WHEN: Sunday, February 26, 2012

9:30 a.m.— 11 a.m.

WHERE: Teamster City

300 S. Ashland Avenue

Downstairs Hall

WHY: Because our President wants to meet YOU,

Wants to spend a little time with YOU,

Answer a few questions from YOU,

And most important because Mary Kay wants all SEIU members to meet her!

Come help us show President Henry what CHICAGO Hospitality looks like!

Call the Member Resource Center at 312.588.7630 to reserve your seat. Donuts and coffee will be served.

Come One Come All!!

Volunteer Your Time

WHAT: Going door-to-door talking with voters about Rudy’s campaign.

WHEN: Saturday, February 25

Saturday, March 3

Saturday, March 10

Saturday, March 17

TIME: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

WHERE: Chicago Location

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s Office

4249 S. Archer Avenue

Chicago, IL 60632

Suburban Location

Rudy Lozano’s  Office

(Sign says Oquendo Construction)

4425 S. Harlem Avenue

Stickney, IL 60402

Which Location should I go to?
The Chicago portion of the 21^st District comprises a large portion of the southwest side Latino neighborhoods including Brighton Park and Little Village. If you are a bilingual Spanish speaker, please come to the Chicago location.  The suburban portion of the district includes some portions of the townships of Garfield Ridge, Lyons, Stickney, Summit, Berwyn, Cicero and Riverside.

For more information or to volunteer, please call the Member Resource Center at 312.588.7630.

Management reassured us they would not be giving the new hospital and the educational incentives if they had any intention of laying off or subcontracting out any work historically performed by us. Their chief negotiator told us they want to develop a skilled work force by working with us. Once all eight requirements have been completed, a member would be expedited to the Operating Engineers License classification as soon as possible and will not be subject to bidding.

He also told us they were in favor of merging Inventory and Receiving because the hospital needs a versatile workforce that is well versed in both jobs to be more valuable to the Medical Center and the new hospital.
At the end of negotiations on February 14, management delivered their “last, best, and final” offer. This proposal included no changes from the last contract proposal we rejected February 1. But, due to legal obligations, we must bring this proposal to another ratification vote.
On Monday, February 20, we will have the opportunity to vote.
Voting yes=You agree with the terms of the contract and agree to ratify.

Voting no=You do NOT agree with the terms of the contract and would give your bargaining committee the authorization to give management a 10-day strike notice later that day. A strike would then begin on March 1.

This vote is crucial. Please make sure you and your co-workers vote on February 20.

VOTE ON YOUR CONTRACT!

Monday, February 20
7 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Dora De Lee Hall
Room L-168

3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Dora De Lee Hall
Room L-168

On June 30, 2012, our contract with the Secretary of State will expire. We do not need to tell you that we face a battle to protect our jobs and current benefit levels.

By filling out this survey, you will give us first-hand input as to how we can be best focus on your critical issues in the battle for a fair contract.

Together We Can Win!

We must stay strong and united together to win the best possible contract. To do this, we need to know what issues are most important to you and what you are willing to do to help achieve your goals.

YOUR VOICE IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF YOUR UNION!

Every opinion and comment matters. Please take a few moments to fill out this survey.

Your name is optional, but we prefer knowing to how to easily reach you. Information you provide will not be shared with management or your co-workers.

Click here to take the SOS Contract Bargaining Survey

Local 73 Pride Newsletter

Make your voice heard! Sign the online petition here:

Human Rights Petition

Bargaining In a Time of Crisis

Anixter is facing a reduction of $2.5 million in government grants in Fiscal 2011 which will not be offset by the fees for services that it must rely on in place of the grants. The State’s fiscal crisis and the brutal cuts to social service programs are real and have had terrible effects on all social service agencies. As we all know, the Anixter contract (CBA) was repeatedly extended, resulting in a 2 ½ year wage freeze since September 2008.

On the other hand, in part because of the wage freeze, Anixter has not had nearly the number of layoffs that other social service agencies have suffered. While the future remains uncertain, your bargaining committee had the difficult job of fighting for a wage increase in the midst of a worsening financial situation. Our priorities were to win what wage increase we could, to preserve the many strong protections for job security and fairness that are in the contract, and to strengthen the ability of the Union to continue to fight for our members .

Management initially proposed a complete wage freeze for the next year, followed by wage reopener bargaining in contract years 2 and 3. They proposed an unconditional end to any obligation to make matching contributions to the 403b retirement fund. They proposed to no longer consider the days between Christmas and New Years as Agency holidays for residential workers, and they made a number of other proposals.

On the reverse side of this sheet is a thorough summary of their proposals, the Union’s proposals, and what we won through the bargaining.

We fought back with everything we had!

We won a 1.75% wage increase that will be in effect from April 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 (15 months), which will be followed by wage reopener bargaining in each of the next two fiscal years. For purposes of the wage bargaining, the no-strike clause will be waived so we can bring our full power as a Union to bear on the negotiations. We totally defeated the proposal to end holiday status for the Christmas season days for residential workers. We also won new rights for Ferst School employees.

We fought until the very last minutes of bargaining to preserve the employer contribution to our 403b. For non-Union employees, the contribution has already been eliminated. What we finally won was an “all or none” agreement: if employer contributions are resumed for non-Union employees, they must be equally resumed for our members. Employer contributions for our members will continue until June 30, 2011. We know that management wants to restore their own benefits if possible. If they do, then we must be included.

Other victories include:

• We will have extensive negotiations to assure fairness in med passing procedures as soon as possible.
• Negotiations over the Union’s demand to be notified timely of the result of any investigation (OIG or other) regarding allegations of client abuse will also take place as soon as possible.

The SEIU Local 73 Social Services Division of SEIU Local 73 presents its inaugural Essay Contest!

Essay Contest Flyer

Who

Any Local 73 member working for Anixter, Envision, Grand Prairie Services, The Jewish Federation (CJE, JCC, JCFS, JVS, JUF-JFMC), The Larkin Center, Philip Rock School and Center, or Regional Mental Health Center.

What

Write 400 words or less on the following: How do cuts in Social Service funding affect the lives of clients and their families, social service workers and their families, the Social Service Agencies themselves, and the broader community?

Let your experience and professionalism speak for those that cannot. Join in the essay contest and let Illinois lawmakers and citizens know what’s happening to Social Services.

The winning essay will be sent to Governor Pat Quinn, (and/or Governor Mitch Daniels), will be printed in a future Local 73 Newsletter and featured the Union’s website, SEIU73.org.

Send your essay to:

Paul Siegel, Division Director, Social Services

Mail: SEIU Local 73, 300 S. Ashland Av Suite 400

Chicago, IL 60607

Email: psiegel@seiu73.org

Fax: 312 588-7487

WIN

First Place: SEIU Local 73 Jacket ($250 value)

Second Place: SEIU Local 73 T-shirt

Third Place: SEIU Local 73 Hat

Deadline for submitting essay: July 15, 2011

• Local 73 took over representation of RMHC (then “Tri City” [“TC”]) in the Fall of 2008 from another SEIU local. Soon after, we were confronted with TC being bought by South Lake, a non-Union company, and becoming RMHC. The danger was that we would have no contract and that South Lake would refuse to recognize the Union. We successfully recruited a very representative bargaining committee of your colleagues and negotiated a new CBA with Southlake that preserved almost all the rights in the TC CBA, that guaranteed the jobs and wages of every former TC Union member, and that provided a 3% wage increase per year for three years, effective 7/1/09.  The purchase agreement between TC and South Lake would have allowed South Lake (RMHC) to terminate any TC Union member without cause.  Without your Union’s successful bargaining, any employee could have been terminated following the acquisition.

• After the acquisition by South Lake, the Union members of the Emergency Department found that their carefully worked out consecutive days off were threatened by a change in the definition of a work week. Your Union went into action and promptly won a grievance because the CBA which we had successfully negotiated included the definition of a work week that existed under TC.

• Your Union has appealed to arbitration the cases of three women who were terminated for being pregnant and needing leave before their first year of employment had ended, and in one case for having undergone breast cancer treatment and needing a leave. All three women were absolutely exemplary employees. Above and beyond the call, your Union saw to it that all three obtained representation in EEOC claims which the EEOC is supporting. We need our Union!

• Your Union’s legal actions, and the initiative of a principled member, persuaded your employer to abandon a “working committee” on the incentives that they suspended. Your employer wanted to decide who would represent Union employees. We are now forming a real Union working committee so as to arrive at a proposal on incentives and demand bargaining on it.

• Your Union is in the process of taking to arbitration a grievance involving unfair and inequitable treatment of employees disciplined over billing quotas. We are committed to much more than that.  We must all understand the need to assure survival of the agency, our jobs, and needs of our clients.  We will work with the members and with management to come up with realistic problem solving in relation to the stress and overwork created by billing pressures.

The Governor has signed into law a so-called “Right to Work” bill. It covers privately owned companies in Indiana, like RMHC.

No matter what is said by those responsible for this ill-conceived pea-brained politicians’ “great adventure,” the real purpose of “right to work,” is the weakening of Unions and the Labor Movement. That movement is your strongest and best tool for defending your right to decent working conditions, wages, job security, and for a fair and just economy for working people.

Let us be clear what this bill does and dispel any rumors:

• Under the bill, employers at Unionized companies will no longer be required to deduct dues from the members’ paychecks once they sign a card, as a condition of employment.
• However, the change is for all Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) agreed to after March 14, 2012. Therefore, at this time RMHC will continue to deduct dues as before. The change will come after a new CBA is negotiated in the Fall of 2012.
• Behind the mask of Right to Work’s “freedom to choose” is the intent to make it extremely difficult for Unions to effectively collect dues. Dues are what we all chip in to fund our Union.
• Your Union relies almost 100% on members’ dues, financially. That is good because it means your Union is controlled solely by you, the members.

“Right to Work” aims to harm Unions by depriving them of the  resources we need. But if we act on this, we will come out stronger!

The following points need to be clarified:

1. Local 73, with all its members, including at RMHC, remains the exclusive bargaining agent for workers covered by the CBA which expires on September 30, 2012.

2. Local 73 will continue to fulfill its’ bargaining agent responsibilities, including: Recruiting a bargaining committee and preparing to negotiate the next CBA; Filing and pursuing grievances including to arbitration; Recruiting and training stewards; Holding meetings where RMHC members can raise and discuss their concerns; Holding Labor-Management meetings to discuss those concerns with Employer; Fighting for funding and respect for human/social services workers and clients especially in the non-profit community-based sector.

3. RMHC workers need a strong Union more than ever.  If you want a strong Union, you will need to voluntarily continue paying your dues when a new CBA is bargained, so that your Union can survive. When 100% of us voluntarily pay dues, we will be sending a message that will strengthen our Union!

4. The bill does not forbid an agreement between the Union and the employer to deduct dues from the paycheck of a member who voluntarily agrees to it. That arrangement could be negotiated in bargaining this Fall.

DON’T MOURN, ORGANIZE!

In solidarity,

Christine Boardman, President

Matt Brandon, Secretary-Treasurer

Paul Siegel, Social Services Division Director

Tim Ball, Social Services Union Representative

Thomas Burton, Union Steward

Ruth Dekker, Union Steward

Alice Olson, Union Steward

Recent and Current Matters Involving Your Union at RMHC