General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404
December 20th 2018
430PM Redman Club
Present:
Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Matt Stenger, Ryan Cates, Antonino Guerrero, Emilio Florez, Stacy Mueller, Jacob Dougherty, Jake Schoenecker, Kurt Crosby, Marvin Sullivan, Hans Paulson, Steve Wilking, Joann Holton, Molly Kennedy
1. Secretary Report:
Motion to approve meeting minutes by Adam Castle, 2nd by Stenger. Motion passes
2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: November 2018
CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 58229.46
INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 29616.53
EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 6537.20
CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 81308.79
SAVINGS: $ 79908.61
SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero
Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by Kurt Crosby, 2nd by Stenger. Motion Passes
3. Correspondence:
MSH Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/msh-minutes
MSOP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/december-2018-msop-meeting-minutes
4. New Business: Jill Gatzky-retired. Asking for support for the free meal to the community kitchen on Monday at Trinity Church. Last year served 48 meals per day. Total of 3549 people. Thank you for your past support and hope for your support in the future. Marvin Sullivan motions for 1800 for this year. 2nd by Stenger. Motion Passes
Marvin Sullivan makes motion to vote on the MOU for using vacation for the overlap when mutualling to doubles. Everyone will have an hour of overlap instead of half hour when mutualling to doubles. Vote took place. Motion Carries
Caven motions for per diem and mileage for going to council 5. 2nd by Kurt. Motion passes.
Motion by Cates for lanyards, badge covers, and badge reels. Stenger amendment for up to 1200 for this AFSCME memorabilia. 2nd by Kurt. Motion Passes.
5. Old Business:
6. Items from the membership: Member asks for update on MSOP commissioner meeting. MSOP agreed to place staff in the activity building to allow groups to continue. They also wanted to create a committee to figure this out. AFSCME said no. we asked for manager to line staff ratio. MSOP is 6 to 1. MSH is 12 to 1. Another meeting is being scheduled. 2nd meeting with commissioner. Commissioner seemed checked out and didn’t go anywhere. They changed hours of the rec/visit/kitchen posts and coverage. Also gave back 1 more staff for each floor on overnights. Still have not funded the positions they removed. Waiting for the new commissioner to come in and the new legislative session to start.
New client handbooks. If they aren’t being unsafe. Clients can be out on the unit.
7. Good and Welfare: Kurt-Toy Drive came together at the last minute. There are a lot of items in the bin.This isn’t an official union activity. If anyone hears about a member losing family or a retirement. Get a hold of Jamie Sheppard.
January 25th is state negotiations assembly. If you are registered, please attend. Our votes depend on it. Someone will attend for you if you can’t make it.
8. Officer Reports:
President: Ryan Cates- Attended MSOP Meet and Confer.
Attended the Forensic Safety Committee.
Met with management at Forensic Meet and Confer. Brought up the process for rescinding vacation and why 14 days is important to scheduling- management has no plans to change the process. Asked about LPN vacation requests and a process for SNV for Nursing. Expressed concerns about vacation being over granted on holidays in Transitions and thus limiting Holidays for senior staff. Asked about GMW’s schedules and specifically weekends and holidays. Requested screened radios for A-team responders in MSH. Brought up concerns about patients nails not being cut and creating a safety concern for staff. Asked for another Lead on Cedar unit where they only have 3. Complained about the number of investigations and disciplines creating rumors and fears.
Attended Weekly check-ins
Attended Interest Based Problem Solving group where we pushed for staff to be allowed to use cameras to monitor patients on Willow unit.
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.
VP: Matt Stenger-
VP: Eric Hesse- In the past month, we at MSOP have been able to get our Rec posts back and go back to “normal” staffing numbers on 1st Watch. While grateful for this, we still believe we and MSOP as an organization can do better. There is no practical reason why a staff member should be left alone on a unit for any length of time, let alone an expanded period of time or the whole shift. We met with the DHS Commissioner on December 5th in St. Paul. We didn’t come out of the meeting feeling hopeful for change and quite honestly, we had our concerns minimized. We brought up our issues with the physical safety of staff being left alone. We brought up our issues with the psychological safety of staff being left alone due to the MSOP clientele being experts on manipulating and crossing boundaries with staff and being left alone gives them a better opportunity to cross those boundaries. We asked them to be proactive instead of reactive and not to wait until someone gets hurt before something gets done. We also asked them to look at the organization as a whole to see if we have the right positions now and in our budgetary ask from the legislature. We pointed out that MSOP has 1 manager/supervisor to 6.8 staff while Forensics (MSH, CRP, etc) has 1 manager/supervisor to a bit more than 12 staff. We feel this is unacceptable. What we got in return was an answer that was absurd. The Commissioner essentially stated that one of us needs to be hurt before they do anything as she doesn’t believe they can get funding without the injury numbers to back it up, such as they did with staffing at MSH. We totally disagree with this sentiment and are discussing our plan for the future regarding this issue, including setting up a meeting with the oncoming Commissioner once Governor-elect Walz appoints them.
We also have heard a lot about the Incentive MoU from members, both positive and negative. We are still looking at all of our options in this and we continue to learn from this experience and grow from it.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
In solidarity,
Eric Hesse
Vice President – Steward Coordinator
AFSCME Local 404
Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- Sitting investigations, Monthly meetings, supporting members with personal union issues and researching questions from members.
Executive Board: Chief Steward Emilio Florez- I attended the Forensic Labor and management meeting. We met with Physical Plant department regarding GMW weekend rotation and have a meeting scheduled to meet about the physical plant merger with MSOP and Forensics. We have rescheduled the CBHH/CARE meeting to next month in January. I have sat a couple investigations and helped file grievances. We tested the FB live stream with a small group and should be fully operational by next month remember to sign up to the group page to gain access. More information will be available for this later on. Refer to union404.com for more information. Thanks,
Emilio Florez
Executive Board: Chief Steward Steve Wilking- Hello All! During the past month I have attended weekly check-in meetings, interest based problem solving group, safety committee meetings, meet and confer, e-board meeting and the general membership meetings.
Things that I have been working on. I continue to assist with the HIMS department with their ongoing concerns. I have organized many investigations, sat loudermils and assisted in presenting a few step 3 grievances with Ryan Cates. I’ve also filed a few grievances about overtime distribution.
There continues to be many investigations both internal and external. Atlas still has issues. If you have any issues in regards to atlas please bring them to our attention.
In Solidarity,
Steve Wilking
Executive Board: Chief Steward Molly Kennedy-
Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan-
Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- I attended MSOP Meet and Confer. I continue to track grievances and bring issues forward. I have also been answering questions about the contract and helped someone apply for the Student Loan Forgiveness. I can’t stress enough if your area is being run short please let Hesse, Molly or myself know about it. If we are not made aware of these things happening there isn’t much we can do about it.
In Solidarity,
Jamie Sheppard, E-board
CS Facility Support: Stacey Mueller-
Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby-Sat 2 investigations this month, please be sure to review policy’s often, if you are confused, send your unit director and email asking for specific clarification. This is important so we don’t find ourselves being questioned for things we do.
The focus based problem solving group was postponed this month.
The recent toy drive that the staff put on here at MSH and MSOP gathered over 300 donations. Those gifts were delivered to Blue Earth, Nicolette and Le Sueur county DHS. It was an amazing show of generosity and I wanted to thank any and all that participated in this last minute drive. Many underprivileged youth will have a gift or two that will make their Christmas a little bit brighter.
Crystal Kreklow:
Motion to Adjourn by Kurt. 2nd by Molly Kennedy.
Adjourned at 530.