AFSCME Local 3937

Tentative Contract Agreement Reached - see the 2009 Negotiations page

ACTION ALERT: Defend Minnesota!

We need to stand up and defend Minnesota this summer. Gov. Pawlenty and his allies are drastically cutting the things we all need, use and love. Check out this map where you can track the cuts happening in your community.

In this land of 10,000 lakes, we’re already feeling the pain…

* St. Paul won't be hiring lifeguards at Phalen Beach.

* St. Cloud will be closing down wading pools.

* Mankato almost had to cancel fireworks on the 4th.

Tim Pawlenty and his allies may not care about the Minnesota that we all know and love, but we do -- and we know you do too. Please enter zip code and write a letter to the editor. Tell your community that we need a Minnesota that thrives, not just survives.

Biden says unions are way to rebuild middle class

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden, making a renewed pitch for a major change in labor law, told union leaders Tuesday that the best way to rebuild the middle class is to help labor unions grow.

Biden said it's time to "level the playing field" for unions by passing a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize. Read more...

Download Flyer here (pdf)

Regents Delay Decision On Regents Scholarship

The Faculty, Staff, and Students Committee of the Board of Regents heard the Administration's proposal to cut the regents scholarship. They announced that no action will be taken until their May meeting!

AFSCME 3800, AFSCME 3937, and other concerned faculty, staff and students organized a noon rally on March 12th to protest the proposed cuts. Despite bitterly cold temperatures, more than 100 people came to the rally. Following the rally, Phyllis Walker, President of AFSCME 3800 delivered to the regents committee over a thousand signatures on the petition to not cut the regents scholarship. All signatures were collected in just two days.

We will continue to collect signatures on the petition and to work with other employee groups to stop the cuts to the regents scholarship. We also plan to meet with all the regents to let them know first hand what the impact will be of a cut to the scholarship. If you're interested in participating in the meetings with regents, let me know.

Here are links to news stories in the Star Tribune and the MN Daily. The comments section of the Strib article are particularly great reading.

http://www.startribune.com/local/41184947.html

http://mndaily.com/2009/03/12/50-rally-regents-scholarship-outside-mcnamara

The daily was inaccurate on the numbers. We actually counted, and there were 100 (okay, 96, to be precise) people there.

REGENTS SCHOLARSHIP IN DANGER

You've probably already read the e-mail from President Bruininks in which he writes that he will be proposing to the Board of Regents that employees who wish to take a class at the University through the Regents Scholarship will be required to pay 25% of the tuition for that class.

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE REGENTS! If you think this is an unacceptable proposal, let the Regents know.

Given the alarming tuitions rates here at the U, and the decreasing buying power of our wages, this is yet another slash in our ever-shrinking benefits package. The Bargaining Unit staff at the University, whether AFSCME or Teamster, are among the lowest paid employees of this institution, and this proposal will fall heavily on us. We cannot afford to have the University budget balanced on the backs of hard-working employees.

We've heard from many of our Local 3937 members that they do not favor the President's Regents Scholarship Tuition Proposal.

We urge you to share your concerns with the Regents before their meeting on March 12 and 13, 2009. Here is the Regents website from the Board of Regents home page:
Regent Contact Information
You can call or send an e-mail to the Regent from your district with your comments.

NEGOTIATIONS 2009-11

Union Responds to State of the State: Public Employees Are the Solution, Not the Problem

Exerpt: "Gov. Pawlenty also proposed freezing all state employee wages for the next two years, plus a similar wage freeze for all local governments that accept state funding. Seide responds, 'Union wages and benefits are not the cause of the budget deficit. If the Governor cut all state employees, it would reduce Minnesota’s budget by only 4 percent.' "

Read the entire response: Union Responce to State of the State (pdf)

December Newsletter

View the most recent newsletter on the Newsletter page.

Job Postings at the Council 5 Office

Check the AFSCME Council 5 Web site for current job postings. Look under NEWS in the right hand collumn.

Current Posting: Communications Coordinator (applications due by Dec 22)

Jeff Corn, "AFSCME Ambassador" to Community Fund Drive Committee

Jeff Corn, a AFSCME Local 3937 member who works in the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs in the Humphrey Institute, has been working for the last few months as our "AFSCME Ambassador" on the committee for the Community Fund Drive. Each year for the last few years our Local has contributed a gift basket to give as a prize in the weekly drawings for U of M employees who contribute to the fund drive.

We want to thank Jeff for all the work he's done this autumn, and we also want to thank his wife, Sarah Walker, who knitted the gorgeous scarf! It's a beautiful basket!

Memorial for Debbie Kerben, former Treasurer Local 3937

Some Myths and Realities surrounding the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)

The following information was taken directly from the website of the U. S. House Committee on Education and Labor. You can follow the link to learn more about the work of this important committee:

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act abolishes the National Labor Relations Board's "secret ballot" election process.
FACT: The Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish the National Labor Relations Board election process. That process would still be available under the Employee Free Choice Act. The legislation simply enables workers to also form a union through majority sign-up if a majority prefers that method to the NLRB election process. Under current law, workers may only use the majority sign-up process if their employer agrees. The Employee Free Choice Act would make that choice - whether to use the NLRB election process or majority sign-up - a majority choice of the employees, not the employer.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act will increase intimidation and harassment by labor unions against workers.
FACT: Research has found that coercion and pressure actually drop - from both sides - when workers form a union through a majority sign-up process. Beyond this, harassment by unions is not the problem. In a study of a more than 60-year period, the Human Resources Policy Association listed 113 NLRB cases which they claimed involved union deception and/or coercion in obtaining authorization card signatures. Careful examination of those cases, however, reveals that union misconduct was found in only 42 of those 113 claimed cases. By contrast, in 2005 alone, over 30,000 workers received back pay from employers that illegally fired or otherwise discriminated against them for their union activities.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act would require a secret ballot election in order for workers to get rid of a union.
FACT: Under current law, if an employer has evidence, such as cards or a petition, that a majority of workers no longer supports the union, then the employer is required by law to withdraw recognition of the union and stop bargaining, without an election, unless an election is pending. Under current law, the employer can and must withdraw recognition unilaterally, without the consent of the NLRB. The Employee Free Choice Act would not change this.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act would require "public" union card signings.
FACT: Under current law, employees must sign cards or petitions to show their support for a union in order to obtain an election. And, under current law, when an employer agrees to a majority sign-up process, employees must sign cards to show the union's majority status. Signing a card under the Employee Free Choice Act is no different from these card signings under current law. The union authorization card under the Employee Free Choice Act is treated no differently than a petition for election or a card under a majority sign-up agreement. As with petitions for an election, under the Employee Free Choice Act, the National Labor Relations Board would receive the cards and determine their validity.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act's sponsors support secret ballot elections for workers in Mexico, but not in the United States.
FACT: Members of Congress wrote to Mexican authorities in 2001 arguing in favor of a secret ballot election in a case where workers were trying to replace a sham incumbent union with an independent union. The Employee Free Choice Act is consistent with this: it would require an NLRB election in cases where workers seek to replace one union with another union. Indeed, the original framers of the National Labor Relations Act intended elections for precisely those cases where multiple unions were competing - particularly where one was a sham company union and another was a real independent union.

Jurisdiction of the Committee:
(from the Labor segment of the "jurisdiction" page)
The Committee on Education and Labor also holds jurisdiction over workforce initiatives aimed at strengthening health care, job training, and retirement security for workers. Workforce issues in the jurisdiction of the Education and the Labor Committee include:
-Pension and retirement security for U.S. workers; -Access to quality health care for working families and other employee benefits;
-Job training, adult education, and workforce development initiatives, including those under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), to help local communities train and retrain workers;
-Continuing the successful welfare reforms of 1996;
-Protecting the democratic rights of individual union members;
-Worker health and safety, including occupational safety and health;
-Providing greater choices and flexibility (including "comp time" or family time options) to working women and men;
-Equal employment opportunity and civil rights in employment;
-Wages and hours of labor, including the Fair Labor Standards Act;
-Workers' compensation, and family and medical leave;
-All matters dealing with relationships between employers and employees.

You can read more about this committee and the work it does on its home page: http://edlabor.house.gov/

Here are some additional links with information about the Employee Free Choice Act
http://www.afscme.org/resolutions/2004/r36-105.htm
http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/
http://wcco.com/realitycheck/ad.organizing.workers.2.767488.html
(WCCO TV's Pat Kessler's program "Reality Check")

New Officers and Executive Board sworn in at May 21st, 2008 membership meeting

We welcome Nicole Bretall to the West Bank Representative seat on the Executive Board, and welcome Ryan Mattke to the Secretary position! (Ryan was formerly our west Bank Representative.)

Barbara Bezat, President
Ken Holm, VP/Chief Steward
Jason Iversen, VP/Organizer
Debbie Kerben, Treasurer
Ryan Mattke, Secretary

Krista Gallagher, Medical Area
Brad Kraling, St. Paul
Ron Kubik, Morris Campus
Nicole Bretall, West Bank
Fred Pulling, Off-Campus

Retirement Incentive Option (RIO)

At the membership meeting of AFSCME Local 3937 on Wednesday, May 21st, the members present voted in favor of an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the University in regard to a Retirement Incentive Option (RIO) for 2008. In addition, the Technical employees in AFSCME Local 3801, University of Minnesota, Duluth, voted in favor of this proposal.

With those votes, we have been given permission by the members of the bargaining unit to bring this proposal back to the University and sign the formal agreement to the proposal.

The window for application for this program will open for bargaining unit employees on Monday, June 2nd. Please check with staff in the Benefits department for information that relates to your own specific situation. Note that as of Thursday, July 31, 2008 the deadline for applying for the RIO has been extended until September 26, 2008. All employees should have received an e-mail from Carol Carrier, University VP for Human Resources explaining the extension.

The University's Benefits staff will be giving information sessions weekly throughout June and July. Visit their website for details: http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/benefits/events/index.html

PLEASE READ THE FULL TEXT of the program before making any decisions! The following link brings you to the University Human Resources office Benefits page - click on the "Civil Service and Radio and Broadcast Technicians" link. The proposal for AFSCME is the same as that one: http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/benefits/ www.umn.edu/ohr/benefits

(Please note that, in the FAQ on the web, wherever it says "former employee", they are referring only to employees who retired under this RIO, not all "former employees.")

The RIO could be a positive benefit for Bargaining Unit employees in some circumstances, particularly considering the high cost of health care coverage in the United States:

If you are 62 years of age or older; if you are eligible under the rules as stated in the RIO, and if you have considered retiring, this RIO will give you three full years of health care coverage under your current plan. (You will continue to pay the employee portion as you do now; the University will continue to pay its portion.)

If you have considered leaving University employment and you are eligible under the rules as stated in the RIO, having the three years of health care coverage may be a good bridge between jobs. Read the full text (on the web) for information about eligibility; the e-mail from the University summarizes the eligibility requirements

There will be NO payout for length of service: the last RIO allowed for 1 week of pay for each year of service; this benefit is currently only available if you've received a layoff notice, and is in the MOU on Alternatives to Layoff;

Once you have agreed to this RIO, you have only 15 days to rescind your decision; after that 15 days, you are locked into the retirement option regardless of any circumstances that may arise before your retirement date that may change your wish to participate;

Once you have retired under this program, you may not EVER return to University employment in a benefit-eligible position. You may return to work at the University after 3 months have elapsed between your retirement date and your new job, but you will only be able to work on a 49% (19.5 hours) appointment or lesser appointment.

Do you know of members who are going through hard times?

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