|
Furloughs
in Other States
In
Minnesota, AFSCME forced Governor Pawlenty
to drop his proposal to furlough state
employees for up to 48 days. Workers in
other states weren’t so lucky. More than
728,500 state employees in at least 21
states have already or will be furloughed,
and several other states are also
considering furloughs for their workers,
according to a
nationwide tally of state furloughs
by Stateline. While Gov. Pawlenty says he
has the right to impose furloughs in the
future, his failure to negotiate them with
AFSCME would make it a violation of our
contract. If he tries to impose furloughs on
AFSCME members, our union will take it to
court. AFSCME
Council 5 |
|
Nominations
for Achievement Awards
Do
you know union members who deserve
recognition for their outstanding work in
political activism, organizing, and local
union development? If so, nominate them for
a Council 5 Achievement Award. The deadline
for nominations is August 15. Awards will be
presented at the AFSCME Council 5 Convention
in Duluth this October. Full
Story |
|
Twin
Cities Labor Chorus
The
Twin Cities Labor Chorus invites
Union members of all voices and
skill levels to join and "make
a joyful (Union) noise"!
Rehearsals are every other Tuesday
at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church.
The address is 701 Lexington
Pkwy N. St. Paul. The next rehearsal
is 6/30/09. For more information,
call Josh at 952 818 5774 or e-mail
jwhitneywise@seiumn.org
They
especially need FEMALE VOICES and
are "looking for some "sopranos!"
 |
|
|
ADS
Budget
The
2010 HSPHD Budget process has started
and will probably continue through the
rest of the year. ADS was expected to
submit a proposed budget to the HSPHD
Executive Committee by 6/12/09.
2010
Budget Hearing Schedule
| Thursday,
September 3, 2009, 9:30 a.m. |
Board
Briefing on maximum levy |
| Tuesday,
September 8, 2009, 1:30 p.m. |
County
Board adopts 2010 maximum tax
levy and budget
|
| Tuesday,
September 15 or 29, 2009, 1:30
p.m. |
County
Administration presents
proposed 2010 budget to County
Board
|
| Thursday,
October 8, 2009, 1:00 – 4:00
p.m. |
Health
(MHP and NorthPoint)
|
| Friday,
October 23, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
– 12 noon. |
Medical
Examiner, Library, General
Government |
| Thursday,
October 29, 2009, 1:00 –
4:00 p.m. |
Capital
Budgeting Task Force
Presentation, Fees
|
| Monday,
November 2, 2009, 1:00 –
4:00 p.m. |
Human
Services and Public Health
|
| Monday,
November 16, 2009, 1:00 –
4:00 p.m. |
Human
Services and Public Health
(continued if necessary)
|
| Thursday,
November 19, 2009, 1:00 p.m. |
Public
Safety |
| Friday,
November 20, 2009, 9:00 a.m. |
Public
Works |
| Monday,
November 30, 2009, 1:00 –
4:00 p.m. |
Commissioner
Amendments
|
| Wed,
December 2, 2009, 1:00 –
4:00 p.m. |
Commissioner
Amendments (Continued if
necessary) |
| Thursday,
December 3, 2009, 5:30 p.m. |
County
Board holds Truth-in-Taxation
Public Hearing
|
| Tuesday,
December 15, 2009, 1:30 p.m. |
County
Board approves 2010 budget and
levy at regularly scheduled
board meeting |
| |
|
Good
News on Federal TCM Rules (5/1/2009)
Hennepin
County Budget Update / Voluntary
Furloughs / Layoffs (5/1/2009)
State
of the County Address (4/23/2009)
|
|
SLWOP
- A Message From Local 34 President,
Jean Diederich (6/2/2009)
Hello
All - this is a day that I could never
have anticipated - asking you to not
work and to give up pay - so that a
mess not of our making could be
corrected as much as possible.
however, we are at that point - the
legislators at both the federal and
state level as well as the former
President and our current Governor
have made a terrible mess of the
budgets which govern/direct our
funding streams - and now the
Commissioners have to figure out how
to deal with the fallout from that
lack of funding. Some of the tools
they have utilized have been asking
all Departments County-wide to cut
their budgets even further this year
from what was approved for 2009 at the
final County Board meeting in 2008, to
review all the programs to see which
ones could be tweaked and to increase
their vacancy rates even further that
what existed last year. FULL
STORY |
Banking
of SLWOP Possible
Because
employees may not want to use SLWOP in
small amounts and cannot afford to take
full days or multiple days without pay
in one pay period, banking of SLWOP will
be permitted within HSPHD. However, the
employee must be able to outline their
plan for using the hours prior to the
end of the year - only SLWOP used saves
the county dollars. According
to the county, use of the voluntary
special leave without pay program by all
employees is critical and will help
maintain county operations by providing
short-term savings to address the
immediate 2009 budget shortfall,
delaying additional layoffs, saving
property tax dollars and delaying
service cuts and/or reductions. This
program affects everyone and no area is
exempt from participation in SLWOP -
even those with special funding, 24/7
operations, essential services or areas
that are already operating with
vacancies.
Coding
Your Timecard:
SLB = used non-banked SLWOP hours
SLA = bank SLWOP hours (to be used
in the future within 2009)
SLU = used banked SLWOP hours
If
you have questions about coding your
timecard, contact your payroll
representative.
|
2009
Hennepin County Negotiations
Update
Members
of the Master Negotiations Teams
for all the Hennepin County
AFSCME unions have been meeting
to develop a strategy for this
round of bargaining, set up a
system to bring information to
our members, establish a
mechanism to solicit feedback
from our members and bring it
all together to craft a proposal
for the Employer. The time
commitment might not be long but
the importance of the work the
Master Team does is
immeasurable.
Members
of the Master Team for AFSCME
Local 34 include: Jean
Diederich, Cathy Cowden, Cliff
Robinson, Jacquelin Coleman,
Ester Killion, Laurie Simon,
Paul Madison, Wes Volkenant,
Jacqueline Poole, Shawnice
Watson, Patrick Regan, John
Herzog, Chalmers Davis, Vicki
Moore, Fatuma Kassim, Andrea
Lazo-Rice, and Halima Said.
These
folks will represent you at the
future Master Negotiations
Committee meetings - those held
to develop the contract proposal
and those held after to review
any tentative agreement.
AFSCME
locals have had 3 master team
meetings in May / June. A union
subcommittee has been appointed
to develop a member survey to,
hopefully, be sent out via
computer using the Survey
Monkey. |
|
|
|