April 2022 General Membership Minutes

General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404

April 21, 2022

1030PM Zoom

Present:

Adam Castle, Ryan Cates, Eric Hesse, Kurt Crosby, Steve Wilking, Eric Manriquez, Mike Hohenstein, Annie Jakacki, Karla Herzberg,

1.Secretary Report:

Motion to approve meeting minutes by Adam Castle. 2nd by Kurt. Motion passes.

2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:

STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: March 2022

CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 140230.79

INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 7640.85

EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 4664.37

CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 143207.27

SAVINGS: $ 150988.92

SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero

Motion to accept upon audit by Adam. 2nd by Eric.  Motion Passes

3. Correspondence: Convention call for international convention. July 11 to 15 in Philadelphia. Anyone interested can email Eric Hesse before May 19. We have 5 delegates. Voting will take place at the meeting. You will need the days off as well as Sunday. You will need to provide proof of vaccination or daily testing. Wear mask and social distance at all times. This may change. This is an election year. Expected to attend every day while in session. Eric makes motion to approve per diems, travel, hotel, flight, and parking expenses. 2nd by Kurt.

FMHP Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/april-2022-fmhp-meeting-minutes

MSOP Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/april-2022-msop-meeting-minutes

CBHH/CARE Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/cbhhcare-april-2022-minutes

4. New Business:  Safety eye wear/goggles is now required again where all patients are present. Kurt-Did we ever get a response from management about the staff that got stitches form the goggles? Ryan-Roxanne said we don’t know if the eye protection kept him from getting injured more than what he did from the stitches.

A recent resignation from the executive board resulted in an open position. Rick Pitts was voted in to the chief steward position and now the executive board position will be open for next months meeting.

Our officers may need to testify for arbitrations. Kurt-motion to pay perdiem and mileage for this type of things. It should be a full day because drive time may be included. 2nd by Eric Manriquez. Motion Passes.

5. Old Business: Forensics survey schedule will be coming out soon. Please vote on this for what schedules you want. They will be doing different shifts, so vote for what you want. We have not seen the final version yet.

SEPC on May 20th. Ryan will be there for the board meeting on the 19th also. Motion for union to pay for hotel. 2nd by Kurt. Motion Passes.

6. Items from the membership: Kurt-Is the union looking into doing any more in person trainings? Annie-OSHA was train the trainer. We don’t do that training. We can look into it.

Overnights, people have been nominated for achievement awards. Luke is holding on to them because he doesn’t think its fair. He cant be holding on to those. This is the rumor. Ryan-A list came out today. There are some members that did get it. I will bring it up that supervisors cant be doing that. Night staff should be getting it as much as anyone else.

Steve-What policy will the webex login be under? This could cause a problem with allowing patients being alone or with staff sitting it. Are people supposed to use own pw number? Ryan-I will send an email to get a response in writing.

7. Good and Welfare:

8. Officer Reports:

President: Ryan Cates- This past month I have…

 Attended Forensic Meet and Confer- Notes are attached to the meeting minutes.

 Attended MSOP Meet and Confer- Notes are attached to the meeting minutes.

Chaired the Executive Board meeting.

Chaired the General Membership meeting at Jakes in St. Peter.

 Filed multiple grievances and sat investigations.

 Talked with members in multiple work areas and listened to their concerns.

 Presented and argued grievances.

 Communicated information to E-Board members about issues facing the Local.

We continue to push for changes to the vacation process that will allow more members to take vacation when they want to.

  If any member of Local 404 feels they are not being represented by our Union, please let me know. We cannot fix problems if we do not know there is a problem.

 We ask that all members who are interviewed as non-subjects in an investigation, request Union representation. If management refuses, then members should refuse to answer questions. Participation in investigations is completely voluntary and they cannot coerce you to answer their questions. We need to do this to compel management to discontinue their practice of refusing to allow Union representatives into investigations.

 

VP: Matt Stenger- This month I have still been working on the LPN’s being put into HSSS spots. I have filed 12 grievances on the issues and have had meetings with HR and presented the step 3 grievances on the issue. I’ve also attended  meet and confers for MSH and CBHH/ care for this month.

 

VP: Eric Hesse- It has been a relatively slow month for me. We have been trying to clear up the unfilled shift bonus application at MSOP within the past month as management keeps trying to say that certain aspects do not qualify when we feel that it should. It is still a work in progress. I presented one grievance this past month for improper overtime distribution. I have also been fielding and answering member questions throughout the month.

 

I am still working on trying to get another steward training scheduled, hopefully by the end of June, if not July. Please keep an eye on your email for notification of when it is scheduled if you are interested in becoming a union steward.

 

We’ve had some recent changes in the area assignments for Chief Stewards. Here are the current list of areas and the Chief Stewards assigned to the areas:

 

FMHP and Nursing Home: Kurt Crosby and Marvin Sullivan

MSOP: Nick Weerts

Overnights: Cory Moon

Lower Campus (Kitchen/Warehouse/Physical Plant/Old Center/Pederson/etc): Rick Pitts

CARE/CBHH: Steve Wilking

Communications/Membership: Eric Manriquez

 

Please reach out to your Chief Steward of your area if you have any issues or concerns. If you do not get a response in a reasonable timeframe, then please contact either myself, Matt Stenger, or Ryan Cates.

 

Here are some dates for some upcoming events:

 

SEPC Spring Conference: Friday, May 20th

AFSCME International Convention: July 11th-15th

AFSCME Council 5 Convention: September 29th-October 1st

 

As always, if you have any questions, issues or concerns, please reach out to me or any other officer of the Local.

 

Executive Board: Kitchen/Physical Plant Rick Pitts-

Executive Board: Chief Steward Overnights Cory Moon-I attended monthly meet and confer with management to discuss various safety issues/concerns.

- sat discussions between AFSCME work group and management regarding potential options for scheduling survey to be sent out.

-Filed one grievance and looking into some concerns regarding an “Emergency” inverse. Still waiting on response from the supervisor I reached out to.

 -Continue to update members whom have questions/Concerns.

-Still learning as I go so I apologize to anyone I do not have immediate answers for but I’m working to better my knowledge.  

 

Executive Board: CARE/CBHH Steve Wilking- Hello Everyone,

     I have sat investigations and received many phone calls/emails about union questions.  I am pleased to represent you.  Please reach out if you have any questions.

In Solidarity,

Steve Wilking

Chief Union Steward

Executive Board: Chief Steward MSOP Nick Weerts- We enjoyed a more quiet month here in MSOP! The unfilled shift/weekend bonus seems to have found its rhythm and staff & supervisors alike are able to correctly apply the process [usually].  I did attend our monthly Labor Management meeting and there were a number of agenda items, some just for clarification & publication—so be sure you check out the meeting minutes for information/updates!

 

Due to illness, I missed our New Employee member Orientation Day, but I did facilitate the seniority lot draw the following week, so was able to meet nearly all of the new staff who are joining our campus. It was another small class but be sure to welcome these folks when/if you see them out & about.

 

I had no grievances to file this month but did address a number of issues/concerns staff had that were not contract violations. It was quiet on the investigation front as well, though I did get a couple of investigations covered from other Stewards when I was off work.

 

Continue to read postings to the Announcement page, as well as any HR emails with updates, for COVID policy changes and updates. As it has been throughout the pandemic, these are ever changing and fluid! We are all also just an email/phone call away with any questions.

 

I continue to try and make monthly rounds across the MSOP work areas. It’s impossible to catch everyone, so if you have issues/concerns, you’re welcome [and encouraged!] to reach out anytime.

 

HR recently went through yet another restructuring, please see the Homepage announcement for individual contact information, otherwise the generic emails are as followings

Contract for HR is [email protected]

Leave Management requests (FMLA) should go to [email protected]

 

Communication continues to be key to our success & strength, so Members are encouraged to reach out with concerns/observations. Please see www.union404.com for all meeting minutes.

 

Executive Board: Chief Steward FMHP/Nursing Marvin Sullivan-

Executive Board: Jamie Schwarz- Good & Welfare: Al Aspelund and Tim Buley please accept our deepest condolences. Congratulations to Pam Ardolf on her retirement after 18 years. MSOP members out on LOA we are thinking about you-Sam Burnett, Brandy Chlebecek, Jon Hibbard, Tim Manley, Zach Thompson, Troy Weiers, Brian Wells, and Tia Yang.

 

Grievance Tracking: There were 22 grievances filed for the month of April. 7-Step 1’s, 3-Step 2’s, and 12-Step 3’s with only one investigation sat.

 

Executive Board: Mike Hohenstein-

CS Facility Support: Communications/Membership Eric Manriquez-Nothing to note on my end as I have been out a lot this month.

No grievances or investigations.

Did not attend Meet and Confer this month.

 

Chief Steward: FMHP/Nursing Kurt Crosby-Hello all, I have sat several investigations this past month as well as filed a few grievances. Please watch the seniority rosters as there has been some confusion as to the assigning of Overtime. Also, please remember to be active and address issues with eboard members as they arise so we can get ahead of them.  Safety is number one, take care of yourself and others. There will be a survey for potential alternative schedules coming to MSH sent out by leadership in the near future, definitely respond to them!!!

 

Annie Jakacki- I will be at the convention. You may need to look into online registration and paperwork. Information is online. AFSCME does have convention.afscme.org. You can pre-register and will give option for the hotel that we are affiliated with. First come, first serve. You have until June 1st. SEPC is at the Delta in Minneapolis. 774 members out of 859. 90.1 percent membership.

Motion to adjourn by Kurt, 2nd by Cory. Motion Passes

Meeting Adjourned at 1002PM