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Welcome to Council 5
ACTION ALERT:
Affordable health care…but not at the expense
of public employees
Today Governor Pawlenty vetoed a bill to cut health care costs. Now a second bill may be coming. It’s time to tell our legislators to fix health care before they adjourn on Monday. Otherwise, we’ll pay more later.
Please call your state senator and representative immediately. Tell them to pass a health care reform bill that:
- Sets a 5% affordability standard;
- Protects AFSCME jobs and human services; and
- Removes the proposal for harmful Health Savings Accounts and high deductible plans
To find out who your legislators are, call 651-296-0504 or toll free 1-888-234-1112.
AFSCME TV Commercials Air in Duluth
This week Duluth and Iron Range TV viewers will begin seeing a commercial that promotes the value of the public services that AFSCME members provide.
Ousted Duluth Mayor Bergson described public employees as public enemies. Much to the contrary, our ad reminds taxpayers that we plow their roads, we stock their lakes with fish, we make recreation fun, we care for the elderly, and we help minds soar at libraries and schools.
Our 60-second commercial will air 306 times between May 14 and June 15 during newscasts on Northland TV stations WDIO/WIRT and KBJR/KDLH.
To watch the commercial, click here.
SOARING GAS PRICES;
DISHONEST ADS
House Republican leaders are lying again. Their new television ads blame soaring gas prices on the 2008 transportation bill. We blame President Bush and his big oil cronies.
Since April 1, the average price for a gallon of gas has increased 32 cents. Only two cents are from Minnesota’s new gas tax for safe roads and bridges. The other 30 cents fund record profits for big oil companies.
Call Rep. Marty Seifert at 651-296-5374 or 1-888-234-1242 and tell him to stop the dishonest gas tax ads.
Local 600 is 65 Years Old!
Members of Local 600, Corrections Stillwater, proudly display their new banner at Day on the Hill. They spent the first day attending training sessions and the second day lobbying at the State Capitol. Local 600 was chartered in 1942 and is 65 years old and growing.
This news was submitted by member reporter Jonathan Soule of Local 600.
Duane Gatzke Laces Up For 2008 PEOPLE Fun Run
Local 2829 member Duane Gatzke is lacing up his shoes for the PEOPLE Fun Run this year. The Fun Run is a 5K that takes place July 31 in San Francisco, California during the 38th Annual AFSCME International Convention. The money raised will go to elect worker-friendly candidates.
Duane wants to beat all other states in fundraising for PEOPLE. He can do that only with your help. To link to Duane’s story, click here.
Your donations are greatly appreciated. Please make checks payable to AFSCME PEOPLE and mail them to:
AFSCME Council 5
c/o Duane Gatzke
300 Hardman Avenue South
South St. Paul, MN 55075
She Helps Open Doors for OSHA
AFSCME member Pamela McLaughlin helps workers have a safe and healthy workplace by writing affidavits for warrant applications. As a 10-year veteran employee at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry OSHA division, Pamela debriefs OSHA investigators to get “just the facts” to establish a legal need to inspect a worksite for health and safety violations.
Pamela says about 95 percent of businesses allow OSHA investigators on their premises to complete investigations. The 5 percent of businesses that exercise their legal right to deny OSHA access must be served with warrants for the Investigators to gain access. Pamela uses her experience and expertise to outline the facts of the complaint or concern to convince the signing judges that OSHA has a legal need to inspect the premises. After she interviews the investigator and prepares the application, it is sent to the Attorney General’s Office and on to a judge to issue the warrant.
After the investigation, recommendations are made for the businesses to be brought into compliance to ensure the safety of Minnesota’s workforce.
OSHA also offers a successful voluntary program, conducting safety procedure audits for businesses seeking a professional opinion on workplace safety standards. This program offers business owners a Safety Development Program free of charge. Interested business owners may contact OSHA on the Web at http://www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html.
As a Senior Office Administrative Specialist, Pamela’s other duties include working with the departmental budget, which, she notes, has been drastically reduced during her tenure.
“Keeping workers safe, and helping business owners do that is our mission,” says Pamela, a member of Local 2672 who has worked for the Department of Labor and Industry for 17 years. Thanks, Pamela, for helping to keep all of us safe at work!
This profile was submitted by member reporter Katie Farber of Local 34.
Key-in-Back-Pocket Moment Awakens Activist
Connie Andrews, of Grand Rapids, has worked for the Department of Natural Resources since 1979. She tells of a pivotal moment before the 1981 state strike when Al Quie was governor. Connie was a single parent living in a rental house on State Park grounds, when one day her boss faced her with a crucial decision: whether or not to go on strike. He told her that going on strike might mean forfeiting her lodgings. His lack of respect forced her hand, and in a tense moment, she decided to surrender her office key, telling her boss to consider her on strike, "As of right now."
Connie was inspired by her late husband, AFSCME field representative Bob Norberg. She remembers how he would always be for the underdog and treat all members equally. "The people he represented always knew they would have an advocate," she said. "He had great impact on my life. Like him, I'm always ready to say, 'If I don't know the answer, I know who does.'" Connie has been an active member of Local 718 since 1987.
Connie's activism was steeled in the fire of Minnesota's pay equity struggle. The fight against wage inequity helped Connie realize her ideals. She noticed that some workers doing equally important work were receiving $3 to $4 an hour less than others. Minnesota's legislature noticed this also. Following key studies, reports, and interpretation of civil rights law by the U.S. Supreme Court, laws for comparable worth started passing, including the MN Pay Equity Act of 1984. See "Pay Equity: 'The Labor Issue of the Eighties.'" (click here)
Pay equity was aired recently in Congress with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. An anti-worker court found that even after working decades at a disadvantage, a worker has only 180 days "from the initial decision to set his or her pay" to file a discrimination suit. This spurred Congress to attempt passage of the 2008 Fair Pay Restoration Act. Other legal loopholes let employers slowly modify the workforce by hiring more temporary, seasonal and student intern workers. Connie says this is where the DNR is headed with its new classification for natural resource workers.
Clearly there will always be a role for activists, and Connie's confrontation with her boss shows activism can begin simply by handing over that work key.
This profile was submitted by member reporter Lars White of Duluth DOT Local 695.
Communication is Key to Success
Alexander Graham Bell only had to say “Watson, come here. I need you.” But, it isn’t that easy anymore!
Keeping communication lines open between groups as diverse as the Departments of Transportation, Natural Resources and Corrections, as well as the State Troopers and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, involves expertise that Mr. Bell never dreamed of. That expertise is only part of the job of Lars White, a senior electronics technician from Local 695, Duluth DOT.
As a 13-year employee of DOT’s Office of Electronic Communications and the editor of the Local 695 newsletter, Lars knows how to communicate. At the start of his career there were telephones, next came radios, now it’s RWIS (Road Weather Information System). Monitoring and installing radios, tracking assets and generating inspections for an entire network of sites, Lars has seen change.
Check out the information gathered by the towers and roadside weather monitoring stations that Lars coordinates: http://rwis.dot.state.mn.us/. As the pilot DOT district for the new system, AFSCME helped assure the Local 695 brothers and sisters that they would be getting the training they needed to learn, evaluate and adapt for maximum efficiency.
Lars feels his role as a union activist and newsletter editor help him reach his highest potential to keep communications open in case of an emergency…weather or union related.
This worker profile was submitted by member reporter Connie Andrews of DNR Local 718.
WALKER METHODIST WORKERS
WIN FIRST CONTRACT
Joan Evans, Nickson Nyankabaria, and Nickson Kihima cast their votes.
A hard-won first contract was recently claimed by some 350 workers at Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis, who first voted to form a union with AFSCME nearly five years ago.
Members followed their union bargaining team’s recommendation to accept the contract, voting two-to-one to ratify on April 4. The contract, which runs through September 2009, covers about 350 nursing assistants, food service employees, maintenance and laundry workers, housekeepers and activity aides from Local 3532. Some 60 LPNs make up a second bargaining unit, which voted to ratify the contract April 25.
Nickson Nyankabaria told us, “I’ve been here since the beginning of the struggle, and I am happy for everybody. The contract will provide job security, which we’ve never had before. It will also give us a voice on the job.”
The success of this contract was built not only by Walker workers, but also from broader community support from other locals, the faith community, and elected officials.
Help Build a Movement to Reinvest in Minnesota
Bridges shouldn’t fall in America. Unfortunately, our languishing infrastructure is only part of the story. We know something has to change when we see all the plant closings and layoffs, our starving education system, broken health care and slashed services.
It’s time to take a look at over 30 years of an economic agenda that has left workers behind and explore ways to replace that agenda with our own. That’s why the Labor Education Service is sponsoring a conference to discuss strategies for building a movement to reinvest in our communities. Called "Crisis of Disinvestment: Organizing to Rebuild Our Communities," the conference will be held May 30 and 31 on the U of M’s St. Paul campus.
This conference is designed for rank-and-file union members, as well as experienced union leaders and activists, and friends in the community. Offering a range of workshops, speakers and activities, the conference "will foster a sense of hope about our ability to organize and develop tools for rebuilding our state and communities," said LES Director Howard Kling.
Registration is $75 and includes conference fee, materials, Friday lunch and refreshment breaks. View an agenda and register online at www.reinvestnow.org.
Governor: Don’t Delay Health Care Reform!
Council 5 Director Eliot Seide told reporters that legislators shouldn’t allow Governor Pawlenty to raid the Health Care Access Fund to balance the budget. “The fund should be used for its intended purpose – to make health care affordable for more Minnesotans.”
Like most Minnesotans, most AFSCME members are insured, but we’re tired of paying more for less health care coverage. Our main concern is access to affordable, quality care.
That’s why Council 5 supports the House and Senate health care reform bills – SF 3099 (Berglin) and HF 3391 (Huntley). Both bills establish an affordability standard that moves us toward our ultimate goal of affordable health care for all Minnesotans. That affordability standard should be 5 percent. Nobody should have to spend more than 5 percent of their gross household income on health care costs.
Legislators can contain costs by reforming the state’s payment system to reward doctors for healthy outcomes, better quality, greater access and improved efficiency.
We know this is a tough budget year, but Governor Pawlenty must seize this opportunity to make health care affordable for more Minnesotans.
BUST LORI SWANSON FOR UNION BUSTING!
In the face of fear, attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office want to join AFSCME. In March they courageously wrote a letter asking their boss for recognition of their union. Soon after, Attorney General Lori Swanson held captive audience meetings to coerce her employees into opposing the union. She summoned small groups of the attorneys to a conference room. With two supervisors and two judges watching, the workers were asked to mark an anti-union ballot saying that the letter requesting union rights didn’t speak for them.
Let’s end the fear and intimidation, so the office can get back to protecting consumers.
Call Attorney General Lori Swanson immediately at 651-296-6196. Tell her to stop union busting and recognize the union chosen by her attorneys.
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AFSCME Council 5, AFL-CIO
300 Hardman Avenue So, South St Paul MN 55075 • (651) 450-4990, fax (651) 455-1311
211 W 2nd Street, Duluth MN 55802 • (218) 722-0577, fax (218) 722-6802