Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our revenue situation is that we have also been unable to make contributions to our political action fund (PAC). Having the ability to make PAC contributions to state legislators and county commissioners has improved our access to these decision makers exponentially. As critical decisions are being made that will have devastating affects on the lives of scores of our members and their families, the opposition to our PAC by a small but vocal minority of our members is dumbfounding. In the last local election, my opponent made political action his principle argument against my leadership of this local. By losing that contest by a 2:1 margin, I would think the members have spoken on that issue and it is time to MOVE ON!

At the April union meeting, a vote will be taken on a dues increase that is less than half of that which was proposed in February. After hearing a lot of feedback from members who had to leave the meeting early in February, and from folks who want to attend union meetings but cannot because because they cannot leave their offices during the noon hour, the April union meeting will be held at 5:30 PM on Wednesday April 16th in the community room at the Southside, Seward Neighborhood probation office. The reason for the Wednesday meeting instead of the usual Thursday meeting is to accommodate members who wish to observe religious holiday on Thursday. I have recommended, and the Union’s Executive board has agreed to alternate day and evening meetings and move the place of the meeting to other areas. With summer coming and the Twins playing many afternoon games, parking in Downtown Minneapolis is very difficult for those who do not already work there.

We had 12 members attend AFSCME Day on the Hill on March 13th. This is three times the normal number we have sent on previous years during my tenure in this local! Our 12 member delegation joined close to 1800 other AFSCME members from all over Minnesota for this event. I also think that it is no coincidence that shortly after union members started flexing our political muscle at the State Capital, the Governor and the State House of Representatives started backing off a proposal to restrict our collective bargaining rights by imposing a state mandated wage freeze by amending the Public Employee Labor Relations Act (PELRA). Many have come up to me and said: “I don’t mind a wage freeze if it will save jobs...” I can say the same thing. But we don’t need a state mandate telling Hennepin County, or all the other local governments how they should bargain their contracts. I have been with Hennepin County for 16 years and have sat on bargaining teams at least 6 times. The County has never had a problem withholding wage increases without a legislative mandate!

The DAY on THE HILL event has been placed into a new state wide campaign that all AFSCME members in Minnesota have been urged to join called: TAKE BACK MINNESOTA. Modeled after a successful Illinois campaign, AFSCME members are now organizing the legislative districts that they live in. Will TAKE BACK MINNESOTA save everyone’s job? The answer is no. In fact some things may get worse initially. However, if we do not do this many many more jobs will be lost. We have about 25 Local 552 members who have signed a pledge card to participate in TAKE BACK MINNESOTA. If we want a high success rate many more of our members will also have to sign. What does signing a pledge card for TAKE BACK MINNESOTA mean? It means that at a minimum, your name phone number and legislative district will be put into a state-wide data base. When an important issue comes up at the legislature, you will be contacted and asked to contact your legislator. There are also other areas that you can volunteer for such as coordinating your district, attending a town meeting, attending a rally, writing letters, etc. This will be at the very least, a 4-year-effort. If you are worried about your job, if you are worried about a co-worker’s job, if you are worried about the size of your caseload, if you are concerned about the quality and the professionalism of our profession, then you need to join those of us who have signed TAKE BACK MINNESOTA cards and start walking the walk with your fellow members. The more who sign, the more who participate, the more successful we will be. You can also register for TAKE BACK MINNESOTA at a new website: www.afscmemn.org.

We have all watched the news and read the papers. Cities and Counties are starting the process of laying off workers in all areas due to the dramatic reduction in state revenue. It is important to remember that public employees did not cause this budget shortfall. This was caused by a national recession, the events of September 11th, and tax cuts made for the wealthiest Minnesotans. These are real cuts are starting to cause real pain for real people like you and me.

The tax cuts created by the Ventura administration amounted to over $5 Billion. 80% of that tax relief went to persons earning over $250,000.00 per year and to corporations who saw their share of the property tax burden shifted onto residential property owners. The Governor says we must all share the pain. So far, it appears that only urban centers, rural areas and the employees of state and local governments are feeling the hit. For most Minnesotans, the share they received of the $5 Billion dollars in Tax relief is between $200 and $300 per year. About enough to buy a cup of coffee on a daily basis.

Local governments should not have to lay off Probation Officers, Child Protection workers, Police Officers, Firefighters and paramedics to continue this level of tax relief for the wealthy. Minnesota should not lose its level I trauma center at HCMC, the Poison Control Center, or The Crisis Intervention Center. Cities and Counties should not have to raise the one of the most regressive taxes, the property tax to continue huge income tax relief on the most wealthy. NO! Minnesota can go along way to solving this budget crisis by trimming some of tax cuts given to those who needed them the least!

I also have to point out that half of the $4.5 Billion budget fix the Governor has proposed is not from cuts in services but from one time money like the Tobacco settlement funds and from accounting gimmicks such as having businesses who collect sales taxes pay those revenues to the state earlier. You do not have to be an accounting wizard to understand that this is simply “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. This will definitely cause the shortfall to grow even larger. What will be cut then? This cannot be fixed with cuts alone without a lot of pain for all Minnesotans. When the Governor was caught cheating on campaign finance laws last fall, he stood up, accepted responsibility, “because that is what leaders do...” he said. Now it is time for some more leadership Governor: Have people who make over $250,000.00 per year and large corporations share the pain!

Sign a TAKE BACK MINNESOTA pledge card. Contact your legislator. Tell him or her that your job is not fat that needs trimming. If you are laid off, those of us who remain will not be able to provide the same service and protect the public safety!

I want to thank all of the members who took the time to review the seniority list and report suspected errors. I want to commend the 8 very honest people, who saw that their seniority date was wrong and that having it corrected meant that they lost seniority. I will be sending the challenges to labor relations in early April and we hope that they can send us a corrected list soon.

I was invited to attend two half day sessions of a strategic planning session that the Community Corrections Department sponsored on March 12th. The idea of this session was to provide a platform by which employees could brainstorm ideas as to how the department could continue to provide quality services with reduced resources. The ideas had to fit within the County’s strategic plan. This program was put on with the best of intentions and our top two administrators sat in on the groups, listened to concerns and encouraged feedback. I was disappointed with the fact that they took off two of the major issues our members have, assessment tools, i.e. LSI, YLSI and SARA, and the administrative structure. My honest opinion of this strategic planning meeting was that it was a big disappointment. Management wants to make changes, that is there right, I think this was largely an attempt to try to make these changes appear to have the approval of those who will implement them. Once again, I fear that the work of probation officers is not understood by those above us. I was told that we need to stop duplicating services, then we are told to learn how to be a job counselor, which, as far as I know, would be a duplication of another department’s services. Monitoring a caseload of persons under sentence for committing crimes and holding them accountable to the court is not the same service as helping someone get off welfare, providing structure for the mentally ill, or protecting vulnerable people from themselves and others. I am really sick and tired of someone telling me I am duplicating these services, when they clearly don’t have any understanding of what we do!

While they do not want to talk about the size of their administration, they do want to push the idea that we could all help save the County about $7 million per year if we all took one hour of leave without pay per pay period. I guess what is not being said is that the presidents of all the AFSCME locals asked them to loosen up the rules on Special Leave without pay and see how many will take unpaid leave on a voluntary basis. That way it won’t be forced on anybody. If that doesn’t work, how about asking all of the administrators to take 3 hours of leave without pay per pay period? How much would that save? Did they forget the 7% raise they gave Corrections Division Managers in 2001? Somehow I think it would be much better, and possibly save more money for somebody who earns $90,000.00 to $100,000.00 per year to take time off without pay than for someone who earns $40, $50, or $60 thousand per year! It is a very hard thing for me to hear sets of numbers and translate those numbers into the faces of the people who are sitting at or near the bottom of the seniority list. Before we make any decisions about giving up compensation and benefits that we have fought, I want to know how the layers of administration are going to be thinned. Before we all start taking time off without pay, tell us what work that we do now we are not supposed to do. And finally tell us how they will keep a promise of saving jobs in exchange for concessions when the law does not allow the union to negotiate that?