General Membership Meeting and nomination meeting will be held on July 11th 2018 at 4pm. 2650 S California Ave, 2nd Fl cafeteria. Nomination for 2 trustee positions can be made at that time. One 3 year full term and one 2 year term to complete the term of Amber Miller.
Elections if needed will be held on July 25th at all work sites and runoff if needed a week later on August 1st.
Contract news
First for some good news. Some of you have heard that the bargaining committee pulled an all nighter last week. While we did not reach a final resolution on the entire contract including overall economics, local negotiations are completed! Once we have a tentative agreement on the entire contract the provisions will be provided to the membership and we will hold a ratification vote. The county board will also need to ratify the contract so the provisions will not implemented until both parties ratify the agreement. I anticipate our vote by the end of July. I have no idea on the County Board’s timeline. Some of the local bullet points that you will be voting on are as follows:
Holiday bond court will be paid at Grade 2 step 6 pay for all employees working bond court.
One swipe time clock attendance
Limitations on what information can be made public about APDs: name, work email, main work site phone number, year of law school grad, year of admission to the bar, and year hired by CCPD. NO PHOTOS WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT
Limitation on management access to personal equipment used for work purposes
Also a settlement of the holiday bond court was reached as well. Grade 2 Step 6 pay will be retroactive from December 1, 2017. Anyone who worked during that time will receive a retro check instead of the comp day. So keep track of your days owed
Janis and where we go from here.
I received a message today from David Eppenstien. He was a founding member and first President of Local 3315 in 1987. He asked me if I wanted him to come and address the membership to help remind everyone why the Union is so important. To remind everyone what the office was like before the Union and why it is imperative that the Union remains strong for the benefit of the office, the members and the clients. I stated that I would be honored for him to come and speak to the membership and invited him to the boat cruise. While he can’t make it, he will try and be at the general membership meeting on July 11th.
But I also advised David that the board has always made sure the membership was aware of why we formed this Union and the benefits that we enjoy now versus the conditions that were present prior to the formation of Local 3315. We no longer have wage disparity between those who “people knew” and those that “people did not know.” We no longer have random work assignments county wide. We have a pay-grid that outlines exactly how people get paid regardless of age, sex, race or connection. We have defined benefits. We have a quality pension. And most importantly we have the ability to have a say in how we are treated by management and to push back when what they do is not right. I have no doubt that this Local we remain strong and get even stronger after today.
Now I must apologize as I am going to preach.
Today is the day that the wealthy and the greedy finally announced for all the world to hear their true intentions: to destroy the American middle class; to transfer even more wealth from the vast majority of Americans to their already overstuffed pockets; to impose a form of economic serfdom upon the American people where the workers have no value and should be thankful they even have a job. This plan has been part of the right-wing dream since the New Deal and now they think they have won. They are wrong!
Today has been a day that the labor movement will remember for a long time to come. Not as a day of despair or loss but as a day of galvanization. A day that the wealthy and the greedy think that they won but in truth a day that we know will only steal our resolve to continue the fight that we have fought for so long. A day in we which resolve to each other in the Union, and to the nation, to stand side by side with our sisters and brothers, and continue to strive toward the goal that we have always had. A goal of fair wages for quality work, for safe conditions in which to preform that work, for just benefits and a quality retirement, for fair treatment in the workplace and to strive to improve the communities that we serve.
“It was working men and women who made the 20th century the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.” President Barack Obama, 2016
It is incumbent upon us all, now more than ever before, that we take up the torch that was thrust in our direction by those Union members that died for the Union cause and hold it up with pride so that the entire nation can be reminded of what the Union has achieved for all workers. For this is no longer just a Union fight, this is a fight for the very essence of the American middle class and the Union is the greatest Champion of that cause. A strong union state on average has higher overall wages, a more robust economy, better working conditions and better benefits for all workers, Union and non-Union alike. But we must maintain strong Unions to reap this success.
The right-wing thinks this decision today is about money and about feepayers but they have mistakenly substituted their values for our values. While we value a fair wage, we value far more a fair and safe workplace. We value the diversity and the expansion of the middle class to all people, of all creeds, colors, sex and origins that a strong Union guarantees. We value that ability to make what we do for a living not just a job, but a career; and that that career will be secure enough for us to raise a family without fear of poverty or want. We value the work and pride that we have when what we do matters to those in our communities. A Union is about so much more than money.
So what can we all do going forward? Be active in the Union. After all a Union is just that, all of us, together, working for shared values and goals. We are always looking for stewards, we are always looking for anyone who wants to help: plan an event or assist with a project. We are sure to have something that you can do. Be active in your community. This is a multifaceted fight on many levels of government. Pick a race, flip a seat. Go to a rally. But most importantly remember that we are all in this together, and while we may not all agree on everything we all have the same goals and values in the long run.
Again President Barack Obama 2016:
“I believe this with every fiber of my being: America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class, and the chance for everybody, no matter how humble their beginnings, to join that middle class — a middle class built on the idea that if you work hard, if you live up to your responsibilities, then you can get ahead; that you can enjoy some basic guarantees in life. A good job that pays a good wage. Health care that will be there when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. An education that will give your children a better life than we had. These are simple ideas. These are American ideas. These are union ideas. That’s what we’re fighting for.”
