General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404
December 19, 2019
430PM Redman Club
Present:
Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Ryan Cates, Jamie Sheppard, Steve Wilking, Crystal Kreklow, Hans Paulson, Antonino Guerrero, Stacy Mueller, Jake Schoeneker, Molly Kennedy, Nick Weertz, Nicole Kueker, Katarina Hanson, Kelly Woelpern, Paul Schwichtenberg, Kathleen Luskey, Marvin Sullivan
1.Secretary Report:
Motion to approve November meeting minutes by Adam Castle, 2nd by Molly Kennedy. Motion passes.
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: November 2019
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 56899.80
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 29337.35
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 4600.06
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 81637.09
SAVINGS: $ 80100.08
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by Emilio. 2nd by Marvin. Motion passes.
3. Correspondence:
MSOP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/december-2019-msop-meet-and-confer
MSH Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/december-2019-msh-meet-and-confer
4. New Business: Nominations for President: Ryan Cates and Kyle Meyer
President: Ryan Cates and Kyle Meyer
VP Pres Admin. Eric Hesse accepted and Wins with no other nominations
VP Pres Steward Coordinator: Molly Kennedy and Steve Wilking
Secretary: Adam Castle and Sarah Auge
Chief Steward: Judith Ehrman, Nick Weerts, Kurt Crosby, Marvin Sullivan, Emilio Florez, Hans Paulson, and Alex Flores
Eboard: Steaed Doehring, Jake Scheoneker, Christy Christianson, Jamie Sheppard, April Neal. Stacy Mueller, Elissa Dulski
Treasurer: Antonino Guerrero. Wins with no other nominations
3 year trustee: Kelly Woelpern
2 year Trustee: Kathleen Luskey
1 year trustee: Jake Dougherty
Nominations are closed
Election committee is Eric Hesse, Antonino Guerrero
On January 16th we need people to sit ballot boxes, you will need to have day off or vacation. Pay per diem. Contact Eric Hesse or Ryan Cates if interested.
Motion for perdiem for sitting ballot boxes by Steve. 2nd by Marvin. Motion passes.
5. Old Business: Special election for international vice president. Covers council 5 and council 65. Current one resigned. 5 delegates needed to go to double tree. Will elect at next month meeting. Send names to Eric Hesse. Election for our officers and delegates.
Stacy put out survey for the Holiday party. The first serving of food will be at 630pm and then again at 1030pm. Suggestion for pizzas for people who work over nights. We need volunteers to help organize that. Motion by Stacy for up to 500 pizzas for overnight staff. 2nd by Marvin. Motion passes. Stacy volunteered to coordinate. *Although we appreciate the unique sleep patterns on NOCs, The E Board later decided to be fair to all members, we would not purchase pizzas for an individual watch. The AFSCME party has two different dinner times which we hope will accommodate all watches. Please send any ideas for future holiday parties to Ryan Cates.*
6. Items from the membership: Kathleen Luskey would like to have more conversation around having all union meetings in St. Peter. Jake Schoeneker would like to modify start times of meetings to accommodate staff getting off of work. He feels this would improve attendance. Eboard will discuss these topics in near future.
7. Good and Welfare: Marvin Sullivan makes a motion to donate 200 for each; Mankato food shelf, St Peter food shelf, BENCHS, Toys for tots, Echo food shelf and holiday training tree. 2nd by Steve. Motion passes
$1800 to kitchen in St. Peter by Marvin Sullivan. 2nd by Steve Wilking. Motion passes
These organizations have received these donations from AFSCME 404 for many years.
8. Officer Reports:
President: Ryan Cates- -Attended Forensic Meet and Confer-
-Presented multiple complaints about the AODS pool and inconsistencies in their procedures.
-We asked about the shift in progress vacation granting process for LPN’s- management said that this process is currently being reviewed and they will contact Labor with any changes.
-Brought forward the breaking up of Aspen unit and the staffing reductions that have resulted from it. Now there are, building wide, 4-6 less security counselors on every shift for the same number of patients- Management does not care and their response was “so what?”
-Clarified the weekend bonus for HSSS’s and what shifts qualify for it.
-FNH and their targeting of our members- management denies.
-Complained about the vacation granting process and issues that have come up, piggybacking, early rescinding, etc…- management will look into this.
Brought up the claim that our members are being inversed prior to the ot list being called- management said they were unaware of this.
Attended Weekly check-ins.
Filed multiple grievances and sat investigations.
Talked with members in multiple work areas and listened to their concerns.
Presented and argued grievances.
Became frustrated with management.
Communicated information to E-Board members about issues facing the Local.
Chaired the Executive Board Meeting
Chaired the General Membership Meeting.
We ask that all members who are interviewed as non-subjects in an investigation, request Union representation. If management refuses, then members should refuse to answer questions. Participation in investigations is completely voluntary and they cannot coerce you to answer their questions. We need to do this to compel management to discontinue their practice of refusing to allow Union representatives into investigations.
VP: Matt Stenger-
VP: Eric Hesse- December has been a relatively slow month for me. I’m working on a class action grievance for those that had their step increases withheld with the new wage grid adjustment that put people back into a pay step that requires a semi-annual progression that management failed to give prior notice of the withholding of the increase per contract. Should be having that heard in mid-January.
Important Dates in January:
January 16th – Local 404 Elections
January 16th – Local 404 Holiday Party
January 18th – Council 5 Behavioral Health Summit
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.
In solidarity,
Eric Hesse
Vice President – Steward Coordinator
Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- Supporting members with investigations and attending meetings.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Emilio Florez-This month was very busy. We have received the Osha Citation at forensics. Management has chosen to contest the violation and AFSCME 404 has taken the next step for the local and formally requested to be a part of the process. There seems to have been more investigations this month for me than usual. We visited the CARE facility and also had a chance to speak with some Representatives who took an interest in our OSHA case and have supported AFSCME in the past.
If your work area has issues or concerns please bring them forward so we may address them. You may utilize our resources and we would be glad to answer any questions.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Steve Wilking- Happy Holidays Everyone!
I hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and New Year. It’s always good to see everyone this time of year.
Within the past month I have fielded many questions from various locations. I sat a few investigations. I’ve also coordinated many to be sat. As members I’d just like to put out the public service announcement to have a representative present for all investigations. I have prepped (2) files for arbitration. I also had a meeting with our Counsel 5 field rep Crystal Kreklow, Ryan Cates and Eric Hesse. We prepped many cases that are entering arbitration. We have since received our MNOSHA citation and we have requested a Party Status. Please approach Ryan Cates, myself and Emilio Florez if you would like to know what that means.
As always I have attended the usual meetings. Those meetings are Weekly Check-ins, Interest bases problem solving workgroup, Meet and Confer and Safety Committee. There’s probably more that I may have attended. Full transparency…. We elected officers get very busy. However, I WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AND EMAILS TO ALL MEMEBERS. You all have earned that.
As a special shout out….. I’d like to thank Jamie Sheppard. For those of you who are unaware, Jamie does our grievance tracking. I utilize her services a lot. IF a grievance comes my way and I do indeed file it. I immediately seek out Jamie to get me any and all information regarding that topic. Example, I file a grievance on Overtime distribution. Jamie gets me data on all grievances on all past cases. That data includes the situation, arguments at each level, if we won or lost the case and what the remedy was. This data is exceptionally important in arguing and winning the case.
I continue to file grievances, assist other stewards and answer many inquiries. Please reach out to me for anything. Many members often ask about deferred comp. I love talking football.
Reminder… Elections are Jan. 16th. Happy Voting.
In Solidarity,
Steve Wilking
Chief Union Steward
AFSCME Local 404
Executive Board: Chief Steward Molly Kennedy- This month I presented two step 3 grievances, they were both dismissals. One employee was offered their job back and declined. The other is still waiting on a decision for back pay with a resignation. I also sat with MSH Vocational in meeting with a member as a peer support to speak about some ways to increase moral in the workplace. It was a productive meeting with good ideas. I will be following up to see how things are going in about a month. I attended MSOP Labor Management and a few of the items discussed were the uniform allowance in CPS going back to $300 and that we no longer need to be screened for TB. Please see www.union404.com for all of the meeting minutes.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan-
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- Please see Steve Wilking’s report.
In Solidarity,
Jamie Sheppard, E-Board
CS Facility Support: Stacey Mueller- 2020 is around the corner. With that, I would like to say that we have some fun planned in January for our staff and families. Please watch for more information on this. This past year has brought about many investigations and grievances that I hope I have done well to serve you. It has been an interesting year. Please remember when you are spending time with your friends and family this season that AFSCME, Local 404, and you have fought hard to win the excellent time off benefits, as well as sick time, when you or your family is under the weather and you need to be home. Although our Medical benefits have increased this year, while asking around about other jobs employee benefits, we have by far exceeded what benefits the general public receives. I have enjoyed my last 6 years of working for AFSCME and hope to continue on in the New Year. On January 16th, please be sure to come out and vote for AFSCME representatives then drive over to WOW Zone and enjoy some good food, games, bowling and hanging out with friends and co-workers.
Stacey Mueller, NOCs
E-Board Representative
Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby- This has been a very busy month for me. I attended the several meetings and had the pleasure of meeting more members. I went to the CARE and heard about just a few of the issues there, and we will try and we are getting a game plan on how to address each one. Please all remember that we have over 900 members, and we only have a few elected officers, so please think about becoming a steward. The more people we can get involved…the better we can do for each other. There also was some discussion about what the union does for each individual, and how east it can be to focus on what they perceive that the union does Not do….in all honesty…we are working hard to help people on so many fronts that we can miss things. I can speak for each officer, we work hard to get things right on many levels, but the main concern is the members. We are all one if we act as one, and we are one of the strongest locals in council 5.
The Info based problem solving has been completed so please watch for the implementation of the OT sign up. We will be sure that we get things posted at MSH for that. We also will be having the AFSCME holiday party at the WOW zone, January 16th. There was an RSVP in your email…if you did not get that please contact any elected officer or your steward and let us know how many will attend and what time. It really is fun, and there will be a meal provided, and deals on games for kids….as well as 2 choices of kids meals. Please remember to get your RSVP done so we can give an accurate count to the WOW zone. See u there!!
Council 5 Rep: Crystal Kreklow- AFSCME has posted the executive director position.
404 Membership is at 96.2%
Executive director Resumes accepted through DECEMBER 20, 2019 at 4:00PM
SEPC Friday, May 1, 2020
3 Arb settlements- done in December-
Nick Frentz and Jeff Brand were present to speak
Motion to Adjourn by Marvin, 2nd by Steve. Motion Passes
Meeting adjourned at 6pm