General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404
September 20th, 2018
1030pm Redman Club
Present:
Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Crystal Kreklow, Matt Stenger, Kurt Crosby, Ryan Cates, Jake Schoenecker, Jamie Sheppard, Marvin Sullivan, Eric Hesse, Antonino Guerrero, Emilio Florez, Alex Palmer, Harmony Hazelett.
1.Secretary Report:
Motion to approve meeting minutes by Adam Castle, 2nd by Emilio, motion passes.
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: August 2018
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 92301.17
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 3.87 Bank did not have the numbers but will be on next statement due to the Janus case passing.
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 8873.04 International and education $7170
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 83432.00
SAVINGS: $ 54827.30
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by Wilking. 2nd by Stenger. Motion Passes
3. Correspondence: Cates-Labor to labor door knock asking for volunteers. DFL holding a rally in Mankato at 1pm 9/22 10AM to 2PM at St Paul Labor Center. 353 West seventh street St. Paul, MN 55102 Endorsing Tim Walz for governor and Tina Smith for US Senate.
MSH Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/september-2018-msh-meeting-minutes
MSOP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/september-2018-msop-meeting-minutes
4. New Business: Voting for contract proposals. Stenger makes motion to purchase up to $800 tee shirts. 2nd by Emilio Florez. Motion Passes
5. Old Business:
6. Items from the membership:
7. Good and Welfare: Emilio motions to get Sherry Janson retirement compensation if she did not receive when she retired in the past. 2nd by Molly. Motion passes.
Stacy Mueller motions to give Julie Mason 250 toward transportation etc for cancer treatment. 2nd by Wilking. Motion passes. Will also have a pass the hat at the council 5 convention.
Jamie Sheppard motion Anthony Cluka lost his father. Asking for 150. 2nd by Wilking. Motion passes
8. Officer Reports:
President: Ryan Cates- September Report
Sat multiple investigations.
Filed Grievances.
Sat Laudermill Hearings.
Attended MSOP Meet and Confer.
Went to Forensics Safety Committee.
Took a vacation to Boundary Waters.
Met with management for weekly check-in meetings.
Had discussions at interest based problem solving meeting.
Attended Forensics Meet and Confer.
Drafted proposals for the new contract.
VP: Matt Stenger-
VP: Eric Hesse- In MSOP, we are still waiting on getting a meeting set up with Administration to talk about the recent and dangerous changes to our staffing levels. It is set for October 15th. I also have yet to meet on the grievance I had filed for the changes in the vacation process in Health Services, tentatively scheduled for October 12th.
This past weekend, I, along with 16 other members from Local 404, attended the AFSCME Council 5 Convention in Bloomington. While there, we elected new chair officers and a new executive board for the Council (which I was elected to for my third term), we attended two classes to help broaden our knowledge of the union, and heard from various speakers, such as Lee Saunders, the AFSCME International President, John Westmoreland, the Council 5 Executive Director, Governor Mark Dayton, Tim Walz and Peggy Flannigan whom are running to be the next Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, the Executive Directors of MAPE and AFSCME Council 65. It was an informative convention on what we need to do to protect our collective bargaining rights, pensions, and what attacks are coming down the road for public sector unions.
One of those attacks that are coming down the road is an attack on exclusive representation. It is coming from a case that was filed in federal court out of Minnesota called Kathleen Uradnik vs Inter Faculty Organization, St. Cloud State University, and the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. She is claiming that it is against her First Amendment right to have a union to be the sole organization or person to speak on her behalf. As always when it comes to anti-labor and anti-organized labor lawsuits, such as the recent Janus vs AFSCME case, it is being funded by billionaires and anti-labor organizations.
I’ve heard a lot of people ask since the Janus vs AFSCME Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the rule that people had to pay a fee if they were not a member of the union because they directly benefited from the contract they negotiated and had to pay a fee to cover the costs of those negotiations, that if you’re not a member of the union that the union should not have to represent you. While I don’t fundamentally disagree with that sentiment, the reason why we don’t want this to happen is that we would lose what is called exclusive representation.
Exclusive representation is when a union has the exclusive right, by law, to represent and to bargain on behalf of a particular group of people, known as a bargaining unit, regardless if they are a union member or not. That means that no person or organization can represent anyone within that bargaining unit. Why is this important? Essentially it comes down to power in numbers. The basic foundation of a union is that we can do better and get more accomplished when we all join together than if we were to go at it alone or in different groups. Why should we keep exclusive representation? Again, it comes down to power in numbers. We, as employees, will not be strong against an employer if there are multiple unions or groups or individual people representing the same bargaining unit, job class, or themselves. It doesn’t show them a united front coming together for a common and united cause.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
In solidarity,
Eric Hesse
Vice President – Steward Coordinator
Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- Meeting with members with updates from the convention, sitting investigations, assisting with new employee orientations.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Emilio Florez- I have been working on a couple grievances this month. We decided to cancel our CBHH/CARE Labor and Management meeting this month due to the date of the convention happening on the same day however; we decided to utilize email if any issues were to arise. We worked together with Physical Plant management to address and fix issues that had come up, we expect to meet again to continue looking at other issues. I sent 3 step 3 denied grievances to arbitration after the e-board voted to do so. We are also looking at more dates for site visits and informational meetings. Stewards please refer to union404.com for information and materials on grievances, New Member Orientation and more. I would like to welcome out new group of stewards as well.
Thanks,
Emilio Florez
Chief Steward
Executive Board: Chief Steward Steve Wilking- Greetings Everyone. Once again another busy month. I have prepped (2) grievance for arbitration. There are currently (2) 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. Investigations continue. Topics ranging from ETL, leaving early and some VA instigations. I continue to work with the HIMS department regarding their concerns of working on Saturdays. Atlas always continues to be a treat. If you have any issues with atlas please bring them up to a stewards so we can talk to management about the issues.
Now onto the meetings. I attended weekly check-ins, interest based problem solving and the monthly meet and confer. Management and the local have come to a compromise/ resolution in regards to the tardy policy. Please review the SharePoint site. The next topic for the interest based problem solving is the ability to use camera coverage on high acuity units for 1:1’s. That subject will be ongoing.
Lastly, please make sure you 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 Molly Kennedy- This month I was voted in to replace Mike Homer as Chief Steward of MSOP, he chose to step down. Since being in that position I have attended MSOP Meet and Confer, the General Membership Meeting where we went over contract proposals also I have sat in on 2 investigations. If you have question please feel free to contact me at CPS Sunrise East 52589.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan-
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- Missed MSOP meet and confer due to change in date. Attended the steward meeting and the general membership meeting and I will be attending the convention in Bloomington. Shared some of the tracking stats with the stewards and at the end of the year I will share the stats for 2018. I hand delivered a card to Jeff Zimmerman for the loss of his father. Jeff wants to thank Local 404 for the gift. He said it means a lot to him and his family and wanted me to tell everyone how deeply moved he was. Please keep sending me copies of your grievances and responses to each step. If you have any questions or concerns please continue to bring them forward, if we are unaware of what is going on, there isn’t much we can do about it. In Solidarity, Jamie Sheppard, E-board
CS Facility Support: Stacey Mueller-Nothing to report this month
Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby-I have been busy with several investigations this past month. Also attended the Interest Based Problem Solving. We are in the very beginning stages of discussing how we use cameras and the implementations of 1-1’s. At this time we are just addressing some concerns, and I will keep you all up to speed with anything that comes from it. We are also looking at alternative staffing schedules. If anyone has any suggestions or wishes to be on the committee that would be helpful. We also went through the contract proposals this month. Several have been sent through with a membership vote to go on to Master Negotiations and also some to our local supplemental language. I encourage everyone to review those that were both approved and denied.
Some members will be attending the Council 5 conference the days of the 27th through the 29th in Bloomington. Reminding everyone to be safe and document all incidents that you’re a part of. Things can change if we are hyper diligent in our observations and documentation.
Business Agent: Crystal Kreklow-
Motion to Adjourn by Hesse, 2nd by Cates, Motion passes
Adjourned at 1220am