June 2019 General Membership Minutes

General Membership Meeting-AFSCME 404

June 20, 2019

1030PM Redmen Club St. Peter

Present:

Adam Castle, Emilio Florez, Ryan Cates, Crystal Kreklow, Jake Schoenecker, Marvin Sullivan, Hans Paulson, Staed Doehring, Nathan Houle, Jason Scrabeck

1.Secretary Report:

Motion to approve March meeting minutes by Adam Castle, 2nd   by Molly Kennedy.  Motion passes

2. Treasurer-Antonino Guerrero:

STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING: May 2019

CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 61069.81

INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 29712.36

EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 6073.09

CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 84709.08

SAVINGS: $ 80004.29

SUBMITTED BY: Antonino Guerrero

Motion to approve Treasurer Report subject to audit by Marvin Sullivan subject to audit. 2nd by Emilio. Motion passes

3. Correspondence: Lawsuits filed by council 5 against the state. Unit 25 and 8 to compel to bargain. They wanted to wait until after 10 days so they could vacate. Courts ordered that contract will stay in effect until they bargain. In 2005 12 hours shifts were introduced. Commissioner sent memo saying he would implement 12 hours. 3rd was on behalf of 404 about arbitrations not being heard.

Molly presented 3rd step grievance and they have not been replying. Assume its denied and file a 3rd step. If the union misses a timeline its dead. But if management doesn’t meet theirs, there are no repercussions. We bring it up at arbitration level. They are not adhering to guidelines and we do. This is brought up in negotiations to the arbitrator and is part of the argument.

MSH Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/june-2019-msh-meet-and-confer

MSOP Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/june-2019-msop-meet-and-confer

CBHH/CARE Meeting Minutes: https://www.union404.com/news/june-2019-cbhhcare-meeting-minutes

 

4. New Business: Steward training for July 26th from 9am to 3pm at Redman. Motion to approve per diem and lunch by Marvin, 2nd by Emilio. Stewards that have received training may also do the training again if you wish. Send email to Molly Kennedy if you are interested.

July 25th mental health summit at council 5. Kyle White-Mcginn organizer with council 5. At South St. Paul office on Hardman Drive. Looking at behavior health with council 65. Want this to be a member led initiative to drive this. Looking at major concerns with contracting to non-profits that do work our members do. Key is we want members leading. If interested let him know. There is a survey online to access. Motion for mileage and perdiem by Marvin, 2nd by Emilio. Motion passes

Push for offsite visits in the coming months. Any members in those areas email chief steward or president.

Quick Books-Antonino would like to purchase Quick books program for 200 annually. Motion by Molly, 2nd by Marvin. Motion passes.

Discussion at Eboard meeting about providing food to get more attendance. Other locals do it and get more attendance we would like to try it for 6 months. Emilio would like to amend adding that after 3 months we will evaluate to see if it has increased attendance. Motion to approve up to 200 per meeting by Marvin, 2nd by Molly. Motion Passes.

LPNs and RNs will be allowed to mutual again between classes in Forensics.

Tentative agreement has been reached for state negotiations. Visit council 5 memberlink for most current information.  

https://members.afscmemn.org/

5. Old Business:

6. Items from the membership: Performance evaluations are coming up. There is a new sheet that says position description addendum. They are presenting you with that says you will follow all DHS policies 100 percent of the time. Do not sign this. There is no way that anyone can follow 9000 DHS policies at all times. AFSCME is challenging this at the executive DHS level. Decline to sign and say it is currently being challenged so you are unable to sign it at this time. If you have already signed it, don’t be too concerned. It is being challenged and you would be protected depending on the outcome.

7. Good and Welfare:  

8. Officer Reports:

President: Ryan Cates-

VP: Matt Stenger-

VP: Eric Hesse- AFSCME Council 5 and the State of Minnesota reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday, June 19th for the 2019-2021 State Contract. To see the details of the tentative agreement, please log in to Member Link at https://members.afscmemn.org/ and go to Documents. I was on the master negotiations team, so if you have any questions on the agreement, I’ll be happy to try and answer them. While it’s not the best deal we’ve ever gotten, I still think we got the best deal we could have gotten out of the State and if you do the math, the vast majority of people will come out ahead. The next steps is the Negotiations Assembly will reconvene sometime within the next couple months to meet and discuss the contract and decide whether or not to put the agreement out to the membership for a ratification vote. If it does get put forward to the membership to vote, we will let you know the times and locations where you can go and vote to approve or reject the contract. If the contract gets approved by the majority of the members that vote, then it will enter the legislative process for approval, which I will touch on if that happens.

 

I’ve heard some discussion on people saying they want to drop their union dues to build up their “high 5” for retirement and want to debunk this train of thought. As far as the “high 5”, your top 5 years of earning that gets calculated for your retirement comes from your gross income (before deductions) and not your net income (after deductions) as laid out in the MSRS plan handbook, which you can find on the MSRS website. So dropping your union dues (which is a deduction) will not give you extra money to account for your “high 5”.

 

We have a meeting set up with MSOP Administration regarding the legislative funding that MSOP had just received and to address some concerns about it. We are also still trying to find a solution to the safety issue at the Sunrise Clinic with the nurses and the subsequent reduction of staff on the unit.

 

We will have a Steward Training on Friday, July 26th at the Redmen Club in St. Peter from 9am-3pm. If you would like to attend, please let me know by Friday, July 19th.

 

As always, if you have any concerns, issues, or questions, please feel free to reach out to me or any other union officer.

 

In solidarity,

 

Eric Hesse

Vice President – Steward Coordinator

AFSCME Local 404

 

Executive Board: Jake Schoenecker- This month I have been supporting members with investigations as their union representation, answering questions from members and attending the monthly EB/membership meetings. If there is any question or idea/opinion you may have please  reach out in any way and be heard.

Executive Board: Chief Steward Emilio Florez- I have still been out of work however; I have been attending our AFSCME meetings and meetings with Management. We did a site visit at the nursing home and will be having our labor management meeting with CBHH and CARE this month. I also attended contract supplemental negotiations. Our meeting minutes can be found on our website. We plan on doing more site visits and working to keep our members informed on what’s all going on with contracts and member rights. That’s all I have to report this month.

Thanks,

Emilio Florez III
AFSCME LOCAL 404  | Chief Steward
Work: 507-985-2121 | Cell: 507-382-2917

Executive Board: Chief Steward Steve Wilking- Hello Everyone!

     Over the last month I have attended the usual meetings….. Weekly Check-ins, meet and confer and I have been covering Emilio Florez’s work area as he is out on medical leave. 

     I continue to file many grievances and sit many investigations.  I prepped a case for arbitration. 

    AFSCME has come to a tentative agreement on a contract.  The details should be floating around.  If not you can go to www.union404.com and sign up for memberlink.  This will give you the specifics.  Also, I believe they are also posted on the 404 Facebook page.  So check that out.  Please make sure you know your contract and are not being taken advantage of.  We are offering a steward training in July.  Look for that date if you’re interested.  We love answering questions.  So… please feel free to reach out to us and ask away.   

     There have been many issues on campus and will continue to be many.  Reach out to any e-board member to make sure your concern is being heard.  Also, our General Membership meetings are the 3rd Thursday of every month if you wish to attend.  If you can’t attend check out the www.union404.com website.  It is a plethora of information and discounts.  

 In Solidarity,

Steve Wilking

Chief Union Steward

AFSCME Local 404

 

Executive Board: Chief Steward Molly Kennedy- This month we have been working with Health Services in MSOP to provide coverage in CPS Clinic.  The CPS clinic is a very isolated area and if there was an incident that was to happen the response time, without anyone else present, is too long.  We have also put in a work order to have the exam rooms keyed to a general set so that if a nurse was behind a locked door with a client, Security Counselors are able to get in to help.

 Earlier this month there was a member who was fired and after the member and a union rep made HR aware that the last discipline that person received was overturned, they offered him his job back 4 hours later.  He came back the next day and was given a 5 day suspension. HR is now claiming that this member was never fired even though we have the dismissal letter.

I have sat 4 investigations this month for MSOP and presented 1 third step grievance. 

 

Executive Board: Chief Steward Marvin Sullivan- This past month I have been sitting investigations mainly in regards to ETL usage.  I attended a Meeting in regards to nursing issues in MSOP.  I also attended Supplemental Negotiations.  Nothing else to report at this time. 

 

Respectfully,

Marvin Sullivan

 

Executive Board: Jamie Sheppard- I attended Contract Negotiations May 28-30. I have been working with nursing on their issues with staff safety. I also attended a meeting with management and regarding the staff safety issue with nursing and after applying a lot of pressure, we got them to agree to have a security counselor present during CPS nursing hours. A new way to track grievances has been developed with the assistance of Austin Grossenburg. Please remember to forward all of your grievances to me, as well as the outcomes for ALL steps. Also, don’t forget to bring forward Good and Welfare items to myself and Kurt Crosby. If you have any questions about anything please let us know. We cannot help you if we do not know what is going on.

 

In Solidarity,

 

Jamie Sheppard, E-Board

 

CS Facility Support: Stacey Mueller-

Chief Steward MSH / CRP / Nursing Nights: Kurt Crosby

Crystal Kreklow:

 

Motion to Adjourn by Emilio , 2nd by Molly. Motion Passes