Local 1488 Holiday Party

The holidays are a great time to bring members together and to show appreciation to active members for all the work that they do. This year recovery from foot surgery limited my ability to attend these events around the state. I did, however, enjoy seeing Local 1488 members at their holiday party.

Parks Management Misinforms Members

Earlier today, it came to my attention that misinformation contained in a management memo led Parks members to believe they were to take 8 furlough days in addition to the 3% reduction in pay. Nothing could be further from the truth. Management committed to sending out a corrected memo as soon as possible. This is a good example of the importance of reading the information provided at the WFSE website and letting us know when things go awry at the work site. Thank you to Don Hall for correcting the misinformation and for contacting the union to take action to address this.

Bargaining Teams Deserve Our Thanks

Sisters and Brothers,

Never has a bargaining team faced the adverse conditions that our current bargaining teams are trying to overcome. The state budget conditions are well known to all of us. It is daily on the news. The economic times have forced devastating decisions on the Governor, the legislature, and many of us personally.

My hats off to each of the bargaining team members who have met these challenges with courage and determination. Although General Government team has completed a tentative agreement, other teams are still hard at work. Please encourage them. Your messages of support and solidarity mean a lot to them and help them face these difficult days.

The General Government team was amazing. I have served with the teams at each of our bargaining sessions. They all deserve our respect and our thanks. Each have given us the best they had to offer. This team, faced with the toughest challenges, was the most cohesive I have ever seen. The decisions they had to make were very difficult. The team, comprised of many points of view, took votes that sometimes were made by very narrow margins. They were thoughtful in their deliberations, respectful in discussion, and accepting of majority votes. They were the epitome of solidarity. They exemplify the word "union". I am so proud to have been with them through this time.

The Higher Education bargaining teams still face many challenges. With a couple of exceptions, they are facing employers who seem far less interested in coming to agreement. We must rally around them. We are all in this together. We are the union. We stand together and we stand strong. When we are called upon to act on their behalf, we WILL be there.

Bargaining In The Midst Of Economic Crisis

There is no doubt that the state is struggling financially and that we, as a union, are facing unprecedented economic times. To bargain contracts at this point in time is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges we face. The bargaining has been unrelentingly difficult.

The message from the membership was very clear. Healthcare bargaining was consistently our membership's highest priority. As most of you know, management's proposal was to reduce their contribution to the healthcare benefit and increase ours; going from 88/12 to 76/24. At the end of some difficult discussions and some long silences, healthcare bargaining ended with the state paying 85% and we pay 15%.

Knowing we cannot anticipate any cost of living consideration, the teams focussed on trying to get improved working condition language. Changes in these are hard fought as well. Management came into this process with take away proposals in every financial area and initially an unwillingness to bargain on issues our teams considered important. We are now seeing movement on their part and are hopeful that even in these extremely difficult economic times, we can come to an agreement that the membership will ratify. We don't anticipate increased earnings for our membership. We know we face potentially devastating job losses in many areas.

Having a contract is critically important as we face potential lay offs. There are protections in the contract that will provide good benefits for the membership from seniority rights to the right to be placed in the transition pool should a member face lay off. We will fight hard both here and in the legislature to save our members jobs and to save services to the public.

In the face of what has happened in the last election, where legislators cannot build revenue sources without a 2/3 majority and the loss of the unpopular 2 cents tax on soda pop, bottled water and candy, our reality is now a state where even hospice care is cut. What that means for all of us in terms of bargaining wages is evident.

We need to have a contract in place even if the wage language is less than what we deserve. If we have no contract, the legislature will certainly attack our healthcare benefit and we will likely end up with the 76/24 healthcare benefit cost split originally proposed by the Governor's negotiators in addition to large wage take aways.

The union's bargaining teams have never faced such difficult struggles as they have this year. My deep appreciation to all of them for their dedication and commitment to representing our membership to the best of their ability. Never have the teams faced such circumstances. They continue to work hard for you and are hopeful that we will have a contract to take to our membership very soon.

Stand Strong. Support our bargaining teams. Ratify the contracts when the negotiations conclude. These economic problems will improve. It will take some time. Meanwhile, we cannot afford to work without contract protections in place. Stand strong.