6/9/11 Local 404 General Membership Meeting Minutes

Present: John Collins, Chuck Carlson, Ann Sullivan (Recorder), Molly Kennedy, Matt Stenger, Carol Robb, Jill Gorman, Marvin Sullivan, Britta Higginbotham, Charles Johnson, Michelle Rodning, Annie Thelen, Greg Naumann, John Knobbe, Larry Schneider, Mary Wolfe, Kevin Graves, Jennifer Johnson, Mary Scovill, Jamie Sheppard, Jessy Hohenstein, Dan Jentz, Kristy Christiansen, Nate Vetter, Jeremy Tubbs, Erin Granberg, Eric Hesse, Ryan Cates, Shawn Kennedy, Tim Headlee, Mark Heilman, Kelly Woelpern, Eric Ridout, Cory Stadick, Brian Wells, Mary Keller, Nathan Tish, Jason Scrabeck, Jonas Thompson, Chad Cabanilla, Dan Dvorak

Greet Membership
1.Secretaries Report: May 2011 meeting minutes- Additions or Corrections? Motion to accept subject to review by John Knobbe second by Kelly Woelpern then carried.
Correspondence Review
a) Request for nominations for Council 5 achievement awards (activism, organizing, and local development)
b) Presidents Meeting at Council 5- June 24th
c) C5 Exec Board Minutes April 2011- Any questions, please contact Chuck Carlson
d) Pride Parade- March for Equality! Sunday June 26th at 11am
2.Presidents Report:
A. FD M&C - Minutes will be posted- Any questions, please see Chuck Carlson or John Collins
B. CBHH Meeting - Minutes will be posted- Any questions, please see Chuck Carlson or Kevin Graves
C. Forensic Division Joint Labor Management- Any questions please see John Collins
D. MSOP Meet & Confer – Any questions please see Molly Kennedy
E. NASMHPD Meeting with Management and Labor Management- Chuck Carlson, John Collins, and Charles Johnson attended.
3. Old Business:
1. Upcoming Lobby- during special session. Dates and times TBA on union404.com and Facebook. E-board recommendation to pay usual and customary expenses with carpooling encouraged. Motion by John Knobbe to send up to 6 people per day and pay usual and customary expenses with carpooling encouraged. Second by Annie Thelen then discussed. Britta Higginbotham questioned if the maximum of 6 is necessary. John Collins explained that it is more effective to not have excessive people. John Collins amended this to 12 maximum, second by Dan Dvorak then carried.
2. Next wave Event - vote to authorize 2 delegates to Atlanta July 8,9,10. Kevin Graves and Jeremy Tubbs will be attending. A motion was made by Britta Higginbotham to pay them customary expenses. Second by Kelly Woelpern then carried.
3. Centennial Celebration – will be delayed until fall.
4. Six Month VAC request period – Appears to be at a dead end for now due to pending Master Contract negotiations

4.New Business
1. Presidents Meeting June 24th - Vote to authorize expenditures for Chuck Carlson and John Knobbe to attend.
2. State shut down planning- Possible starting July 1st- layoff notices to be sent out on Friday 6-10-11. This does not mean that all people that receive a letter will be laid off- this is sent to all per contract. A Special Master/Judge will take recommendations from the Dayton administration on who are critical employees. An insurance notification/invoice will be sent out around the 3rd week in July. Staff must reply if they wish to continue their insurance benefits. Nate Vetter asked if Security Counselors will be critical and the possibility of less senior SC’s being laid off. Scott Grefe stated that there is a possibility that we may be forced to run bare bones and that bumping and claiming rights may enter in. Staff is encouraged to check bereadymn.com and the AFSCME Council 5 website daily for updates.
3. The Kitchen- AFSCME Local 404 is scheduled to Staff “The Kitchen”- The free community meal- on June 27, 2011. The meal is free and open to the public with no requirements of any kind. The meals are held at Trinity Lutheran Church, 515 South Fifth Street, St. Peter, serving from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Please wear an AFSCME T-shirt and come prepared to have a good time. Children of AFSCME members are also welcome. Volunteers eat after the people are served. The Kitchen has been serving about 80 people of all ages, or more per week. Please call Jill Gatzke 934-6399 or email if you would like to help. The following volunteer jobs are needed:
Food Preparation- Assist with beginning to prepare the meal 2-5pm
Table Setting/Drink Cart/Dining room assistants 3:30pm
Food Serving 5 pm-6:30pm
Clean Up- table clearing/ dishes (automatic dishwasher?) 5:30pm-7:15pm
Children’s Activities- supervise children using provided materials before/after meal 5pm-?
Hand out tickets/Crowd counter 5pm-6:30pm
General Supervision/ Assisting the people 5pm-?
It would be great to have 15-20 volunteers- this is good opportunity for older children/ families. Thanks for making a nice “night out” for our neighbors/friends!
5.Items from the membership-
Social Committee – Volunteers are needed to help with the float for the 4th of July parade. Anyone interested in helping should contact Michelle Rodning. The e-board recommended a budget of $500 which is the same as last year. Matt Stenger made a motion to allow up to $500 for the float and parade. The motion was seconded by Jeremy Tubbs then carried.
Officers Reports:
VP-John Knobbe: “In the last month our local spent a week lobbying at the capital, we had our quarterly for MSOP and our first combined St. Peter/Rochester CBHH meet and confer. We’ve had to repeatedly remind management that the contract isn’t just suggestions.
Today I attended a meeting at Council 5 about the pending layoffs (shutdown) and this picture just keeps getting uglier. Please talk to me if you have specific questions.
In Solidarity,
W. John Knobbe”
VP- Molly Kennedy: “In MSOP we had a joint Labor Management meeting with Moose Lake Local 1092 on May 19th. Some of the topics discussed were the schedule anywhere program that we would like to have in MSOP, which would give us the ability to see all schedules and request a mutual and vacation day from home. MSOP leadership informed us that they signed a contract for another year with our current schedule but would look at that for next year. The HIMS project was also discussed. In HIMS they will be scanning documents for the new Phoenix systems. You can sign up to be trained, then you can get OT hours to do this in the HIMS dept. Please see the Human Resources site for this. Also see www.union404.com for more details.
Some items that will be discussed at the upcoming June 16th labor management meeting is the new radio systems going live and that we had the training quite a few months ago and a refresher course will be needed. We also brought up the 12-8:30 shift not being able to call for SNV before their shift and that they are not eligible for overtime hours. And we also suggested that the lot draw when you get hired be done by cards again to decide what seniority number you will get. Lastly we are going to discuss the possible government shutdown. Right now there are a lot of uncertainties but please keep informed of what is going on. You can find this information on www.bereadymn.com and www.afscmemn.org
In Solidarity,
Molly Kennedy
Local 404
Vice President Steward Coordinator
Treasurer-Connie Anderson:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING MAY, 2011
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 46,413.75
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 5,487.63
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 7,301.12
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 44,600.26
SUBMITTED BY: _______CONNIE ANDERSON_____ on ___June 8, 2011__
accepted subject to audit motion by John Knobbe second by Jeremy Tubbs then carried.
CS MSH/Transition: John Collins: “With a lot of uncertainty and anxiety going around right now we have the inevitable rise of rumor-mongering and speculation as to what is coming next. Please be aware of how some have the need to sound like “big shots” who apparently know everything that is going on and going to happen. (If there truly is someone out there that does know everything then please contact us because we would like to know too.) I just want to suggest to everyone to be skeptical of any rumors and do not believe anything that is not fully supported with facts. We have a lot on the table right now and need to keep focused on our true priorities as we move forward. Number one on that list for everyone can be maintaining solidarity in these trying times. Best wishes to all!
CS-AMH/CARE: Kevin Graves: Nothing new to report.
CS- NOCs/CRP: Jeremy Tubbs:
“MSH NOCS
I have received no issues from MSH noc's shift.
CRP
There have been ongoing scheduling issues on the CRP unit. Some of the staff and myself had a meeting with Colleen Ryan and Carrie Archer. The meeting was unproductive as management believes that they have the right to deny vacation and give extra shifts outside of seniority at their pleasure. I will be working with the CRP staff and be watching the schedule on this issue.
MSOP NOCS
The nights supervisor has made it an expectation that staff document their breaks and movement in the orange unit books. The issue was presented at meet and confer. The senior MSOP management agreed that this was not the case and that the books are to be used for client documentation only. They said they would notify the NOCs supervisor accordingly.
MSOP 2nd and 3rd watch
There have been many issues on MSOP days. There have been some issues with the process in which employees are bumped to NOC's. This was addressed by Matt Stenger. He was able to resolve the issue without going to the grievance process.
I submitted and presented 4 grievances at the 3rd step. The first 2 grievances were for staff discipline and were presented. I am waiting for a response. The other 2 grievances were for a denial of a mutual agreement for 2 staff members. I have presented that and am awaiting a response.
Also, there were 2 other grievances presented. The grievances were for violation of bidding rights and a staff discipline. There were presented by Matt Stenger and Molly Kennedy.
The bidding rights grievance was a class action. It was a result of management scheduling employees outside of their bid unit at least 50% of the time. The grievance was presented and we are awaiting a response.
The grievance presented by Molly Kennedy was for a staff discipline. We are awaiting a response.
Thank you,
Jeremy Tubbs

CS – Facilities and Forensic Nursing Home: Jill Gorman: “I attended CLU meeting last Wednesday and reported on state shut down. Letters need to be written to the paper about how much this is going to cost the state.
I dealt with some issues in the Nursing Home along with the Transition area.
Tim Walz wants to have a labor friendly meeting at the Farmers Market in Mankato in July or August. Information to be coming on this for a time and date.”
CS – MSOP: Matt Stenger: Nothing new to report
EB-Anne Mehltretter: Nothing new to report.
EB-Charles Johnson:
“June 2011 Report
I was named temp chief steward for NOCS & CRP, unaware of any open investigations.
I attended the Trauma Informed workshop on 6/2/11 and also the End of session rally @ the Capitol.
Charles Johnson”

EB- Eric Ridout: Nothing to report.
Good and Welfare: Jesse Miller, Jim Ebbenga, Matt Uecker, Tom Eustice, Mike Keech, Lori Nielsen, Troy Ringeisen, and Luke Lange
CLU delegate report- Jill Gorman attended- see her with any questions.
Council 5 Field Representative Scott Grefe- Anyone wondering what they can do to make a difference should contact their reps! Our rep in Laura Askelin- call her if interested in volunteering for anything! We need to stay strong behind Governor Dayton’s plan! Talk to your neighbors, friends, and relatives about this. Coming back before Dayton’s plan is in place will result in pink slips, higher insurance rates and lower retirement benefits.
Watch FAQ’s on MMB and AFSCME websites!
Message to Members: “We want to work, Support our Governor!”

Door Prize Winners- Tim Headlee, Chad Cabanilla, Mark Heilman, Ryan Cates, Jamie Sheppard, Jason Scrabeck

Progressive Drawing- $125- Jessy Hohenstein

Meeting adjourned at 11:37pm