News | Kansas Organization of State Employees

People living in El Dorado share similar concerns about safety of correctional facility

Full story here: https://www.ksn.com/news/local/union-president-people-living-in-el-dorado-share-similar-concerns-about-safety/1280279093

From: KSN News

Concerns from some living in El Dorado after a reported riot resulted in several local agencies responding to the correctional facility.

"It is like right down the road." Haley Whattson said. "You just never know."

"If they have an outbreak, they are going to come here," said Charles Spires.

Smoke, ambulances, and a heavy police presence, all responding to an inmate led riot on Sunday afternoon.

"According to our source, they destroyed approximately

El Dorado prison standoff came amid dozens of vacant staff positions

https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article214199889.html

2019 Scholarships Are Here

Click here to check them out: http://kose.ks.aft.org/member-benefits

2018 Legislative Pay Plan Explanation

The 2018 Legislative Pay Plan is to provide state employees with approximately a 5.0% salary adjustment from FY 2018 through FY 2019. Therefore, benefits-eligible employees in the Executive or Legislative Branch who have been continuously employed since July 1, 2017, are proposed to receive one of the following:

1. Employees who received a 2.5% increase from the Legislature’s Pay Plan last July or an agency-funded increase for those who were left out of the Legislature’s Pay Plan last July, will receive a single step, or approximately 2.5%; or

2. Employees who did not receive an increase from

Osawatomie-state-hospital-once-a-leading-light-for-mental-health-care

http://www.khi.org/news/article/osawatomie-state-hospital-once-a-leading-light-for-mental-health-care

The problems that led federal inspectors to decertify Osawatomie State Hospital might have been prevented if a succession of Kansas governors and lawmakers had funded community-based mental health programs intended to reduce the need for state institutions.

http://kcur.org/post/higher-patient-count-unsteady-state-funding-made-waves-osawatomie-state-hospital#stream/0

KDADS to transfer some Larned, Osawatomie legal staff to central office

KHI NEWS SERVICE KDADS to transfer some Larned, Osawatomie legal staff to central office Agency says move to Topeka will improve efficiency, but some in legal community have concerns By Megan Hart | May 10, 2016 PRINT 20 15 0 The head of the legal department at Larned State Hospital will be transferred to Topeka later this month, a move that has some western Kansas attorneys concerned the distance could throw a wrench in the process of committing people who need mental health treatment. In addition to that general counsel job, a legal assistant position will be transferred to the Kansas

KOSE Responds to Inmate Attacks On Officers at Lansing Correctional Facility

The Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE) today expressed extreme concern for the safety of state correctional officers in the wake of erupting violence at a state run prison where, over the past several days, ten officers have been injured in inmate attacks.

Due Process Threats Impact All Public Employees

Last year during the 2013 Legislative Session, the Kansas Legislature introduced a bill that would have completely eliminated the Civil Service system for state employees. Without Civil Service protections, state employees could be fired for political reasons…or for no reason at all. KOSE successfully fought against this change, but the threat has not gone away.

On April 6, the Kansas legislature voted to eliminate due process for teachers. Teachers’ due process rights are very similar to state employees’ Civil Service rights, as they protect teachers from being fired for political reasons

On March 8th dozens of members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) from around the country arrived in Wichita. Attendees from as far away as Alaska and Connecticut came to help strengthen and energize KOSE and its members through a training and mobilization program AFT conducts annually.

During the week long program participants received morning training sessions on how to engage, organize, and activate workers. Then, in the afternoons and evenings, they developed those skills as they traveled across south-central Kansas conducting worksite visits, knocking on doors and making calls