Satisfaction survey says N.D. workers want R-E-S-P-E-C-T

For the first time since Gov. John Hoeven took office in January 2001, North Dakota state employees have his attention, and they got it through collective action. They got it because nearly 3,000 state employees responded to an online employee satisfaction survey conducted by the North Dakota Public Employees Association (NDPEA), an affiliate of AFT Public Employees.

NDPEA called a press conference March 1 to release the results. “Within three hours of the press conference, the governor’s chief of staff called [the union] to set up a meeting,” says NDPEA executive director Chris Runge.

The March 5 meeting between NDPEA leadership and the governor was the first get-together granted by Gov. Hoeven, who had previously rebuffed the union’s requests to meet.

“He had almost 3,000 reasons to meet with us,” says Gary Feist, NDPEA president, noting that the survey was e-mailed to a few more than 6,000 state employees.

But it was the respondents’ 7,000-plus written comments expanding on the multiple-choice questions about such critical issues as job satisfaction, salary, pension and healthcare that filled in the blanks.

“I will retire in poverty as I have worked in poverty,” one respondent said. Another wrote: “Salaries are as low as always. Treatment is as indifferent as always. Special interests control decision-making as always.” And yet another observed: “This ‘work harder with less’ continues to be a theme emphasized by this state, and pretty soon we’ll be able to do everything with nothing.”

Despite the workforce’s increasing workload—due to a combination of factors, including growing demand for services, budget cutbacks and decreased staffing—99 percent of survey respondents agreed that state employees provide quality services to the citizens of North Dakota. But 53 percent of them are dissatisfied with working conditions. Sixty percent are dissatisfied with their salaries.

“I don’t expect to ever earn big money working for the state,” one respondent wrote. “If I wanted that, I wouldn’t be a state employee. However, I also don’t want to be exploited by my employer, either, which the Legislature seems to do to state employees.”

NDPEA’s challenge now is keeping the governor’s attention—as well as the Legislature’s. To build on the momentum generated by the survey, NDPEA held membership meetings across the state. Two of those meetings—one in Bismarck and one in Jamestown—attracted nearly 250 people, including elected officials and gubernatorial hopeful Joe Satrom, who sat in on the Bismarck meeting.

NDPEA’s next step is a postcard campaign urging Gov. Hoeven to include both an annual salary increase and a cost-of-living adjustment in his 2003-05 budget. The postcard also enlists the governor’s support for maintaining state employees’ health insurance, a benefit some legislators would like to reduce.

“It’s clear from the survey that employees want to be a priority in the next legislative session,” says Feist, noting that the Legislature’s next scheduled session is in 2005. “NDPEA will be at the capitol every day speaking for the employees we represent. But the political reality is that the more dues-paying members we have, the more muscle they have.”