AFSCME LOCAL 1539

 

Union Meeting April 8, 2008

 

Start:        1418

Adjourn:  1455

 

Board Members Present:  Eric Langworthy, Bill Stanley, Patti Couch, Blake Nelson, Paul Gammel

 

Local members present – 9

 

Old Business:

 

  • Shift Exchanges – There hasn’t been an update on the shift exchange arbitration.  Once the council receives the results they will disperse to the Local Presidents.  Hoping by the end of the week.

 

New Business:

 

  • Day on the Hill:   Bill Stanley and Patti Couch attend the first day which consisted of extremely informative training sessions on how the legislative process works, how to mobilize your local membership, what you need to know if you are running for local or state office as well as numerous other options.   The second day was the traditional “Day on the Hill which was attended by Eric Langworthy, Nate Steinle and Patti Couch.  They spoke with Representative Jeremy Kalin and Senator Rick Olseen.   Main concerns were talking about the staffing levels at Rush City and the concerns that revolve around that issue.  Senator Olseen was very focused on the lack of K9’s within all the facilities.   Both Olseen and Kalin have agreed to come through our facility towards the end of May.

It should be noted that Representative Rob Eastlund evaded speaking to us, even though we had appointments made.

 

  • Elections:   The Election Committee has come up with the guidelines for this election session.  Nominations will be accepted between April 15th through April 29th.  All nominations must be emailed to both Pete Talberg and Will Spencer.  If there are any questions they should be directed to the chair of the committee – Heidi Schafer.

 

  • Spring Conference:   There is a 1 day spring conference on Friday May 2nd.   We have increased our delegates allowed to attend these conferences by 1 so are now able to send 11 delegates to this conference.   If you are able to get the time off and would like to attend, please contact Eric as soon as possible.

 

  • Local Website:   Website domain name is due.   Requesting approval to pay Jon Hedin $60 to continue the site for another year.

 

    • Motion was made and seconded to approve the payment

 9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain – Passed

 

      • It was also requested to gather information on how many people are visiting the site by Jon and to also add a counter to the page to visually track the number of visitors.

 

  • Meeting was requested with Eric Langworthy about discussing the availability of the local union webpage.

Follow-up:  Eric met with Warden Carlson and the access level changed from a level 2 to a level 3.   The only place to access the local website at work is in the training computer lab.   Reasoning is that no other local is able to access their own website from the work site.   Reminder that you are still able to access the union contract via the human resources link.

 

  • Under 14 vacations:   Administration pushed for getting rid of the under 14 vacations.  The union did not approve, however, administration can pull them as it is not a contractual right that we have and that they also believe there is a strong correlation between OT and the under 14’s being given.   Union will continue to meet with Lt. Bartz on scheduling issues that we have concerns with.

 

  • Attendance Reports:    Local board members and stewards had access to time and attendance reports that we used to assist in filing grievances or solving issues with Lieutenants as the issues arose.   We agreed to stop the emailing of these reports as we had access to a folder, however, they have now taken that folder from us.    HR currently is unwilling to give reports when asked to do so, insinuating that we can get accurate information off Smartstaff, watch reports or the training roster on the website.   These do not hold accurate information and we will continue to fight to at least have the President and/or Vice President receive these reports.   HR’s main argument is that it holds information of when someone is on FMLA and that no one should have access to that information, however, that can be accessed in Smartstaff.

 

Vice Presidents/Chief Steward Report:

 

  • Only 1 grievance at this time.  The grievance is at a step 3 and is over an OT issue.   The main issue is that it was won at a step 1 with the Lieutenant admitting a mistake, however, it is not being accepted at that level with HR and administration stating it needs to go through the process and is a good communication tool.  At this time there aren’t any monetary gains being given out and the question is what to do to compensate the officer involved.

 

 

Treasures Report:

 

  • Treasures report was given showing a beginning balance of $24,548.29 and ending balance of $24,802.47.  

 

  • This position is up for election and the books will be audited by the trustees prior to July.

 

Good and Welfare:

 

  • It was decided at the last local meeting to research into what other facilities do in regards to good and welfare.    Faribault has been the only one to respond back stating that they do not do anything as they have been sued in the past.   Bill Stanley will continue to look into it further with the assistance of Paul Gammel and Blake Nelson in order to set up a good and welfare system that will work the best for this facility and also will hopefully limit the possibility of being sued in the future.

 

 

 

There was discussion about vacation slips and how they are being pulled on Mondays and Thursday starting April 16th.   Lt. Bartz has assured us that getting the slips returned to the members within that 10 day turn around per contract will not be an issue.  The local will continue to monitor that process.

 

 

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Patti Couch, Secretary AFSCME Local 1539