Mediation

Hello AFSCME Members -

Hope you are having a safe and peaceful Holiday break!

Here is a quick update....

Mediation: We have had two sessions of mediation with the Employer & are making some progress. We have a third session for mediation on January 17th. This will be an all day meeting, so we are hopeful that we can get to a point to have something to bring back to the membership for a vote.

Grievances: We have two active grievances right now. One is a Class Action Grievance related to General Assistants that we are hoping to have a possible resolution on January 17th. The second is an individual grievance that we will need to vote on at our meeting to send to arbitration.

Mediation/ open secretary position

As of today, we do not have a date for mediation set with the district.

Our executive board has the secretary position open. Patti has done a great job but will be resigning at the end of the school semester. Please let a board member know if you are interested.

IMPORTANT VOTE MONDAY OCTOBER 4, 2010

We will be having a meeting on Monday October 4th, starting at 4:30P.M. with sign in at 4:15P.M. The meeting will be held at the EREA building in Elk River. (see previous postings for directions)

This meeting is important because our negotiating team is asking for a vote to seek mediation in the negotiation process with the district. Our council rep, members of the executive board and negotiating team will be on hand to answer questions and inform you before the possible vote.

I look forward to seeing everyone and please make it a point to tell your co-workers and attend the meeting.

VOTING RESULTS

The vote to change full time status from 7 to 6 hours for seniority/bumping process passed last night.

Thank you to everyone who came out to vote. We even had fair share members become full share members for this vote. This makes our union more unified and stronger.

A special thank you to Julie Lange and Deb Witzman who called members and helped answer questions at the vote.

Thank you to Sandy Olson and Patti Evangelist who also volunteered to help with the process.

Jo Musel Parr, our council rep, attended and as always was helping members with concerns. Thank you Jo!

Lastly, Carol Zimmer has accepted the position of Membership Coordinator. Thank you Carol!

We will be posting information about negotiations, insurance changes and the bumping process.

Please let your fellow members know of this blog and let us know if you have questions.

Perry Ottney

President of Local 3331

IMPORTANT VOTE



Monday August 9, 2010 4-6 P.M.



Full share only.EREA Building 555 Railroad Drive NW, Elk River (just off Hwy. 10 and Main ST)



The bumping process will begin in mid August. Our negotiation team is proposing a vote specific to the bumping process. We discussed changing the full time status for bumping down to 6 hours per day. The employer is willing to implement this system, but we need an official vote from the membership.

We must have a quorum of votes or the system will stay exactly as it was implemented last year. One of the major concerns last year was that people who were below 7 hours had their hours severely reduced. We are hoping this change will fix this problem and be a better seniority list for all members.

Before you vote, you will be able to look at our current seniority list and a proposed seniority list to help you make your decision. Board and negotiation team members will be available at the vote to answer your questions.

Members will be making phone calls to you starting Thursday, July 29th 2010 to notify you of this meeting.

Encourage your co-workers to come and vote.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions! I hope to see you at the vote.

Perry Ottney, President of Local 3331email me at president3331@hotmail.com

Primary is August 10th

Please remember to vote in the primary on August 10th, 2010.

Your council, AFSCME Council 65, has endorsed Margaret Anderson-Kelliher in the race for Governor.

Margaret Anderson-Kelliher received AFSCME Council 65's endorsement after a screening with your executive board made up of AFSCME members. Each candidate was given 30 minutes to talk about their experience and plans for Minnesota. Voting records were also reviewed to ensure that the candidates votes supported our issues in the past.

After this screening, the AFSCME Council 65 Executive Board chose Ms. Anderson-Kelliher as the candidate that most closely matched the positions we support related to LABOR & PUBLIC EMPLOYEE issues.

We realize voting is a personal issue. AFSCME Council 65 encourages all Union members to exercise their vote in the primary regardless of whether you are voting for the endorsed candidate.

***AFSCME Council 65 endorses candidates and monitors legislative activity in order to ensure we are supporting candidates who support our issues...and we pass that information on to members. Current issues we are watching closely which are related to your work include: school funding, PERA Retirement, changes to the Minnesota Public Employees Labor Relations Act, 4 day school week and the impact on our members, and many more.***

****Please also remember your Union does have a Political Action Committee, called PEOPLE...Public Employees Organizing for Political & Legislative Equality. This is a voluntary program where members can donate to ensure legislative & political action by your union. We will have information regarding PEOPLE available at future meetings. Please note, many of the political mailings you receive come from these voluntary donations.***

Negotiations update

Our team has a meeting with the district on July 28th. No other news to pass along.

IMPORTANT JOB POSTING INFORMATION

This information has been given to those who are displaced and is important for everyone to know. Beginning Monday, June 7 2010, the district will begin posting open positions for the 2010-11 school year. When there are jobs to post, they will be posted for a period of 3 working days. Positions will be posted internally while people are displaced so access will be through your ERMA account. (internal positions do not show on the regular School District website employment page)

Jobs will be posted for the 2010-11 school year, if and when they are available, every MONDAY and WEDNESDAY through the summer. To apply, follow the on-line application process rules.

Positions posted on or after August 15, 2010, (THIS DATE MAY CHANGE TO SPEED UP THE BUMPING PROCESS) will be posted on the School district website for a period of ONE working day up until the first day of school. Positions filled pursuant to a ONE day posting on or after the above date shall be reposted (employee is displaced) prior to the 2011-2012 school year.

CURRENT/2010-2011 EXECUTIVE BOARD

The following is a list of current board members until June 14, 2010:

Perry Ottney, President. president3331@hotmail.com. Elk River High School

Julie Lange, Acting Vice-President. vicepresident3331@hotmail.com. Elk River High School

Patti Evangelist, Secretary. secretary3331@hotmail.com. Hassan Elementary School

Leisha Utz, Treasurer. treasurer3331@hotmail.com. VandenBerge Middle School

Pam Westphal, Acting Membership Coordinator/Chief Steward. mccs3331@hotmail.com. VandenBerge Middle School

2010-2011 Executive Board voted on 5/20/2010, effective June 15, 2010: E-MAIL STAYS THE SAME.

Perry Ottney, President, Acting Chief Steward
Julie Lange, Vice President
Patti Evagelist, Secretary, serving second of two year term
Leisha Utz, Treasurer
Carol Zimmer, Membership Coordinator (pending acceptance of position) VandeBerge Middle School

THANK YOU!

Thank you for coming to our blog! We will be posting important information regarding meetings, negotiation status, insurance information and other information for all of our members.

A special thank you to our council rep, Jo Musel Parr for getting this blog started.

Perry Ottney
President of Local 3331

AFSCME Local 3331 Meeting

AFSCME Local 3331 Elk River Paras and Teaching Assistants will have a meeting tonight at 4:00! Hope to see you all there