General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404
October 17, 2019
3PM Redman Club
Present:
Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Ryan Cates, Jamie Sheppard, Kurt Crosby, Matt Stenger, Steve Wilking, Marvin Sullivan, Rich Delestre, Crystal Kreklow, Antonino Guerrero, Brian Woller, Hans Paulson, Molly Kennedy, Mark Menke, Kelly Woelpern
1.Secretary Report:
Motion to approve September meeting minutes by Adam Castle , 2nd by Marvin. Motion passes
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: September 2019
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 78631.48
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 7278.52
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 4029.18
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 81880.82
SAVINGS: $ 80068.49
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by subject to audit by Matt Stenger. 2nd by Steve Wilking. Motion passes
3. Correspondence:
MSOP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/october-2019-msop-meeting-minutes
MSH Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/october-2019-msh-meeting-minutes
4. New Business: Nominations for the local will be in early December. December 19th meeting at 4pm. We will take nominations at that time or email Crystal Kreklow. (email is on Council 5 Website). Elections in January.
MSH will be cited by OSHA. Violating state statute for Preventing workplace violence.
Arbitrations are coming through faster. Stewards who file the grievances are required to be full participants in person. Lost time and/or vacation will be filed depending on how the lost time is paid. We will look into this and inform the membership. Local is looking for approval for mileage and per diems if it is not covered. Motion for mileage by Matt Stenger, 2nd by Molly Kennedy. Motion Passes.
Emilio and Matt went to Rochester October 2nd to sit grievances and took the stewards out for lunch. They were there for 8 hours. Asking for mileage and meal reimbursement. 2nd by Steve Wilking. Motion Passes.
Council 5 Convention was held in Duluth in October. Looking for attendees to write up small paragraph about their experience and what they learned. Send to Secretary Adam Castle.
Christmas Party Planning: WOW Zone in Mankato tentatively. Kurt Crosby and Molly Kennedy will be the point people. Looking at January again with Buffet style and bowling.
5. Old Business: Crystal Kreklow-Hennessy rule is; council 5 staff aren’t allowed to discuss Council 5 Eboard business with the Council 5 Eboard members. (Council 5 only) They are allowed to talk to local membership about the council business. This is in place to not influence the other members of the Eboard.
Intent to negotiate issue: The member who would know is no longer with Council 5. I have gotten the run around so far. I do not know at this time but I will continue looking for the answer. The people negotiating did negotiate with us so it doesn’t matter if someone on council 5 did not file the intent to negotiate. I cant call the people who were there because they are no longer here.
6. Items from the membership: Molly-a member called to inform that Mayo Clinic in 2020 will be a Tier 4 across the board. Used to be Tier 2 for our area. Looking at doing a work action to avoid this happening and/or reverse it by the time open enrollment begins. More info to come.
7. Good and Welfare: Julie Zimmerman LPN Transition will be retiring November 13th.
8. Officer Reports:
President: Ryan Cates- Attended Forensic Meet and Confer-
-Asked why nurses are being forced to cover direct care positions when they are not allowed to sign up voluntarily- Had no good answer.
-Again brought up LPN OT being given to RN’s- Listened but gave no good answer.
-Again stated that former CRP units shifts should match MSH shifts- Management said they agree but they do not know what the shifts should be, implying everybody’s shifts could be changed. If our members are concerned about this, they are encouraged to contact Lisa Vanderveen and Scot Melby directly.
-We asked if LPN’s are going to be locked into groves, Like RN’s have been- No plans at this time.
-Asked about the process for interviewing and hiring CNA Leads- Management present was not sure so we requested the interview scoring results.
-Pointed out that recent postings did not include work units- will look into.
-Supervisors making negative comments about our members- We tabled until a later date.
-Unit movement plans, are they canceled or delayed- Just delayed.
-Asked for an update on the app for Atlas- Not working for I phones yet.
-Complained about the aods pool and their lackluster job so far.
-Brought up changes HR has been making to Loudermill hearings- Will get back to us.
-Asked about the waiver nurses are being coerced to sign, about exposure to hazardous substances. Informed management that we will advise our members not to sign- Will look into
-Asked about getting more recycling containers around campus and getting rid of all the Styrofoam- Will look into
Attended Weekly check-ins.
Attended MSOP Meet and Confer.
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.
Attended Forensic Interest Based Problem Solving. Discussed the overtime granting process and we looking at a system where you sign up for known in advance and/or subsequent shift overtime separately. This will eliminate numerous issue that result from just having 1 overtime sign up.
Attended OSHA closing conference where the OSHA inspector informed Labor and management that they were issuing a citation to MSH for failing to have an adequate violence prevention program. We countered the excuses and dishonest explanations management attempted to make to the inspector.
Went to AFSCME Council 5 Convention in Duluth. While in Duluth I attended workshops and voted on resolutions when the convention was in session. Local 404 put forward a resolution that Council 5 quit getting involved in social issues that have nothing to do with labor or our members pay and benefits.
VP: Matt Stenger- This month I’ve been down to Rochester for meet and confer than went down again a week later to answer questions and help out with investigations. We have been trying to make it down to Rochester more since there has been a lot of questions about contract language. I have also been trying to push to have the former CRP units to align with MSH schedule to prevented inversing out of seniority order. We have also been working with management to change the environment at the nursing home and are currently looking for input on how to better the environment.
VP: Eric Hesse- The Legislative Subcommittee of Employee Relations (SER) was set to meet to discuss our contract on October 22nd, but they cancelled the meeting, thus failing to meet within the 30 day period required per state statute. Since that happened, our contracts will now be temporarily implemented. More information is to come of when the changes that were bargained into the 2019-2021 contract, including the cost of living wage adjustment will come out as soon as it’s known.
Open enrollment is coming soon. This year it will be from October 31st to November 20th. Please make sure you do this and hit submit when you complete this on the Employee Self Service page. Also, make sure you complete your health assessment through Virgin Pulse to receive you discount. This year, instead of getting a reduction in your co-pay amount, if you complete the health assessment, you will receive a $70 reduction in your first dollar deductible. Please make sure your primary clinic is not changing tier levels, as Mayo Clinic is. To do so, please visit https://mn.gov/mmbapps/insdir/provider_directory_openenrollment.aspx and all you have to do is put in your zip code to find your local clinics. The lower the tier level, the better the savings and the less out of pocket it is to you. A few things are also changing for open enrollment. You will be able to increase your Accidental Death and Dismemberment Life Insurance coverage. You can either stay where you’re at, or you can choose the new increase of $200,000. Please review the brochure that was mailed to you to see the list of all changes.
23 delegates from Local 404 attended the annual AFSCME Council 5 Convention in Duluth on October 3rd through the 5th. Governor Tim Walz along with Representatives Dave Pinto and Liz Olson spoke to the delegation. Also the delegation got a chance to voice their opinions and concerns, which helped them exercise their right to have a voice in their union. Local 404 was well represented at the convention and the delegation did a great job representing you.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me or another officer of your union.
Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- Continue to support members with investigations and attend meetings.
Attended the union convention.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Emilio Florez- We had our closing conference with OSHA last week. Expect to see a share point announcement about this soon with information relating to the recommended citation.
We were in Rochester to attended CBHH/ CARE labor management meeting and then were back in Rochester for a couple investigations. We also visited CARE facility twice as well. I have attended all meetings this month and covered FMHP area while Steve was on vacation, we had a few grievances in that area as well.
Elections for officer positions AFSCME 404 are coming up please express interest or send nominations to Eric Hesse.
IBPS meeting still on Overtime distribution- no new updates.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Steve Wilking- The last month I’ve attended weekly check-ins, meet and confer, interest based problem solving and safety meetings. I also field many calls in regards to union questions. Please feel free to continue asking questions. An informed membership is a great thing.
I continue to file many grievances on Overtime distribution. We have recently had our performance evaluations completed. It is recommended that you submit a request to HR to have your supervisory and personnel file pulled and emailed to you in a PDF format. This informs you of any coaching’s or discipline that may be in your file and or outdated. If you have questions about this please feel free to call or email me.
I’d like to give a special shout out to the Scheduling department. They work hard to approve all our mutuals in a timely manner. If you call them and ask questions they answer them in a respectful manner. On top of that they offer out our overtime and do the best they can to tell you if its hospital or residential. The work they do is often overlooked by us in what they do….. I’d say underappreciated until something goes wrong. We then turn to them for answers. I personally thank the department for answering all my Union inquiries. Please keep up the great work.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Molly Kennedy- This month I was informed by some AFSCME members that all the Mayo providers in the state (except for Owatonna, Red Wing, Zumbrota, Albert Lea, Austin, New Richland, Wells and Blooming Prairie who will remain a level 2) will be moving to a tier 4. Six years ago we did a phone blast with Mankato clinic when they went from a tier 2 to a tier 3 and we were successful. We will be doing this again hopefully this week, we have a script ready to go, we are just looking to see who we can contact to make this the most impactful. We are trying to involve other AFSCME locals statewide as well.
MSOP LPN’s notified me that the schedules for the .8 employees who work a combination of 10 and 8 hours shifts were not being paid overtime correctly. When you are .8 and work the combination of 10 and 8 hours shifts overtime goes by 7 days/40 hours vs 14 days/80 hours (or 8 and 80). Some of the nurses worked well over 40 hours in 7 days and will need to be paid time and a half for those hours dating back to January 2019, more to come on that. I have filed 2 step 3 grievances and sat 2 investigations this month. I also attend MSOP labor management on October 10th, please see www.union404.com for the meeting minutes. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan-
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- October 2019: I was unable to attend MSOP Meet and Confer this month due to a doctor appointment in Rochester. However, I did attend the E-board Meeting, the General Membership Meeting and the AFSCME Convention. This year’s convention was probably the most exciting one I have ever been to. It is how convention should be. The discussion on the floor got pretty heated several times. If you have never been to Convention, I highly recommend going. It would be nice to see a higher attendance from our local like we used to have. Next year we be a good year because we will have elections. I continue to address and discuss ongoing issues on 3rd watch. I have tried to talk to as many people as I can about the Clinic tier increase for Mayo. When doing your open enrollment make sure you pay attention to what your clinic’s tier is at for 2020. Mayo is going from a tier level 2 to a tier level 4. If you don’t know what this means, please talk to a steward. We encourage everyone including those who are not with Mayo to call Mayo and try to get this reversed. Molly will be sending out a script to follow if you are unsure of what to say. We did this about 5-6 years ago when they pulled this shit and shut their phone lines down. So let’s join together in Solidarity and do it again! ATTENTION STEWARDS: The most important part of grievance tracking are the responses. Please make sure you are sending me everything from start to finish. Thank you!
In Solidarity, Jamie Sheppard-E-Board
CS Facility Support: Stacey Mueller- I was out on Medical Leave so nothing this time.
Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby- This has been a busy month. I attended the normal meetings with management including Info based problem solving and meet and confer. I also attended the AFSCME state convention.
The Info Based Problem Solving group was good, and we are getting closer to a solution on how we are going to clean up and have more of a streamlined process for signing up for OT. We will be sure to let everyone know with ample time to implement the process.
Meet and confer was active, please refer to the meeting minutes for the agenda and a snapshot of what was discussed.
The AFSCME Council 5 state convention was very good. Our local had a resolution to be voted on, put forth by our local president Ryan Cates that specifically asked that the council does not take an active stance on socially decisive issues. There was very good open dialogue with many of the delegates in attendance, but we fell just shy of the required vote total. To be clear, the resolution was constructed in a way that was to make sure we as a labor union stick to equality in the workplace for every single member. We as a local, and as a union, should respect each and every single members rights to their own beliefs and not force any one individuals values on them, while maintaining that when it comes to workplace, no one gets judged and no one gets unfair treatment no matter what their values are. We are all equal and need to be treated as such. That Is what we believe we as a labor union need to focus on, Labor and fairness in the workplace for ALL. The discussion was very colorful, and I have never been more proud of how we as a local represented our members and values at a convention of any kind.
With that said, there will be things we do not agree with that happen to us at work, and sometimes we cannot get what we desire. This convention re affirmed why it is important to have a say at the council level and local level. Without paying our dues and being active, we are at the mercy of people who can unfairly represent us. I am hopeful we can get new leadership at our council that better represent all of our membership, and not just some. One thing we have are numbers. Let’s use them to influence change.
Please be sure to check ATLAS when you are inversed or miss out on OT, there have been instances of the software not being accurate. Screenshot, notify the supervisor of the issue, and if your forced to stay, we will grieve it. Please be sure to be polite when addressing the concerns and it is fair to expect you be treated the same.
The holiday party is being looked into at this time as well…thinking of going with the WOW zone again. More to come.
Have a good month and be safe.
Council 5 Rep: Crystal Kreklow- Membership Numbers is at 95 percent. Doing great for NEO. Be mindful of what we say and to whom. Some can find your words offensive and we need to be mindful of everyone’s thoughts and opinions. Westmorland resigned and Tim Henderson has resigned.
Motion to Adjourn by Stenger, 2nd by Marvin. Motion Passes
Meeting adjourned at 4pm