 鈥減ositive discipline鈥� approach is recommended. The 91探花would welcome such a change, Coveney said.
鈥淭raditionally the discipline model of the rules is very punitive. It鈥檚 focused on one-way communication 鈥� documenting, reprimanding and punishing according to the rules. That鈥檚 in contrast with what we鈥檝e negotiated in past Local 925 (one campus union) contracts 鈥� developing an action plan for demonstrating necessary changes, having a dialogue with employees and engaging both managers and employees to share responsibility for fixing the problem.鈥�
As the state process continues, what the University will be pushing for most is flexibility. 鈥淪ince the law provides that higher education institutions should be able to have local administration under the rules, we would urge that the rules set the criteria, then expect the school to develop a policy or procedure to apply that meets those criteria, as opposed to trying to come up with a one size fits all process,鈥� Coveney said.
Because the University is the only state agency operating two major academic medical centers, their administration is one area where the University would like more flexibility than the current system provides. 鈥淲e would like to be able to manage the medical centers, from a human resources perspective, in a way that is more consistent with certain practices of our competitors,鈥� Pripas said. 鈥淲e would want rules that give us greater flexibility.鈥�
For example, the current requirement of developing a detailed survey and business case to justify locally competitive wages for nurses is lengthy and labor intensive, Coveney said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 allow you to time the market in the way you would want your hospital to do. It鈥檚 not that the rules are unreasonable; it鈥檚 just that the process is unwieldy.鈥�
State officials have been meeting with HR and union officials statewide as they work to finalize a proposal. They want to position the unions and employers to be able to engage in collective bargaining with some basic framework of what the rules will look like by the end of this year, Coveney said.
While the bargaining is going on, the state will be going through the public rule-making process, including required public hearings. The DOP director is slated to adopt rules in July 2004, with implementation in July 2005.
The state has created a Web page, , that outlines the details of its proposed system and allows interested parties to provide feedback.