Present:
Adam Castle, Jamie Sheppard, Emilio Florez, Kathleen Luskey, Crystal Kreklow, Molly Kennedy, Eric Hesse, Antonino Guerrero, Matt Stenger, James Hemshrot, Steve Wilking, Luke Frederick, Kurt Crosby, Ryan Cates, Stacey Meuller, Paul Schwichtenberg, Marvin Sullivan, John Ziegler, Kelly Woelpern, Joel Frey, Ann Sullivan, Shawn Kennedy
Jeff Brand presented. He is running for election in place of Clark Johnson’s position.
1. Secretary’s Report: Motion to accept January’s Minutes by Crosby, 2nd by Stenger. Motion Passes
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: January 2018
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 78940.56
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 6935.00
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 12024.46
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 73851.10
SAVINGS: $ 54795.23
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by Crosby, 2nd by Wilking. Motion Passes
3. Correspondence:
SEPC is on April 28th let Hesse know if you would like to attend.
Day on the hill march 20th. Let Hesse know if you would like to attend. We will be getting a bus depending on how many attend.
Items from membership:
Luskey: VFW Legion would like to offer buy one get one and host meetings. In the past they would charge 75 for the room but maybe we could get that forgone. I will check with them.
Marvin: motion to pay for day on the hill bus and per diem for attending. 2nd by cates. Motion passes. Motion for Per diem and mileage for lobby week. 2nd by Kurt. Motion Passes. Must submit report to secretary if you attend.
Motion for mileage for cbhh/care in Rochester by Castle. 2nd by Frey. Motion passes
4. New Business: Lusky: WTA signed committal to getting commercial driver’s license. Job was contingent upon obtaining this. People that didn’t do it, got written up or let go. New leadership are letting people not do it. Then boss says its not a big deal. We all had to do it. Cates-We will bring it up at the next meet and confer.
Legislation has from February 20th to May to make a decision on contract.
Units 8 and 25 had their contract ratified temporarily until it gets voted on by the membership. The powers that be don’t want to seem soft on corrections and radio operators, so they passed it and waiting for the membership to vote. MAPE and AFSCME were voted down. They didn’t vote on these other 2 units until it expired so it would automatically pass upon approval. Does not involve or affect AFSCME.
2018 elections are huge. Get out and vote!
Crystal. DCT said it is carols decision for the WTA dress code. She said she is not making any special exceptions for it. “Aprons are Enough” File tort claims.
5. Old Business:
6. Items from the membership: Kathleen Luskey presents issue with workshop now being required to dress in business casual clothing. The staff clothing is damaged constantly by doing the required work. They are currently using jeans and other clothing of choice. Requirement to change to business casual will be a major financial burden. Crystal Kreklow will contact Melissa Gryshek as soon as possible about this. Management has given a time frame of one week to being the clothing change.
Good and Welfare:
Marvin: motion 300 for death benefit for active member of the local to be common practice from here on out. 2nd by Kelly. Motion Passes.
Motion by Castle for 300 for Connie Anderson retirement. 2nd by Mueller. Motion Passes
7. Officer Reports
Presidents Report-Ryan Cates: Met with management about a grievance to allow Security Services staff in MSH to do overtime on residential Units. A process was agreed to and as of 2-7-18 Security Services staff can do overtime in residential as long as they meet the requirements.
Met with Scheduling and Administration about creating a written process for the granting of vacation. Management agreed to attempt to agree on a process with labor. A written process would allow members to see exactly how scheduling will grant vacation days and will also prevent scheduling from arbitrarily deciding to change or ignore the vacation granting process.
Attended Meet and Confer for MSOP. (Eric Hesse and Mike Homer will have details in their reports)
Attended Meet and Confer at CBHH in Rochester. Met with members before the meeting to listen to their issues. (Luke Frederick will have details in his report)
Attended Meet and Confer for Forensics. (Matt Stenger, Kurt Crosby, Steve Wilking and Marvin Sullivan will have details in their Reports)
Met with management for a check in meeting. Presented concerns about the inversing of mid-shift employees instead of less senior staff. Management will look into it. Asked for them to stop changing CRP staff’s shifts inside of 14 days. This will not happen in the future. Asked for a timeline for repairing windows on Spruce Unit and in the Tamarack Seclusion room. Management said “about a month”.
Met with Kitchen supervisors and Scheduling. They presented a plan to have kitchen staff call-in sick to the scheduling office. No issues with this. They also want to eliminate the 7:30-3:30pm shift for Coordinators and replace it with a 9-5pm shift. We would not agree with this and will need feedback from the members it affects before having an opinion on it.
Executive Board Meeting.
General Membership Meeting.
Site visits at Forensic Nursing Home and Forest View North and South.
Multiple grievances.
VP: Matt Stenger- inversing 8 to 4 shifts. CRP tried to inverse 8 to 4 when someone calls in sick from 2 to 10 saying that the need wasn’t until 4. They agreed with our argument that this is circumventing seniority. 12 to 8 moving 2 to 10 within 14 day period. Every other program they come and ask the staff members if they would be willing.
VP: Eric Hesse- It’s been a busy month as far as investigations and grievances go. I filed 11 grievances in the past month. Please be mindful of your accruals as management will investigate any time you use leave beyond your accruals (ETL use). In MSOP, the scheduling program will be tracking your vacation and comp time accruals and will not let you submit vacation past the amount of leave you have plus what vacation you can accrue. The date of this rollout is yet unknown but will be implemented shortly.
Local 404 has put out a counter to DHS’s release that injuries are down at MSH, which is not the case. We are discussing the next steps we are going to be taking.
On February 26th, the United States Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in the Janus vs AFSCME Council 31 case that contests the legality of people paying a fair share fee. We are fully expecting the Supreme Court to rule in favor of Janus and a ruling to be given by June. This case is a blatant attack on unions and our right to bargain for a fair return on our work. If you have not signed a new membership card, please reach out to an officer. By signing and recommitting to the union and saying that no matter what happens with this Supreme Court case that you are sticking with us and keep this institution strong and keep our power to bargain for better wages, better benefits, and better working conditions.
Our contract is still in limbo. The legislature still has to vote on it. The legislative session begins on February 20th and goes until mid-May, so they can vote on it at any time within that time frame. If you have seen recent posts by AFSCME Council 5 about state contracts being temporarily implemented, that was for Correctional Officers (Unit 8) and 911 Operators (Unit 25) only, and does not apply to us. The Legislative Subcommittee of Employee Relations (SER) decided not to meet and took no action on Unit 8’s and Unit 25’s contract, so it temporarily got implemented due to that until the full body of the legislature votes on it, while the SER chose to meet and voted against our contracts. If you would like more information on this, please let me know.
Day on the Hill is coming up on Tuesday, March 20th. We would like to see as many people as possible to let the legislature hear our voices and let them know what’s important to us.
Local 404 has committed to doing more site visits to go around and talk to our members and hear if they are having any issues or have any concerns and to answer any questions they may have. We did one at the Nursing Home and Transition (Forest View) on Feb. 15th. We plan on going around to each building and various shifts.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out and contact me.
In solidarity,
Eric Hesse
Vice President – Steward Coordinator
AFSCME Local 404
Executive Board: Emilio Florez- Nothing to report. Campus security was going into work areas with no hard hat or steel toes as required. Left patient to go tell the staff. Staff said they were told to check fire alarms in the area.
Executive Board: Luke Frederick- Last month had 100 percent in neo. Next one is next Wednesday. Instead of MSOP being separate. Both sites will do orientation together. Takes less time and people can meet each other. Meet and confer at CBHH/CARE. HR said good to send info word of mouth and not via emails. We did not agree. They were denying a probation staff ability to put in for vacation passed their probation time. They agreed that is incorrect. Went to area labor council. First Wednesday of every month. Doing candidate screening. At 4pm. We meet to discuss what is going on with all our unions. At labor temple in Mankato. We can send 3 or 4 delegates to each meeting. If you would like to go, email Luke.
Executive Board: Steve Wilking- Hello Fellow Members, Since becoming a Chief Steward I have learned many things that are happening behind the scenes. With much discussion with the Eboard and officers it was unanimously agreed that we submit monthly reports to inform our members. We believe that our members should be informed. However, there are things that the union can’t discuss and that needs to be respected. Lastly, it was agreed upon to do site visits to make our union accessible.
Within the last month I have sat (4) investigations which involved (3) for ETL usage and (1) for not completing the weekly clinical review. Also, within that month I have filed 5 grievances that have progressed to level 3 grievances. Those are waiting to be heard. Of those 5 grievances (2) Disciplinary action, (2) Overtime distribution (1) improper vacation granting. It has been an honor to serve AFSCME Local 404.
Your Humble Chief Union Steward,
Steve Wilking
AFSCME STRONG!
Executive Board: Mike Homer- Over the last month I have sat a few investigations in MSOP and attended the MSOP Meet and Confer. I am continually answering questions about the Meet and Confer and about what is happening with our contract.
Executive Board: Marvin Sullivan-: investigations at nursing home. Was supposed to meet today and management wasn’t there. Did site visits at transition and nursing home. I have been sitting a lot of investigations at FNH and Transition services. I currently have 1 step 3 grievance that I am going to be presenting. We did site visits at FNH and Transition on Thursday 2-15-18.
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- Attn: Stewards! Please send me your grievances! I would like to enter them into the grievance tracker. The grievance tracker helps keep us organized and is also capable of pulling and proving what we have won in the past when it comes to similar arguments. Any questions please let me know. Thanks!
CS FACILITY SUPPORT: Stacey Mueller- I have continued to work on a new schedule system that would give staff options between working 5 eight hour shifts/two consecutive days off. 4/10 hour shifts 3 consecutive days off, 3/12 hour shifts 4 consecutive days off with an option to choose just the 3/12’s exclusively or opt to work 1 eight hour shift per pay period. This would give people a variety of options to find a schedule that would balance their work with their private life. I will be making a presentation hopefully at the March Membership meeting and would value all members input into making a schedule that works for everyone.
Public Service Announcement
Recently, I have sat A LOT of investigations of staff who have been tardy, No Call no show, or going off the books for sick. I know that things happen; people get sick, kids get sick, your alarm clock doesn’t go off, your car might be in bad shape and won’t start. Please be aware that you are making things difficult for one of your co-workers when you are not here to perform your job. Once is an accident, and it happens, twice is a lack of planning and 3 times is just a blatant disrespect for your co-workers and the company you work for. You are the only person who is accountable for your time management. Please for the sake of everyone involved, take some time and plan ahead for the things that you can. It is not asking too much for you to come to work on time and prepared to work.
Examples of Planning:
Have friends or family members on stand-by in case of children’s illness or if your mate is going to be home late and someone needs to supervise the kids in the interim.
Car not working? Call a co-worker and ask to share a ride or call an Uber.
Alarm didn’t go off? Call in as soon as possible and get in as soon as possible. Your supervisor will thank you, your co-worker, who got inversed to cover for you, will thank you. You still might get a coaching session but at least that doesn’t go against you in your file like a written discipline or a suspension.
Speaking of files, if you have been disciplined within the last couple of years you may want to get a copy of your Personnel and Supervisory file. You can take out any past disciplines that have expired so that they cannot be used against you should you have future disciplinary actions. Please Contact a Steward for assistance with this once you get your file so that they can help you with getting things removed!!!
CS MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby- Working on resolution to construction of temporary wall and the reasoning behind it. Grievance with management communication. Talked with members and how important the November elections are. Labor Management committee we discussed real time values on time. Results oriented direction actually getting things done. Any NOCs questions, please reach out to me. I work Monday through Friday overnights.
Business Agent: Crystal Kreklow- Crystal: As many as possible for DOTH. Member’s day of action Feb 24th 1030 at capitol against Janus. Overall membership is 97 percent. We need more mom cards signed.
Motion to Adjourn by Wilking. 2nd by Stenger. Adjourned at 550pm.
Swearing in of officers.