General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404
May 20, 2021
430 PM Video Conference
Present:
Adam Castle, Ryan Cates, Annie Jakacki, Eric Manriquez, Judy Ehrman, Karla Herzberg, Marvin Sullivan, Morgan, Steve’s iPhone
1.Secretary Report:
Motion to approve April meeting minutes by Adam Castle. 2nd by Kurt Crosby. Motion passes.
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: April 2021
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 109323.89
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 30038.21
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 7443.56
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 131918.54
SAVINGS: $ 125511.65
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to accept April Statement subject to audit by Kurt Crosby, 2nd by Adam Castle. Motion Passes
3. Correspondence: MSOP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/may-2021-msop-meet-and-confer
FMHP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/may-2021-fmhp-meeting-minutes
4. New Business: Steward Training this month. Asking for per diem for the 3 that attended. Motion by Kurt, 2nd by Judy. Motion passes.
MMB issues statement to AFSCME stating union stewards cannot sit investigations on state time. Annie-MMB sent the memo to MAPE and AFSCME about this. Not only DHS but any state agency. This breaks our contract by reinterprets the contract how we have been doing this for 20 years. We have the State policy committee filing a class action grievance, along with unfair labor practice. We don’t have an update, but we are pushing hard on this. Cates-We sent an email to HR requesting myself, Hesse, and Wilking be the only staff to sit the investigations and only on weekends. HR denied the weekends but said they will no longer get a steward for staff being investigated. They will inform the staff that they have the right but must find their own steward. Get a hold of a steward as soon as possible. Tell them you will not sit it unless you have a steward. If you are told you must sit it, anyway, present your Weingarten rights. You have that right. Your response should be “I will not answer any questions without a union representative present.” Let any council member know as soon as possible.
We picketed on Tuesday to highlight the injuries at FMHP. The first 3 months we had 30 injuries. In April we had 22 injuries.
5. Old Business: We are discussing having live membership meetings. We will try to start in June but will continue with ZOOM as well.
Waiting on results from the OSHA investigation. We hope to hear about it soon and will communicate the findings.
6. Items from the membership: Judy-With the mandates being lifted, are we considering a picnic this year? Steve-I think we should since we didn’t do anything for the holidays. Steve, Judy, Jake, Marvin, and Eric are now part of the committee to plan something for the membership this summer.
Jake-Staff would like to know when unit goes to level A care with 20 patients, why has staffing not been increased or even talked about? Cates-We will send an email to administration. Cates-I’m sure they will say it’s up to the unit director. Jake-I hope that is what they say.
7. Good and Welfare: If anyone knows of anyone retiring, get an email to Jaime Schwartz.
8. Officer Reports:
President: Ryan Cates-
VP: Steve Wilking- I continue attended the following meetings: MSOP Meet and Confer, Forensic Meet and Confer, Safety Committee, interest-based problem solving. I covered the union while Ryan Cates and Eric Hesse were on vacation. I and took many calls and sent many emails regarding union questions. So please keep them coming. I continue to work on various union tasks behind the scenes.
Communication
FMHP
We continue to battle back and forth on many issues. Most importantly the continued violation of our contract repeatedly. Most notably Minnesota Management and Budget has put out a communication to AFSCME that stewards are not allowed to sit investigations on state time. This is a long-standing practice and a clear contract violation. Management is trying to divide us and make YOU feel minimized by not allowing US to sit your investigation. So here is our stance.
YOU HAVE RIGHTS! Weingarten Rights!
Management and Licensing are sending the subject/non-subject emails about the investigation. In past this didn’t happen as management would contact a union rep before the investigation. So we are unaware of who and when investigations are occurring.
SO PLEASE REACH OUT TO A UNION STEWARD!
If you are the non-subject (How would you know this)
Management is stating when and where the investigation is to occur and that you are non subject and not allowed a Union Steward. This is how you know. What should I do?
Contact a steward immediately! This is why…. Weingarten Rights!
You invoke your Weingarten Rights with the following statement: "If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined, terminated, or cause an effect on my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my Union Representative be present at this time.
A have attached a link for you to better understand the Weingarten Rights!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weingarten_Rights
DO NOT SIGN THE UNION REPRESENTATIVE WAIVER
If you sign this….. it makes our job very difficult in trying to assist you.
Upon Completion of this follow up with a steward!
If you are the Subject (How would I know this)
The email you receive states that you are allowed a union representative.
What should I do?
PLEASE RECH OUT TO A UNION STEWARD!
You will receive instructions. If management does not allow us to sit your investigation per the MMB memo. You will receive additional instructions. So please reach out to a steward.
DO NOT SIGN THE UNION REPRESENTATIVE WAIVER
If you sign this….. it makes our job very difficult in trying to assist you.
Final though is this. MMB and management is doing this. We are doing our best to represent you. Together we can and will work through these difficult times.
Contract
Information Center
How to file an OSHA Complaint (Link Below)
https://www.osha.gov/workers/file_complaint.html
What is OSHA RECORDABLE?
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.7
Union Recourses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weingarten_Rights
In Solidarity,
Steve Wilking
Vice President - Steward Coordinator
AFSCME Local 404
VP: Eric Hesse- I’ve been gone a lot these past few months dealing with negotiations for the State contract for 2021-2023, so not much to report on the Local front. As you may have seen already, negotiations aren’t going so well right now as we have had little to no movement from the State on much of anything so far. We still have a bit under two months left, so hopefully things will change. If you have not been getting bargaining updates, please go to members.afscmemn.org and all the bargaining updates are on the site. If you are having troubles navigating Member Link, please let me know and I can assist as much as possible.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me or any other union official.
In solidarity,
Eric Hesse
Vice President – Administrative
AFSCME Local 404
Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- Attended negotiations, union rep in investigations and NEO
Executive Board: Chief Steward: Judy Ehrman-Haight- No new grievances.
Two unresolved grievances.
No investigations.
Attended the supplemental contract negotiations May 10 and 12.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Alex Flores-
Executive Board: Chief Steward Nick Weerts- It was a busy month here on Campus. I’ve attended our Labor Management & E-board/membership meetings as well as the 2 days of Supplemental Negotiations. I think negotiations were pretty successful and we were able to get some good things for our membership, across the board! There continue to be meetings with Health Services Admin, as we continue to address staffing issues, among other things.
Due to a recent memo from MMB Stewards are currently unable to sit investigations while working. This is a Statewide decree, across all Unions. You are still entitled to representation and encouraged to decline any investigation participation that doesn’t have Union representation. I’m hopeful there will soon be an agreement allowing a return to previous practice. Please reach out if you have questions!
If you haven’t requested your Personnel & Supervisory files in the last year, it might be a good time to look them over for a little “Spring Cleaning!” Request your files from HR and if you have any questions regarding anything that is in your file, please contact a Steward for guidance!
Reminder that contact for HR is [email protected]
Leave Management requests (FMLA) should go to [email protected]
Communication continues to be key to our success & strength, so Members are encouraged to reach out with concerns/observations. Please see www.union404.com for all meeting minutes.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nick Weerts
MSOP Chief Steward
5.29.21
Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan-
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- I attended MSOP Meet and Confer and 2 days of Supplemental Negotiations. This year went a lot better than 2 years ago. Congratulations to Mark Meyer, Rich Delestre, and Joel Frey on their retirement. I will soon be sending out their retirement gifts. Please continue to send me all steps and responses.
CS Facility Support: Eric Manriquez-
Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby-
Annie Jakacki- 821 Members out of 878. 93.5 percent. Grievance training on June 21st. If interested, email Steve Wilking. Negotiations assembly on Monday. We will discuss MMB memo. Council 5 will be opening soon. You will need to sign in and follow social distancing guidelines.
Motion to adjourn by Adam Castle. 2nd by Judy Ehrman. Motion Passes.
Adjourned at 458pm