2004/2005 Contract

Tentative Agreement Reached
Take Backs Off the Table

AFSCME Council 14 locals and Hennepin County reached a tentative agreement at 4:30 on the morning of November 18th following 20 hours of negotiating. Voting on the Agreement is set for Thursday, December 4th. Times and location are enclosed for you.

This year has been a difficult one for negotiations. The elections over the past few years have come home to roost. State workers received a wage freeze for the next two years and Governor Pawlenty said he wanted the State settlement to be the template for local governments. With this in the background the County proposed a whole host of take backs. They included no step increases, no stability pay, no increase in single health insurance, no increased contribution towards the dental plan, and prorating new part time employees health insurance contribution.

In the end, your phone calls to the County Commissioners helped in getting the County to drop all take backs. In addition, we were able to get the County to pay for almost all of the health insurance increase for Health Partners including fully paid single coverage.

There is no wage increase though for the next two years.

The Union negotiating committees are making no recommendation regarding the tentative agreement. However, the Committees believe it is the best settlement we can reach this year and in the future we need to do a better job organizing our locals to make a difference in future elections. The current political climate is not very friendly towards public employees.

Should a local vote down the Tentative Agreement, the County contribution towards health insurance would remain the same as it is in 2003, meaning contributions towards family coverage would be $84.16 higher for employees until something else is negotiated or for the essential units, arbitrated and $9.72 higher for single health insurance coverage. Plus, the County last proposal would be back on the table meaning all of the take backs would have to be negotiated over.

Tentative Contract


December 2003 - News

Maybe you have heard this before, but when it comes to our contract settlement, you cannot put lipstick on a pig. We all know the bad news, no cost of living adjustment for two years. I have been working for Hennepin County since 1986, and this is the first time we have not received any cost of living adjustment. I recall some real lean raises in the early 90s, but not being at the top of the range and getting a couple of step increases had the effect of softening that blow. With over 2/3 of our membership at the top end of the pay scale, most of us feel like we have been short changed. The contract that will be voted on December 4th is the final offer from the county. Perhaps the hardest thing about accepting this is that we all know that things are not the same for those of us who do the work and those on the upper end of this organization. We know about the administrators raise. We know that several administrators at HCMC are getting raises. The Pioneer Press reported on November 16th that our own County Board will receive a 3% pay adjustment for 2004.

On the other side, we are not losing health insurance for part time employees. There will be an increase in what the county pays for family health insurance. Single insurance will continue to have an option without a monthly premium. Step increases will continue. Stability pay, something that the county has always seemed to want to take away, will continue. The county will allow each bargaining unit to negotiate a retirement health care expense account. The cap of accumulated vacation hours will go up from 240 hours to 280. We were able to save our language on contracting out our services which means that if the county wanted to hire a vendor to do probation and parole work, none of us could lose our jobs from this. They also agreed to meet with us should the state legislature pass legislation that would permit probation and parole officers to carry firearms.

In the end, this is a neutral contract. While there were no TAKE BACKS, we also made NO GAINS. That is why your table team and the table teams of the other 9 AFSCME locals in Hennepin County agreed to submit this to the members for a vote without a recommendation to accept or reject. In other words, it will be the membership’s decision to accept this deal or reject it. Should the vote be against the contract, a strike would be authorized. So, review the information, make your decision, and DON’T FORGET TO VOTE ON THURSDAY 12-4-2003! Remember, only union members can vote. If you are a fare share fee payer and would like to vote, you will need to sign a union card and pay the difference of your fare share fee and full union dues.

Believe it or not, there has been a lot of non contract related activity with your union over the past few months. Over the summer and into the fall, representatives from all 4 AFSCME councils have been meeting in merger talks. After a two day retreat on the subject in August, it was decided to pursue this objective. What this will mean for the members of Local 552 in the short term is very little. We will still have the same business agent, we’ll still receive the same services from our council. What will change is that in Minnesota, AFSCME as an organization will become more efficient. Instead of 4 loosely tied organizations, we become one large union which will be second in size only to Education Minnesota. This will allow us to move in one direction at the state capital to secure better pay and benefits for our members, and protect the services we perform. I will be reporting more on this as it develops. The actual merger will likely take place in April of 2004.

Council 14 has a new executive Director. Starting in October, Eliot Seide, who was the director of Take Back Minnesota, assumed the duties of Council 14 Executive Director with the retirement of Roger Seigal. As many of you may remember from our Day on The Hill last spring, Eliot is a highly motivated person who can inspire union members. He returned to Minnesota from AFSCME Council DC37 in New York City. Prior to his work in New York, Eliot was a Council 14 Business Agent and an Area Director for AFSCME based in Minnesota. Eliot was on the scene during the wee hours of our contract negotiations, and help us reach a settlement that avoided take backs.

Norm Meier from misdemeanor intake suffered what may have been a heart attack on November 14th. We want Norm, and his wife, Mary Pat who is a Probation Officer in Pretrial, to know that our thoughts and prayers will be with you.

Please remember that the John Servaty Memorial Toy Drive is in full swing. Notices have been distributed to various work sites. Please remember that older kids also need gifts for the Holidays, so try to remember these children as well when you buy a gift for the toy drive.

Thanks for supporting your union, and have a very happy holiday season!