April Meeting Minutes

Union Meeting Minutes

Thursday May 5, 2018 / Friday May 6, 2018

Attended by Giles, Morrow, Oliver and Brown on 5^th

Attended by Giles, Hoffman, Wegner on 6^th       

·         Copies of union contract were passed out

o   Please make notes throughout term of contract of changes you would like to see

o   We want to have meeting prior to next negotiation with some clear goals of what we want/ what we will ask for / what we will accept

o   Insurance was brought up – that can be negotiated into contract to have someone on insurance committee to have input and work with management

§  Need to make sure if we put it in place that people will follow thru

·         Cooperation Meeting w/management can be requested at any time

o   If you have issues bring them forward with the solution ideas and results sought

·         Questions brought up during meeting

o   Can we have a member on Metro  Management

§  That would have to added in thru negotiations

o   Can we have Mayor candidates come in to metro 

§  With election on Tuesday this is short notice

§  Other options would be that we look at having new elected mayor come in for visit

§  Union had forum in March for the candidates to answer ?’s.  Kooper will be sure next time we are aware of when this occurs.    They will invite candidates in before November election. 

·         During forum Union asked all the candidates to sign a pledge supporting workers and workers issues.   All of mayor candidates agreed but Union chose to support Kenny Anderson.  (Mike Gunn and Paul TenHaken were not in attendance)

o   While all agreed to sign the pledge, Kenny is only candidate from workers background.   Others all come from business owner background as opposed to worker background. 

·         Janet Brekke and John Paulson refused to sign pledge (council member at large A)

·         Union endorsed Nick Weiland (council member at large B)

·         Union endorsed Kurt Soehl (council member for central district)

o   Can we have 3 meetings –

§  Not opposed to 3 meetings as long as people are attending

§  Noa offered to host meeting after his shift at his home and provide beverages

§  Meeting can be held anywhere if have other suggestions bring them forward   

§  Date not yet set for next meeting

o   Other group discussion to have Union sponsor more events than just NTW

§  Noa will be donating a Soda stream in name of union

·         Union will vote on budget to buy flavors for the stream

§  Discussed helping with a meal couple times a year

·         Discussion was for July 4^th (my birthday but not my idea) and Christmas

·         Member Morrow will reach out make contact with Star Committee to see if they are interested in a collaboration.   Will wait to hear back from them and vote from there on action to take.   

o   Discussed having a member on the labor council.   Union would cover the dues.   Those showing interest were Craig Sanchez, Jared Hoffman, and Taylor Wegner.   A vote will be held to approve paying dues and then depending on if more parties interested we would have 2 people and 2 alternates.   

TELECOMMUNICATOR WEEK

AFSCME 3516 

Metro Communications

Union Members,

A Few items we need to take care of that can’t wait till the next meeting.  

#1  As a Union we have donated funds in the past to NTW.   Last year we donated 450.00.  

I propose we do the same this year and donate 450.00 to NTW.   Please respond with a yes or no so we can move forward on this.  

#2 Please welcome new Union Members !!!

·         Jason Harris

·         Ashley Brown

·         Jon Christopherson

·         Victoria Snyder

WE are super happy they have joined our group.    The office is currently out of new member packets but should be getting more in.    I will get them to you as soon as I can.    For old members these are new so if you would like one please let me know.

#3 I am in need of a volunteer to assist on the Merger Committee.   Time commitment would be 1-2 hours once a month.   I do not yet know when meetings would be.   Please let myself or Jared know if you are interested.     

-LeNora

Metro Communication AFSCME 3516

Meeting Minutes

February 1-2, 2018 19:00-20:00 and 12:00-13:00

Present:	Feb 1st, 2018 Lenora Giles, Ashley Brown Feb 2nd, 2018 Lenora Giles, Jared Hoffman
Next meeting:	March 1, 2018, 19:00-20:00, and March 2, 2018, 12:00-13:00 At the Labor Temple Sioux Falls, SD

1.       Announcements

Ø  New committee members: Jason Harris joined

Ø  Need 2 members willing to volunteer as representatives for the merger group (will be finding out time commitment for that).

2.       Discussion

·         Coming up with ideas for increasing attendance to meetings from members

·         Creating goals for 2018

·         Decide dates and time for meetings to encourage more attendance

3.       Roundtable

ü  Trying to get involved with any further new hires not being counted into staffing if they can’t be held over or called in, they shouldn’t count towards staffing numbers.

ü  Rent was paid to the labor temple through June of 2018 for $78.00

Welcome Jason Harris to the union!

Union Meeting

Thursday 2/1 1900

Friday 2/2  Noon

Agenda

New Officers/members

Goals for 2018

-Meeting days/times

Merger update

Consolidation

As verified by Tim Rust and I we have voted 10-1-1 to start the consolidation process.

Monday Morning at 0700 hours I will start to confirm if you accept your nominations for office. If you do not want to be nominated cross off your name. Otherwise I will contact you.

We will vote for new officers for 2018  Wednesday Dec 6th to Wednesday Dec 13th. Votes will be anonymous over Survey Monkey.

Thanks - Jared

Vote on Merger

Saturday November 18th I am sending out a vote for starting the merger of 4 locals.

I am not sure if it is clear but the 4 locals are...

Sioux Falls Schools
City of Sioux Falls
County Highway Dept
Metro Communications

This is not a vote to merge, it is a vote to start the process which will take 6-9 months.

We lost 2 people - now down to 10 people in our local. Any ideas to get more solidarity would be helpful. (I always joke that if we get to 8 I move to decertify - then we will have 22 or 0 members - Jared)

November is when we do nominations and elections for positions in the Union. I will post on the board. I will then send out election survey Nov 25th.

Things to keep in mind for 2020 contract - though it may seem long ways off, but it is not...

Adding a step in grievance - As written now after appealing to Paul we have to go to Department of Labor. In a larger organization this probably wouldn't be a problem as Paul wouldn't have a direct say of the decision when it was made in the fist place, however, at our size Paul makes decisions that we have to appeal. The Department of Labor then starts a long process time wise and includes lawyers - which is fine, we have lawyers - it is the time. Putting in a step of appealing to the Metro Board - though Paul has communication with them - will hopefully have more thoughts in the mix and makes a formal public record.

Work on phrasing to give more power on our schedule. With this go around Admin wanted to make changes to our on call time - having days when you are on-call to hold over, having off day on call, and various things. I will admit that our current contract hindered switching some people to 12s, but Admin simply wanted us to ignore the protections without any benefit or return. I think we should work on phrasing that allows for changes and the Union officially votes on new schedule.

Benefits - Ona works her ass off for benefits this time of year. LeNora and I met with her about the benefit changes, however when we spoke to her things were very much in the air. We already have a 75%/25% insurance coverage - which is good, as most businesses I see cover less than 50% or 100% - surprisingly very few inbetween. However things we spoke are "If we could save money would it be better to have a Sanford Only or Avera Only plan?"  "Would going to the $1000 deductible (with high max) be better than what we did?"  - I would like to add phrasing for having the Union more involved in the decision. Maybe it would suck going to an Avera(or Sanford) Only would suck, but if we save $1000  a year would it go.

In solidarity - Jared

Consolidation talks

Hello All –

Had a good set of meetings with Kooper (our organizer, who plans on buying a house so he is here for a while.)

The main topic of discussion was a proposed consolidation of the locals. It would be 4 units – Us, City of Sioux Falls, County Highway, and Teachers Union. This would let us consolidate information, allowing us to unify what goals the other units would have. It would consolidate our account and create more checks and balances (right now Lenora and I could run with all our money, we won’t, but probably should not have that ability.)

 The goal of our organizer is to be able to have picnics, parade participation, and basically be more active. Joining the locals would allow that to go easier.

The proposed board would consist of paid President and Treasure Secretary, which would then be paid positions ($5000 a year).

Then every unit would have a VP and a Chief Steward. So a board would have 10 and need majority to vote for quorum (6 people present).

The concerns brought up –

We would still have individual contracts.

The process would go like this… We vote if we are interested in consolidation. After that 1 or 2 delegates go to committee for merger.

I will send out a vote on November 18^th if we want to form committee. The vote to actually merge would be 6-9 months after that. PLEASE GET YOUR QUESTIONS TO LENORA OR ME.

There has been a dues freeze in South Dakota for the foreseeable future, so our dues will not go up.

IN METRO NEWS - A member has proposed we look at getting the uniform to business casual instead of having to have a Metro Logo. Basically to match what Admin currently wears. What are your thoughts on this?

Also make sure you check out the Afscme Advantage - you can save some money on various things. I just looked at the Mortgage discount and mortgage protection insurance.

https://www.afscme.org/members/advantage