12-22-2014 Minutes

Union Meeting

Monday December 22, 2014

 

Attendance 12:30:

Jared Hoffman, Stephanie Kennerly

Attendance 18:00:  Jared Hoffman, Michael Mettler

 
New Members:         Luke Senst

Members Leaving:   Kara Mikkelsen, Brandy Teft

Meetings will move to 4^th Wednesdays at 1200/1800 until April 2015’s shift change.

 

There will be a CoOp meeting on December 29, 2014; Some discussion topics will be:

Paramedics Plus

EMD for Private Pages

Variances for time delays

With the new Non EMD call standards Metro will be working with SFPD to narrow down important call types for notifying a supervisor.  They are trying to get down to seven priority call types that need immediate notifications.  With this, a new filter may be put into place for a High/Low Priority

Cost of Living increase negotiations will begin in March 2015.
 
A discipline hearing was held for a union member regarding sick leave. Want to remind people that when you call in sick just advise you are calling in sick and keep other information to minimal.

Minnesota and South Dakota’s union has merged; therefore Nathan Rahm is the new head of our division. Due to this merge our Union dues are slated to go up, and at meeting discussed to the rate of $ 22.50 per pay period. This should be the last raise for the foreseeable future. Other things discussed
 
Retention:    

 A suggestion for new recruits to help with retention of policy that may differ from shift to shift is to have new employees rotate shifts every 3-4 months for the first year of being on the floor working on their own.

 
Discussions of hiring only for B shift and with this giving shift differential pay to B shift employees only (1500-2300).  This may help retention and interest for supervisors for B shift as well as other B shift employees.

Flower Funds:

 

A proposal was made to start a flower fund with a gift from the union to start, and then have operators volunteer to have a small amount taken out of checks for authorized events. This fund would likely be controlled by Metro Management.

 

Meeting and Cooperation Meeting Minutes

Union Meeting notes     Meeting 10-21-14      1800 hours

 

 

Members Present

President – Mike Mettler
Vice President – LeNora Giles

 

Guests

AFSCME International Rep

Justin Faber – MCA employee

 

 

 

ISSUES

·         Joseph Pudas (member) had vacation on telestaff which was approved and then changed to PMA (pending management approval) and now is denied.    Changed due to use of hours elsewhere but would still have enough time accrued by the time vacation was to be used.   

o   Email will be sent to MCA management to have a meeting to discuss

o   Cooperation meeting held with AFSCME President and Vice-President. Management had decided to grant the time back to Joseph Pudas.

 

 

·         Employees miss the round table discussions that used to be held w/ management at In-Services -  a chance for employees to be heard

 

·         Membership numbers are down 

 

o   We lost Dave Roe and Chris Gruhlke

o   Non union members have been invited to come to a meeting to be encouraged to join the union

o   Discussion on strength of union comes from its members.   

o   National rep -   stated several times

§  How many people do we have

§  What are we willing to do

o   Discussed ways to encourage membership to make for a strong local

o   This meeting was to be for nominations which will continue for the next week. 

o   We will be inviting employees to a special meeting – date to be determined – to be held at Pizza ranch in private room to discuss membership, nominations, and participation in union.    Motion was made and passed to appropriate 200.00  towards the cost of dinner.   

·         Nominations  are now open for the following

o   President

o   Vice President

o   Secretary

o   Treasurer

o   Steward A shift

o   Steward B shift

o   Steward C shift

o   2 board members

§  Bob DiMercurio is on board not up for reelection

 Nominations have been left open until such time as the meeting at Pizza Ranch can be scheduled.

 

·         Mettler presented the bill for printing of the Union Contract to be paid $46.75. 

 

 

·         If anyone has contact names for employees with Rural Metro -   National representative looking for contacts to speak with employees about organizing

 

·         M.A.T  - Membership Action Team

 

o   A communication tree to get information organized

§  Shows the union is organized and has unity

o   To be used on events which are

§  Widely felt

§  Winnable

o   Nathan (the new local rep)  can train subjects on how MAT works

Cooperation 9/2/14

On 09-02-14 Lenora Giles and Michael Mettler met with Daren Ketchum, Jennifer Disburg, and Ona Reker.

• It was agreed that the ACO would be hired in time for them to bid shift. They are looking to hire 3 operators on A shift 3 for B shift and 2 for C shift. Job description as well as expectation will be posted along with the new positions. Job should post on the same day as next year’s bid. Effective date for hire in changing over from CTO to ACO is still TBD. As all promoted to ACO will have the same promotion date seniority will fall back to agency seniority. 

• 2015 Schedule should be posted as of 10-01-14. This will have ACO positions included. The expected movement of the schedule will be Oct 20-27th supervisors will bid, Oct 28-Nov 3rd ACO, and Nov 4-17th operators. Vacation bid will be from December 1-15th . 

• The on call schedule will be tied to the shift bid. The on call day should fall in the middle of the employees work week. On call time can be traded, however this is still being worked out. It may be like regular trade time or may be a complete trade in which the on call person will receive the benefit. Still working on Telestaff to possibly preload the on call schedule onto it everything was still a work in progress. Expect by shift bid that most of the information should be settled.

• Rotating RDO’s are here to stay for the time being. Trades and movement that occurred last year will again be allowed this year.

• Great concern was raised over the treatment of one of our members in being called into work from a non work site during hours on duty. LeNora Giles spoke on this position advising that the concern is that by removing the employee from the event they had signed up for, and making them come into work they created the expectation and a fear that would prevent future employees from signing up for events. Management said that this was an exigent circumstance, and it required the supervisor to act to keep his number from falling below minimum staffing. This was an isolated incident and does not happen on a regular basis. In the future the on call schedule will hopefully lead to situations where this is no longer a problem, but a guarantee could not be made that a similar circumstance could lead to an operator being told to return to the center and work. The center is priority and must remain staffed.

• Elections are coming up. 15 days notice is being given the we will start accepting nominations fall all officer positions, as well as several others. Nominations will begin 10-21-14 and end the following Friday 10-24-14.

SHIRTS

Hey everyone,

At the last meeting Mike and I talked about ways to spend some of the cash in the bank for union members. We both liked the idea of shirts, and decided to look around and see what the internet had to offer. We found a site that specifically customizes apparel for labor unions and they have a few good designs. The full list is here but I picked out a few below.

  

 

   

 

Send your thoughts to Mike or myself - if you can find a design you like here or elsewhere, bring it with you to the next meeting.

 

Thanks,

 

-C

Next Meeting

Hey folks,

The next Union meeting will take place at the Labor Temple on 6/25, 12:30 and 18:00. Mike and I have been mulling over ideas on how to spend the money we've got sitting in the bank - bring your ideas, as well as feedback from contract negotiations and anything else that's on your mind.

Any other questions, see Mike.

-C

Voting & Next Meeting

Hey folks,

On Thursday, 6/12 we'll begin voting yay/nay on the contract. The vote will be a during-work vote, with times beginning in the morning at 06:00 and ending at 18:00. If it's your day off and you wish to vote, please take a moment to stop in during those times or indicate your vote to another member so that they might cast it for you. If you have questions, see Mike.

The next meetings will take place on 6/25 at 12:30 and 18:00 in the labor temple.

Thanks,

-C

Next Union Meetings 5/28

Hey folks,

The next Union meetings will take place on Wednesday, 5/28 at 12:30 and 18:00. This is a very important meeting - we'll be discussing the tentative contract agreement between Metro and the Union and taking a vote to approve it. This is a good time to get new people interested in the Union so that they can see exactly what we do when it comes time to work on the contract. Tell your coworkers, especially the ones who are on the fence. We need to boost membership and now is a great time to do it. I'll see you there!

-C

Union Meeting 4/30

The next meeting will take place on 4/30 at the Labor Temple at 12:30 and 18:00.

We will be discussing our current Union negotiations, so please be sure to attend and offer your feedback on the current contract wording. If you are unable to attend, please see a union representative so that they can carry your thoughts to the rest of the group. If you have any other questions/concerns, email Mike or Lenny.

Meetings Minutes 4/3/14

Attendance 12:30: Michael Mettler, Erica Blankenfeld, Chris Gruhlke, Stephanie Kennerly

Attendance 18:00: Canceled due to weather

Main focus today was to discuss the upcoming Contract Negotiations. Mike presented a copy the contract with a list of ideas for negotiations. Each section was reviewed. If there are additional ideas/questions/concerns please email Mike directly at mikemettler@hotmail.com. Do not use Metro’s business email.

A new website is being created by Chris, IT/Head of Merchandizing. It can be visited at afscme3516.blogspot.com. There will be a place for shared documents, i.e. minutes and previous contracts, to be reviewed by Union members. Chris has also established a Twitter feed of @afscme3516 where information about meetings and other items will be posted.
New 18:00 hour meeting has been scheduled for 04-10-14. Please attend if possible, we are still going over the Economic proposal for AFSCME 3516.

Post Number One

Hey there folks. Chris here at the helm of what will hopefully be the new home for AFSCME Local 3516. As you can see, it's a pretty simple design, but I think it should do the trick for us in the future. If you have any comments, suggestions, or anything else to say, you can comment on this post below (if you're signed into a Google account). If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

-C