News for May 2004:

Unions today cannot do business in the same fashion as when our parents or grandparents were union members. In the public sector, we need to make sure that our employer has the resources to continue to provide us with the pay and benefits we expect. The first step in avoiding another contract such as our current agreement that has no cost of living expenses is to ensure that Hennepin County has the money to be able to pay for such increases. In 2003, the Hennepin County board set the levy $11 million less than they could have. An extra $11 million dollars in the Hennepin county budget could have translated into a 1.5% cost of living increase for every county employee. Money that the county does not levy this year, is compounded into money they won’t have next year when we start to negotiate the next contract. With the state having to make up $160 million this year and a projected $500 Million to $1 Billion deficit next year, we cannot count on restoration of those state funds any time soon. If we don’t want 0% COLAs, threats to health insurance, stability pay, and our career ladder to continue, we need to put pressure on the Hennepin County Board now.

In the next several weeks, members of the Local 552 Executive Board will be conducting an in-person survey of our membership. The information that we will be collecting will help assess how the severe budget cuts have affected our ability to do our jobs across our department. It will also ask you what you will be willing to do to stop this trend. Members will receive their copy of the 2004/2005 collective bargaining agreement during this process.

Director La-Fleur has been meeting with union leadership on a regular basis. At our last meeting, he was told that there are several areas where workloads have begun to get out of control. I told him stories members have told me, that in order to perform all of the duties they have been assigned, that frequently they will go over the 40 hours per week they are being paid, sometimes by over 10 hours. His response was, “People should be paid for what they do”. I asked him if I could quote him and he said "yes". If you are in a unit where the workload cannot be completed in a 40-hour workweek, you need to inform your supervisor. Your supervisor should either tell you what not to do, or authorize overtime.

Patrick Kelly, Will McDonald, Rick Lindberg, Tim Turrentine and I are working with Adult and Juvenile administration on probation/parole officer safety issues. One thing that may come out of this would be for the department to authorize testing for TB. TB is resurfacing in many immigrant populations. Regular screening is done in correctional institutions. With DNA testing and the many U/As that we do, it would be prudent for staff to be tested so that this disease can be caught and treated early. There are many other issues being addressed related to office security, field safety and equipment. We hope to have a realistic timetable for the conversion to the 800MHz police radio system so that probation/parole officers who need this system will have it available. The employer will also be looking into managing pepper spray and protective vests as far as how long this equipment can be used and when it should be replaced. If you have questions or concerns about your safety which you think should be brought up at such a meeting, please contact one of the members of this committee.

Dignity and Respect was part of our recent contract negotiations. Bobbi Lane and I are sitting on a county-wide AFSCME Dignity and Respect meet and confer that is being facilitated with assistance from the state Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS). The goal of this process is to work at eliminating hostile work environments in Hennepin County. A hostile work environment cuts across job classes and levels of the organization. It can makes a workplace not only miserable, but potentially dangerous. Hopefully, this process can bring about some meaningful change.

We are now able to negotiate a retirement medical flexible spending account with the county. There are several different variations on how this can be done. One way would be to have all or part of your severance pay put into such an account. The account is 100% tax-free and earns 6% interest. If you pass away, your spouse will enjoy the same benefits. If a top pay P.O. retires with the maximum severance pay of $24,928.00, you will lose close to 50% to taxes and you will have to make your PERA contribution out of that as well. With a tax-free flexible spending account, you get ALL of the money for the purpose of medical expenses. So, for example if you wanted to COBRA your family health insurance, it would cost you between $600.00 and $900.00 per month. Well, 100% of this could be paid by the expense account. We could also do this with a percentage of our salaries. For example if you are here 0 - 5 years, you would contribute nothing; 5 - 10 years you would contribute 1/5% of your salary; 11-15 years 1% and so on. All of this money would be tax-free; or we could do both. What is the down side? Once the decision is made everyone in the bargaining unit has to be in. This is an IRS rule. I want to emphasize that we do not have to do this. It is simply an option we now have, which the county is willing to work on. The advantage to the county is they do not have to pay any FICA tax on the contributions. The fund is managed by the State Employee Retirement System (MSRS). Please feel free to forward you feedback to me or any union officer on this idea.

As reported before, all four Minnesota AFSCME councils are in the process of a merger. A special Council 14 convention will be called on July 24th 2004, provided the Council 14 Executive Board decides to do so at its June 2004 meeting. If the special convention approves the merger, a founding convention will be called on October 1st and 2nd 2004. Local 552 endorsed the idea of merged councils last year. A merged AFSCME council would have over 50,000 members and would be the second largest union in Minnesota. It will allow better use of our resources to fight for better state and local budgets so that we can get better contracts. Information sessions on the merger have been set up all over the state and are open to all union members. If you have questions or concerns about the proposed merger, please attend one of these sessions. The schedule can be found on our web site or at the AFSCME Council 14 web site at www.afscme14.org.

SPECIAL THANKS TO RICK RAJTAR, TIM TURRENTINE, RHONDA BODE, RICK LINDBERG and BRENDA WOOD for helping convert fair shares during the month of April. It looks like over ten fair shares became full members during this period. Please welcome them to our union family.

March 11th 2004 was AFSCME day on the Hill. Despite what my 15-year-old says, most people think I have a pretty liberal bend on things. I decided I am not going to write about politics in this issue. Instead, I am inserting a commentary from retired Hennepin County Social Worker Bernie Grisez, who wrote this for the Local 34 Newsletter. It is reprinted here with permission from Local 34 President Jean Diederich.

Confessions of a Disaffected Liberal Idealist
by Bernie Grisez, retired Local 34 Member and former Dental Trustee

Hello, loyal AFSCME-ites. I am a former long-time Local 34 member who retired last summer, under Hennepin County’s “early retirement incentive” program. Your much esteemed Local President has asked me to comment on my experience at this year’s AFSCME Day on the Hill at our Legislature. Be forewarned – I will be partisan in my remarks.

Some background… I’ve always abhorred the way politics and the legislative process is actually practiced in our country. I believe that partisanship should be conspicuously absent in the lawmaking process. I further believe that elected officials should act only & always in the best interest of all the people, and should provide the leadership necessary to overcome the “darker angels of our nature.” Finally, I believe that military solutions to political problems are no longer (if ever) justifiable, given the devastating types of weapons now extant, and the unpredictability of the course of any war, once started. (What kind of fool am I?)

While I was working, because of both my profound distaste for the partisanship mentioned and the on-going demands of my workload, I never found/made time to attend AFSCME’s Day on the Hill (DOTH). Well, now that I’m retired, the no-time excuse doesn’t apply, and the “times, they are a changin’” in Minnesota, as at the national level. I was also reminded of/solicited to attend DOTH at a Council 14-sponsored meeting I attended in January to invite County retirees to join AFSCME’s retiree chapter. A representative from the International gave a stirring plea for more political involvement to counteract the draconian anti-people measures (my words) being taken by the current President’s administration and the Congress.

So, this year I finally went to my first DOTH, on another windy and cold March day in St. Paul. Due to the turnout (and the Transit strike, I bet), it was nearly impossible to find parking upon arrival. We (a buddy who’s retired from HCMC) finally got in, somewhat after the 10:00am start time. Speeches were well in progress when we got there, and checked in. They exhorted us to present Labor’s needs to the legislators we would later meet. After a quick box lunch, we caucused by legislative district; mine is 54 (DFL ers Senator John Marty and Representative Mindy Greiling). We were bussed over to the Capitol building where a very spirited rally occurred under the rotunda. Shortly, we dispersed to find our legislators, with whom we mostly had time-specific appointments. There were about a dozen people in my District 54 group, one of whom is both an AFSCME Business Representative and (to my surprise) the mayor of Lauderdale (it’s so small, I didn’t know they had one!) Many in my group were serious DOTH veterans, so I adopted a hang back and observe posture.

The highlight of my day was the epic search for the “other” District 54 representative (a Republican whose name I withhold to protect the guilty). Since I had ducked around the corner for a minute at the 3rd try to see Mr. Elusive (whose secretary was quite vague as to his whereabouts and availability), I actually missed the group catching him when he stuck his head out of the office door. I later heard he was magnificently evasive answering the pre-determined question list we had for all the legislators. {Ed. Note: “Mr. Elusive” is really Carl Jacobson, an Accountant from Vadnais Heights, elected in 2000.} The visits to both Greiling and Marty were “singing to the choir” visits, although we asked both of them the list of questions, too, even though they are staunch friends of labor. I was very impressed with both of them, and with how difficult it is for people-issues to be heard in this Legislature. Senator Marty was very comfortable explaining his lone vote against one of the budget cutback measures in the last session.

As much as I detest the partisan bickering and the dirty campaign rhetoric used by most candidates now, our system is probably still better than any other form of government on this planet. The biggest threat to our liberty is apathy and non-involvement. Fundamental rights are under attack. So, no matter what your political philosophy or party affiliation is, get up and get involved – at the very least by learning the issues and voting in November.

Something else Bernie Grisez sent along (an excerpt…) – “Alert to the Coming Military Draft”
… there are twin bills (Senate Bill 89 and House Bill 163) working their way through Congress that will require the reinstatement of the involuntary draft. The goal of the bills is “to provide for the common defense by requiring all young persons [aged 18-26] in the U.S., including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in the furtherance of the national defense and homeland security… if passed, there will be no college deferment and because of a 2001 agreement, draft dodgers will not be permitted into Canada… the Pentagon has begun filling draft board positions nationwide… the Selective Service System must report by March 31, 2005 that the system is ready for activation… the SSS budget reflects a draft that could begin as early as June 15, 2005… for more, check web searches for “reinstate the draft”.