By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

County fires member of union bargaining team; Union declares impasse

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Comments

tagup

“Where is the integrity of Yamhill county?”.....maybe Ms Olsen should look in the mirror and ask that question....
The fact that the Union has no plan to file a grievance speaks volumes....

Hibb

While it does seem that the County has the right to fire Ms. Olsen for alleged bad behavior and wrongful use of County equipment all for the benefit of herself and the union she represents, one question in my mind remains: Are the actions of Ms. Olsen and her anonymous co-conspirators prosecutable?
Hopefully the County is not trying to use that as a bargaining tool and the union is using it to somehow insulate itself. A thorough investigation by the proper authorities is warranted so as to settle any and all claims of inappropriate doings on the count of both parties in question: the union (i.e. Ms. Olsen) and the County.
One final thought about Ms. Olsen... I feel no remorse over her firing, as her corresponding actions are evidence enough of her complicit cooperation in what is a very unpleasant situation, if not an illegal one. I'll leave that up to competent authorities to determine.

Don Dix

Yamhill County departments - 23 (I believe).

County Administrator Ken Huffer -- 'I will say that almost all of the grievances have originated from two departments.'

2 out of 23 -- it seems the malcontents are clustered -- why not reveal which departments? The public pays the bills, shouldn't they be informed?

Amity fan

Before you all pass judgment in Ms Olsen, perhaps you should get the whole story. Don Dix I know you love to get the union busting comments in but something that gets lost is that the only reason there is a union at Yamhill County was that the County Administration decided to treat the employees like second class citizens when there was NO UNION. Of course the employees are going to defend themselves when the County is lawyered up with Diana Moffit and others. BTW, Moffit's the real winner in all of this. Her bill to the citizens of this County is astronomical. So, enter AFSCME and now the war is on. A minimal amount of research with the Secretary of State's office reveals that the information on the County Servers and networks is all public information. Ms. Olsen was only doing what she had been asked to do for years in previous negotiations - get accurate information for bargaining. The reports that she was accessing were actually developed jointly with county management. So what factual information was it that county administration wants hidden and why? IMO, the County is grossly exposed for a large lawsuit with this deal - once again because of failed or non-existent HR policies administered by County administration. They seem to not know nor understand what lawful due process is. They end up treating a loyal county employee of 35 years like throwing out the trash. Ms. Olsen deserves better treatment, the county employees deserve better treatment, and the citizens of this county deserve better treatment. Just another in a long string of failed HR policies. Still waiting for the appropriate people to be held accountable, and that's not the line employees. How about it Commissioners? This stuff is going on right under your noses. Time for serious action. Time to manage. In the meantime, reinstate Ms. Olsen.

tagup

I doubt everything on the county servers is public information....
While I agree with you that the county HR dept has made a number of serious mistakes over the last few years, my hunch is this termination is probably justified. The access is pretty easy to prove electronically...this person ( from what I read) worked in the IT dept so she must realize there is always a trail......
Seems if her actions were as innocent as you describe the union would be filing a grievance regardless of the time commitment involved.( Hard to believe the union won’t defend an unjustified termination because it takes too long..(?) and if she is guilty of the accusation, then she got exactly what she deserved no matter how long she was on the job.....

Don Dix

Amity fan -- couldn't find anywhere in my comment that even mentioned unions. As taxpayers who foot the bill, I believe the public should be advised where the discontent originates. But it's refreshing to see you know how and why all unions originated.

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