The Board of Directors
and the Executive Board discussed many issues concerning Association
business at the August meeting. Any member interested in details can
contact me directly. I will however, provide a synopsis of the topics
below:
The legislative agenda
for the 2008 regular legislative session will include several issues of
concern for the membership. Plan B improvements will be at the top of
the agenda. The Association will also seek to address on call pay and
trooper retention issues.
Marvin Masters has
entered into an agreement with the WVTA to extend legal advice and
services (when appropriate) to the membership. He advised he will assign
various attorneys at his firm to assist with legal matters. Any member
needing legal advice can contact Marvin's office directly but be sure to
advise your troop rep. The WVTA is asking all members to carefully
consider the gravity of your legal dilemma before you contact his
office. To ensure his office is not over whelmed with trivial
complaints, I would encourage the membership to speak with your board
representative first. For example, if a members CDO was cancelled
because another trooper on detachment took an SIQ day, it probably
wouldn't be prudent to file a grievance over an isolated incident like
this.
Marvin also provided
the board with a copy of the certified questions the circuit judge has
sent to the WV Supreme Court in reference to the plan B lawsuit. Any
member wanting to review the documents can contact me directly.
Recommended changes to
the grievance procedure and the promotional system were likewise
discussed. It appears that CWA Rep. Elaine Harris was successful in
preventing the Department from mandating a CSR change at the interim
legislative session which would have made it mandatory to have a
bachelors degree to test for LT. Proposed changes were also discussed
reference 81CSR-08. However, the Board agreed that no grievance
procedure will suffice when an administration seeks to operate outside
the system by threats and intimidation. Therefore, the Board agreed with
Marvin Masters to try and pursue a troopers bill of rights written into
state code.
The WVTA and union
reps. discussed a potential plan for meet and confer rights. This is
basically the same principle as collective bargaining and would be
enormously helpful for the membership if we could gain these employment
rights.
Elaine Harris also
presented the WVTA with a check which will go to the family of Marlo
Gonzales. The money was donated by new union members primarily
corrections employees.
One change I would
like to note will potentially affect some non WVTA members. In the
future, WVTA sponsored events (golf tournaments, bass tournament) will
be open only to WVTA members.
WVTA President John
Smith met with Governor Manchin prior to the board meeting to discuss
various issues affecting the membership. Low morale, trooper
resignations (highest of any administration) and due process complaints
were discussed. The governor advised that he knows there are legitimate
concerns and requested the WVTA wait until his own internal
investigation into these matters was conducted before the WVTA attempted
to address these concerns.
Recently, several
members have advised that they were considering leaving the WVTA,
feeling that the Association is not doing enough to assist the
membership. I would ask all members to carefully consider this issue
before they make a decision based on incomplete information. If you have
questions about what the WVTA has done and is doing on your behalf, ask
your board representative, become active in WVTA business and witness
for yourself what goes on behind the scenes. Scholarship awards,
banquets, tournaments, hardship awards are not the only things that have
been done. Just ask yourself how many $1500 hardship awards have been
given to members lately? Do you really know? If not ask. I would welcome
any member to come to the up coming legislative session and see for
yourself what the WVTA and CWA attempts to do on your behalf.
Lastly, I know morale
is the lowest I've ever seen in my career. I know most of you really
want to see a change in the WVSP. There are many important issues facing
us as troopers. We all experience the external pressures of being
troopers and unfortunately we are also subjected to various internal
pressures as well. Please give the governors committee time to put
forth its findings. I think you will see at that time a strong response
from the WVTA if internal conditions are not improved.