General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404
June 21, 2018
1030PM Redman Club
Present:
Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Crystal Kreklow, Matt Stenger, Steve Wilking, Kurt Crosby, Ryan Cates, Jake Schoenecker, Kurt Crosby, Will Moore, Tom Kluntz, Jamie Sheppard
Presentation by Pat Guernsey running for Council 5 presidency. Contact 651-274-0273
Presentation by House of Representative Candidate Jeff Brand. Contact 507-380-0510
1.Secretary Report:
Motion to approve meeting minutes by Adam Castle, 2nd by Emilio Florez. Motion Passes
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: May 2018
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 72507.37
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 7673.74
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 5787.25
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 74393.86
SAVINGS: $ 54827.30
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by Ryan Cates, 2nd by Hesse, Motion Passes
3. Correspondence: Ordered the contracts and should be here by July 12th.
4. New Business: MOU incentive vote. Out of 850 members. 278 voted. 155 to 123 for the MOU. Passes. There is a 45 day blow up clause. If SEPC approves it. For example, if it goes for 6 months and we don’t like it. We give DHS a notice and after 45 days, it will be cancelled. Less people voted in this electronic ballot than the paper ballots from the last version of this MOU.
E-board has been talking about streaming live for meetings. We will be doing some test runs and will be hopefully using it as of September 12th. We also talked about using another location in Mankato for some meetings in the future. Possibly every 3rd month in Mankato.
E-board recommended purchasing a laptop for chief steward who does weekly check in meetings. Looking at a basic laptop for word processing and internet. Less than 500 dollars. Motion to purchase laptop and software for office not to exceed 500 dollars by Emilio Florez, 2nd by Kurt Crosby. Motion passes.
Problems with radios: E-board votes to give the local leadership permission to give notice to administration of plans to do informational picketing if radios are not repaired or replaced.
5. Old Business: None
6. Items from the membership: None
7. Good and Welfare: Corey Harditz injured by assaultive patient. Out of work pending an MRI. Keep him in mind and be careful out there.
8. Officer Reports
Presidents Report-Ryan Cates: Attended MSOP Meet and Confer.
Attended Forensic Meet and Confer- Followed up on radios and again asked for the pricing on the screened and unscreened radios, management once again forgot about getting us the pricing and promised they were working on repairing their brand new radios. Talked about part-time staff not being scheduled their guaranteed hours on weeks with holidays and management stated this has been corrected. Asked why there are so many scheduled turnaround shifts in transitions, management said they would look at this. Protested inversing against the contract in FNH and Carol said this issue has been taken care of. Discussed least senior numbers not being given to all staff in MSH, Scott said he would check on this. Asked what is being done about the HIV issue on Aspen Unit and Carol said they would get the infection control person involved while Scott argued that they are already taking steps to prevent future exposure incidents. Pointed out the change in scheduling for NOCS staff at FNH and neither management or HR were aware this was being done.
Presented a class action grievance, about the new DCT tardy policy, to DCT and MMB. DCT agreed to make the changes to the policy that we asked for but they still denied the grievance because they claim exclusive right to create policy.
Attended several Laudermill hearings and filed grievances for multiple disciplines.
Sat several investigations.
Attended interest based problem solving- Talked about how we can create a universal tardy definition that will apply to all programs on campus.
Talked to local lawmakers about the problems with the new radios in Forensics and asked for their help in pressuring DHS to do something about the radios.
Had multiple meetings with management in forensics to discuss the problems with the radios. Management stated they were working on solutions but never admitted fault or provided a timeline for when we can expect the radios to work.
Met with HR and the leadership in the Vocational department to discuss issues that have come up in the Summit shop area involving lack of communication and safety issues caused by recent changes. Management listened and became defensive but gave no meaningful response.
Attended Safety Committee.
Attended Executive board meeting.
Attended General Membership meeting.
Ryan Cates
Security Counselor Lead
Minnesota Security Hospital
Spruce Unit 507-985-2750
AFSCME Local 404 President
VP: Matt Stenger-
VP: Eric Hesse- The MSOP Labor Management Meeting for the month of June was cancelled due management conflicts in schedule. I have been in touch with Administration on topics such as overtime and inversing, lawn mowing crew, hiring intermittent staff, and a few other topics. I will put these items on the agenda for the Labor Management meeting in July to be discussed in a larger scale.
More than likely by the time you are reading this, the Supreme Court decision for Janus vs AFSCME has been given and I’d be shocked if it was pleasant news for us. More than likely, anti-labor and anti-union organizations will be mobilizing to contact you, via mail or phone, to try to entice you to drop your membership. If you get one of these mailings or phone calls, they will be very misleading and give you false information to try to convince you that dropping your membership is a good idea. Please do not fall for it. We lose our power in numbers if people drop their membership. We lose our bargaining power when we go to the negotiations table and lose our ability to get a good, fair contract, such as we did with the 2017-2019 contract. One way to take a stand against this and take a stand in solidarity and say “I’m sticking with the union,” is, if you haven’t already, sign a Maintenance of Membership (MoM) card. By signing this, you commit to the union for one year and say no matter what, “I’m with the union.” Your dues do not change at all by signing this and yes, you are still a member if you do not sign one of these. If you have not signed one yet, please follow the following steps to sign one:
Go to https://members.afscmemn.org/ and sign up to Member Link. When you sign up, when it asks for your street name, only put the name in, so if you live on North 2nd St for example, just put “2nd” down. Once you’re in, then go to Forms and hit the Public/PEOPLE Membership Card part that comes down. Make sure the info is correct that comes up and then hit next and then a card should come up with a place for you to electronically sign with the mouse on the bottom. Then press submit and you’re all set.
Also, we are encouraging members to sign up for Member Link. What is Member Link? It’s a new tool that Council 5 has put together that is an online resource tool. Within it, you can see your Local’s elected officials and their contact numbers, view the contract, view the Council and Local’s constitution, read the Member Bill of Rights, and a few more. Council 5 is going to start putting a lot more information on Member Link instead of their website, so you are encouraged to sign up for this. Please go to http://members.afscmemn.org to sign up.
We have an election slowly approaching and it is a very important one. If the wrong people get elected into power, things at stake are our defined benefit pensions, funding for staffing, and most importantly, the stripping of our collective bargaining rights to essentially make us Wisconsin and Iowa. In Iowa, their contract went from 250 plus pages to 25 pages, with only one of them having anything of substance on. The lost a whole lot of power within their workplaces. Next month for my report, I will go more in depth on what’s at stake, how AFSCME endorses candidates, and what you can do about helping getting pro-union and pr0-labor candidates elected.
As always, if you have any questions or have any concerns, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer them.
In solidarity,
Eric Hesse
Vice President – Steward Coordinator
AFSCME Local 404
Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- I have been receiving reports of radio issues and dropped transmissions from members. I have been sitting investigations in MSH and talking with members about the incentive vote, I have been encouraging members to vote and the importance of it also.
Thank you
Executive Board: Chief Steward Emilio Florez- Chief Steward Report
AFSCME Members,
I have been working on some grievances this month. I got to site visit CARE Facility in Saint Peter and have a site visit scheduled at CBHH Rochester for next week.
I got a chance to run some radio tests in MSH with a supervisor, it seems we still are having radio communication issues and the radios are not functioning properly. These results were being given to the vendor. We continue to try to find alternative routes of communication and make plans in the meantime in case if a crisis situation.
I am helping out with steward training scheduled in August, we are excited and are trying to find more opportunities and ways to involve our stewards. Ps. we are really short of stewards at CARE, Physical Plant, and CBHH.
LIVE STREAMING GEN. MEBERSHIP MEETING
We will be test live streaming our next General Membership meeting next month for AFSCME Local 404 Members only via a private link. This will involve another avenue for members to watch, provide input, and ask questions. If you are unsure of your membership feel free to contact me or any E Board Officer and we can check your status and help you renew as well.
If you are in need of a steward please visit our website union404 and find one in your location to work with. If none are available please then follow the chain of command and go to the next available resource or officer.
Regards,
Emilio Florez III
AFSCME LOCAL 404 | Chief Steward
Work: 507-985-2121 | Cell: 507-382-2917
Executive Board: Chief Steward Steve Wilking- Greetings Everyone. Once again another busy month. I have prepped (3) grievance for arbitration. There are currently (5) step 3’s waiting to be presented to management. We continue to file grievances with overtime distribution. If you have any concerns with that….. Bring them my way. Management appreciates open communication. Investigations continue. Topics ranging from ETL, to coaching sessions on job duties and tardiness. Please make sure you are working with your local union officers/stewards. I continue to work with the HIMS department regarding their concerns of working on Saturdays. Radios seem to always be a topic of discussion. Please make sure that you file a security report as this helps management troubleshoot issues that are occurring. Also make sure that you fill out the concerns on the ICS activation reports. Atlas programs continues to be a treat. If you are having questions comments or concerns regarding vacation, ask. A common question coming about is can we submit for vacation for over 6 months. The answer yes. The 2 week vacation pilot program is no more. You can submit for vacation as long as 1 of your vacation days are within 6 months and they are all connecting. If you have any questions regarding that please ask.
Now onto the meetings. I attended weekly check-ins, interest based problem solving and the monthly meet and confer. The topics that are being discussed are, internal reporting for VA, Holidays for part time staff are being forced to use their accruals, many individuals being scheduled turnarounds and how to minimize that. Other topics included inversing against contract, least senior numbers not being given. The 2-10 staff were given least senior numbers before the 1-9. The forensic nursing home NOC staff are having their hours changed to 12-830am.
As we continue to work through many issues. Please make sure your bring things to the Unions attention. We can’t fight for something if we don’t know its happening.
In Solidarity,
Steve Wilking
Executive Board: Chief Steward Mike Homer-
Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- MSOP meet and confer was cancelled. There has been a slight drop in grievances from stewards, if you don’t have any wonderful! But if you have any that you have not forwarded to me, please do so. I would also like ot start tracking investigations. How many are occurring monthly, how many are dropped and how may result in discipline, etc. Please make sure you are forwarding all investigations past and present to Eric Hesse. Also, please remember to forward the response to each step to me.
CS Facility Support: Stacey Mueller-
Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby-I have been enjoying some vacation and apologize if I have not been available for any questions or help, but I will encourage anyone with questions to reach out to other stewards and chief stewards if they have an urgent question or issue. I have had 2 step 3 grievances denied and am currently working on prepping them for possible arbitration. We have another NOC staff out on IOD due to the continued hazards of our policies, and we are working hard to get them addressed and corrected. Reminder to all, with the current MOU that is being addressed, anyone that received the email and had a chance to vote, thank you. The best way to keep our union strong is to be involved and be heard. I know we are all busy, but remember without input and involvement, things still have to be done and it’s a shame to not have your voice heard. Email anytime and ask questions, we will all do the best we can to answer them Thanks!!
Kurt
NOC Chief Steward
Crystal Kreklow: Everyone is aware of the Janus case. We have been preparing for this for three years. This is why it is even more important to sign mom cards and talk to the members. Also, everything is moving to electronic on memberlink. Please go and register and update your information. You can sign members up through memberlink. Members.afscmemn.org
Motion to Adjourn by Hesse, 2nd by Crosby. Motion passes
Adjourned at 1152pm