Yesterday at the interest arbitration hearing for Teamsters at the Department of Corrections, the State called Elliot Susseles, the Senior Vice President at Segal Waters Consulting as its first witness. 

Mr. Susseles’ consulting firm was contracted by the State to perform a compensation analysis of a variety of job classifications at the DOC.  Your Union’s legal team, led by General Counsel Spencer Thal, had the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.  Mr. Susseles’ testimony lasted the duration of the morning. 

In the afternoon, your Union called two witnesses – Anil Karia, an attorney at the Tedesco Law Group in Portland, and Carla Pusateri, a former Deputy Fire Marshal at the Corvallis Fire Department, who now consults with Tedesco.  Both Mr. Karia and Ms. Pusarteri have extensive experience conducting compensation analyses for public employees, particularly those working in public safety.  In preparation for the hearing, your Union had contracted with Mr. Karia and Ms. Pusateri to perform that work.  Mr. Karia and Ms. Pusateri testified for the remainder of the afternoon.  

We anticipate that the State will continue to call witnesses throughout most of the day today.   Your Union’s legal team will present the bulk of its case this Thursday, Friday, and Monday of next week.  Your Union will be calling on additional expert witnesses to testify at that time.

The interest arbitration hearing is open to members.  If you would like to attend part of the hearing, please talk to your Business Representative.  At the end of the hearing, we will be posting your Union’s opening statement online.  The opening statement contains a comprehensive overview of your Union’s arguments in the case. 

To stay informed during the hearing, visit your Union’s website or sign up for text message updates to your mobile phone by texting DOC to 206-452-1840.