Present:
Lori Stueber, Ryan Cates, James Hemshrot, Amanda Mathiowetz, Kendra Benson, Lindsay Becker, Eric Hesse, Jamie Sheppard, Luke Frederick, Molly Kennedy, Tim Headlee, Richard Delestre, Mary Scovill, Steve Schreiner, Elena Shevtsov, Jessy Doerr, Thom Wilkins, Adam Castle
1.Secretaries Report: February 2014 meeting minutes- Additions or Corrections? Motion to accept subject to review by
2. Treasurer-Connie Anderson: STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR MONTH ENDING February 2014 CASH BALANCE BEGINNING OF MONTH: $ 72161.76 INCOME FOR THE MONTH: $ 11035.37 EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH: $ 1292.47 CASH BALANCE ENDING OF MONTH: $ 81904.66 SUBMITTED BY: _______CONNIE ANDERSON_____ Accepted subject to audit motion by.
3, Correspondence Review a). SEPC Spring Conference is Friday, April 11th. We have room for 30 delegates. This will be at the Ramada Inn in Minneapolis. Those going must have the day off and should email Connie Anderson by March 25th because the deadline is March 28th. Motioned by John Knobbe to take up to 30 delegates, pay $125 per diem, mileage (please car pool), and lunch. 2nd by Jamie Sheppard, motion passed. Motioned by John Knobbe that if there are 30 delegates, John Knobbe and Molly Kennedy still be able to go because they are part of the committee. 2nd by Ryan Cates, motion passed. b). AFSCME Local 404 made a donation to the Echo Food Shelf in December and will continue to do so around the holidays c). There is a scholarship available. Please see http://www.union404.com/ for more information d). There is an OSHA Compliance Seminar April 11th at MSU. Would like to send 5 delegates, one from each area on campus. Must have the day off to attend. Please email Tim Headlee if you are interested. This is also posted on http://www.union404.com/ under the calendar tab.
4. New Business: a) OSHA is coming back to MSH April 1st. On March 25th they will be visiting at 6pm and talking to various night staff. They will meet with supervisors and management on the following date. b) There have been questions about tracking sick time. This is done by occurrences. c) There was a change in MN law that mandates employers to allow 160 hours a year available to employees to take care of extended family members (parents that do not live with you). This is more liberal than the contract. Will need to comply with state law. With at least 2 weeks’ notice, staff can use up to 16 hours if there are staff available. The new law has not been pushed very hard because it is so liberal. There have already been disciplines for people that go off of the books and this would make it easier. Encourage staff to know their rights and that the law does allow this, which proceeds contract. Sick usages will still be reviewed at 6 uses and there will be disciplines for going off of the books. d) Safety Meeting: Talked about the use of shields and tracking training. One problem is that we made our own shields and OSHA is not happy with this. A handle was broken during testing. There was conversation about the other equipment used. There is currently a chair with a broken strap. There will be an extra chair available if one is broken. Trying to put this on the equipment checks and there are replacement parts in a box. Tabling this to move forward. e) There is talk about upgrading to commercial refrigerators in MSH. The current refrigerators are being burnt out. Staff should make sure they are not being filled beyond capacity when doing temperature checks. f) Physical Plant is low with employees and they are unable to keep up. Propose that when staff do laundry checks, they check the second lent traps in the dryers. These are usually located above the cabinet.
5. Old Business: a)
6. Items from the membership:
7. Officer Reports
Presidents Report: Tim Headlee Hello, AFSCME Local 404. *Thanks to all of those able to attend the general membership meeting this month, we reviewed and received really great feedback and information... in turn adding several items to next month’s M&C meetings including multiple topics raised on a certain levels of severity demanding immediate attention (thank you John K) these issues being addressed will improve the safety and security of the effected work place. *We had a great attendance for the Steward meeting. Please remember to inform and update those unable to attend, if there any further questions we can answer or address those at the next meeting. *Reminder: Molly K and others continue working hard to schedule future steward training including advanced steward training ensuring all interested the opportunity to attend. Please email Molly with any questions including your level of interest. *2014 Day on the Hill: thanks to all who took time aside to participate in this event… as it’s recognized as one of the most important. I’d like to encourage all members to attend future “Day on the Hill” events, as most will agree this is a great experience. After several conversations had its felt this year was very successful, covering a wide range of topics/agenda. Thank you (Connie A) for your efforts ensuring our attendance/other was successful and (Luke F and John K) for providing us structure and effectiveness as we delivered our message. Apology if I’ve missed anyone... but thank you all the same. * I’d like to send special thanks to Mr. Scott Grefe our AFSCME Business Rep, for all the hard work you’ve done and do daily for Local 404 including the strong connection/communication you’ve maintained between Local 404 and AFSCME Council 5. (Thank you!) You’re greatly appreciated. *Reminder: the next General Membership meeting will be held at the Red men club, April 17th Thursday, 3pm – 5pm.
VP-John Knobbe: In the last month we have continued lobbying. The most emphasis has been directed toward the pension committee due to the DHS push to remove the Forensics Nursing Home and Transition Services from CERP. At the meeting I attended last Tuesday, the department supported keeping our members in CERP but wanted time studies every 5 years. This ended up tabled and will come up for vote next Tuesday when we are there for Day on the Hill. I hope we can fill the hearing room. I have been sitting a lot of investigations and are awaiting answers. We talked with HR about capable and qualified, who is needed to cover and when, only giving least senior OT to 7-3’s and 1-9’s instead of based on needs and when. Discussed grievances not being heard by supervisors and just responding to the written grievance. Also discussed training and why scheduling couldn’t help coordinate of schedule part time staff to cover before the scheduled posts. We are pushing to establish work rules and updates so we can complete this after 2.5 yrs of asking. In Solidarity, John Knobbe
VP- Molly Kennedy This March we had a new steward training here is the list of folks that took the training
Lindsey Becker-nursing home Kendra Benson-nursing home Amanda Hollom-nursing home Jerimie Goetlicher- MSOP Sh2W Randilee Dauk- nursing home Marvin Sullivan- MSH Bartlett 2 South Brooks Schmit- MSH Bartlett 2 north
It was a great class and I look forward to working with all of them in the future.
MSOP joint labor management was on March 13th and we got together with Moose Lake's local 1092. Management spoke about vacation accruals, balances and audits and we spoke about how the 40+ clients will be transferred to Saint Peter. We continue to ask about removing our last name off from our name badges. This would be especially helpful in areas like CRP or CARE/CBHH for patients with limited stay. We discussed mutualing into double shifts, putting in interest bid when on a bid ban or a new employee and upcoming important dates for union activities. Please see www.union404.com for all of the meeting minutes.
We do have a contract training scheduled for Wednesday April 23rd please contact me if you would like to attend this training. You will need to be a full member in good standing:)
CS MSH/Transition: Ryan Cates
CS-AMH/CARE: Matt Stenger.
CS – Facilities Support: Mike Homer N/A
CS – Nursing Home: Eric Hesse
CS – MSOP: Matt Stenger
CS – MSH / CRP / Nursing NOCS: Shannon Pech Nothing to report
EB- Luke Frederick. Union leadership spent the week of Feb 24th through Feb 28th up at the capital lobbying. Primary issues brought up were workplace safety, the bonding bill, and keeping FNH and Transition in the correctional employee retirement program. Representing the local on different days was Ryan Cates, Eric Hesse, John Knobbe, Tom Kluntz, Chuck Carlson, and myself. We’re always looking for more people to get involved, let me know if you’re interested!
EB- Adam Castle Nothing to report
EB James Hemshrot Nothing to report
CLU delegate report-
Council 5 Field Representative Scott Grefe: N/A
Meeting adjourned at 12:20am