General Membership Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM at 918 Benjamin NE, Grand Rapids.
Meeting was opened with the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.

Roll Call of Officers:

Present:

Steve Austin, President
Jennifer Amos, Recording Secretary
Orv Glombowski, AO Director
Bill Scutt, Clerk Craft Director
Jim Sweeney, Special Delivery Craft Director
Larry Niece, Mailhandler Craft Director
Ronda Payne, Sergeant at Arms
Jim Smith, Maintenance Craft Director
Catherine Beemblossom, Executive Vice-President
Absent:
Larry Niece, Mailhandler Craft Director
Karen Hodges, Treasurer
Vacant:
MVS Craft Director

The March General Membership Meeting minutes were accepted as corrected. The corrections are: Date was March 14, 1998, not March 7, 1998. Spelling of Shuitema should be Schuitema in applications for membership.

Applications for Membership:

Clerks, Grand Rapids:

Brian Bolton -- Ramona Rosario-Ayala -- Dan Vanhouten

Ron Didion -- Tammy Harris

Clerk, Holland:

Renee DeBeck

Bills Accepted by Majority Vote:

$ 26.74 -- Ronda Payne, Postage

34.34 --Jennifer Amos, Union Mailing

50.71 --Jennifer Gilbert, Mileage

11.49 --Mike Long, Supplies
$123.28

Treasurer’s Report: Read and accepted as written.

Maintenance Report: Smith -- Call-in policy on weekends a real problem at MPO. Leave requests not being honored on weekends. Encourage employees to watch call-ins in the future.

Associate Office Report: Glombowski -- Sustained info requests... Management uncooperative when asked for information, will contact National APWU. RCAs doing work at AOs in clerk craft. Currently investigating this matter. Big Rapids and WMAL to merge. Management continues to deliver express and EXFC mail. A grievance will be filed. Will submit resolutions to the State Convention to get AOs to comply with union procedures. Payment of stewards is also an issue. Currently working 10-12 hour days.

Clerk Craft Report: Scutt -- Grievance shake-out has been proposed. Call-in policy on the agenda for that meeting. Austin was instrumental in extinguishing a car fire on the back dock. Scutt congratulated Austin for a job well done. Tour III is having a difficult time with supervision. Will spend time on tour III to help the stewards. Aprons are in...and almost out. Gilbert Branagan is retiring in May...we wish him well. Eighteen of the 27 FSM jobs promised have been posted. Nine more to come. Working on posting jobs for new equipment deployed to annex. Union office at the annex will be completed soon. Residual jobs were posted in the last bid cycle in error. Corrected posting caused a delay in closing date.

Executive Vice-President Report: Beemblossom -- Residual vacancies will be filled ASAP. A big welcome to new steward Phil Stritzinger. Article 28 class on April 21st from 5:00-9:00 pm. At 918 Benjamin NE. Article 37 class on June 27, 1998 from 11:00-5:00 at the union hall.

Special Delivery Report: Sweeney -- Merger was supposed to be complete on April 20, 1998. There are three phases to the merger...they are still on phase one. New messenger starting next week.

President Report: Austin -- Thanks to Catherine Beemblossom for her work on the residual vacancies. Thanks to Jennifer Gilbert for assisting with the resolutions class. Murry Weatherall wants to charge the local for information requests. This policy in the Administrative Support Manual doesn’t apply to unions. If the cost of providing information is extreme, management and the union can negotiate a fair amount. It seems impractical to allow stewards the time to hand copy documents. This would ultimately cost more than a xerox copy. Manager at P-1 limiting steward time making it difficult to conduct union business. Big Rapids asked to merge with WMAL. The request will be posted for 30 days before the membership will be required to vote on the issue. The records of the local in Big Rapids will be reviewed before accepting request to merge. Parking in the basement is crowded, empty equipment is taking up parking spaces. Managers are caught violating parking privileges. White Cloud is expanding their office. A decision will be made very soon on the national arbitration case concerning level 4 automation clerks. When won, automation clerks will be upgraded to level 5. 1997 Stewards appreciation dinner on April 18, 1998, at The Legend Restaurant. Safety hazard reports should still be filled out regularly if we want to make a statement to management about the need for a new facility. Kudos to Mike Long for getting the paper published even though his family was ill. National APWU wants all PTFs on the same roll. They will attempt to secure an agreement during collective bargaining negotiations. Informational picketing in Grand Rapids on May 27, 1998. The picketing will target the Emery contracted priority centers. Please come out and picket with us that day!

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

POWER Committee -- Karen Hodges: Regional conference in Indiana was a success. COPA auction at conference generated $2000. That would be a great idea for this local to raise funds. The POWER committee will host a dessert social in conjunction with a general membership meeting to show a labor video called “Banner and Babes”. Watch the bulletin board for details.

Convention Committee -- Karen Hodges: Joan Norton, Bay City local, won $250 -- Shirley Morgan, Grand Rapids MPO, won $150 -- Tri Do, Grand Rapids MPO, won $100 in the raffle. Insufficient funds raised in the raffle to cover expenses. Items needed for convention are listed on the bulletin boards. Sign-up to donate food or time to the State Convention. Baskets are needed for centerpieces for convention. Jennifer Gilbert: Picketers can go to the Whitecaps game after the picket. Busses are available for transportation. Game ticket orders at $6 a piece must be in by May 6th.

Resolutions Committee -- Jennifer Gilbert: Anyone interested in submitting resolutions to change the state or national constitution should notify their steward. All written resolutions must be submitted no later than April 30, 1998 to be considered.

Solidarity for Charity Committee -- Mike Long: The Solidarity for Charity Softball Game will be held on September 14, 1998 from 2:00-5:00 pm. The Michigan Home for Veterans will benefit from the proceeds. A raffle is planned.

Cans for COPA -- Catherine Beemblossom: $22.00 for COPA.

Correspondence: Thank you note from the Pedone family. Donation requests from Mel Trotter Mission and United Farm Workers of America.

Old Business:

President yielded the chair to vice president.

Constitutional addition for new Article 22 - Dental Program, proposed at March General Membership Meeting. Discussion. Carried. The Local Constitution will reflect the change.

Vice president yielded chair to president.

Constitutional change for Article 16 proposed at March General Membership Meeting. Discussion. Defeated. 11-for, 18-against.

New Business:

Motion by Missy Grose for the local to pay for six rooms for the State Convention Committee members at the state convention from May 27-30 for a total of 4 nights at approx. $100 per room per night totaling approx. $2400. 2nd-Scutt. Discussion. Carried.

Proposed constitutional change presented and read. Article 7 section 5.

Motion by Hodges to accept the 1997 budget for 1998. 2nd-Smith. Discussion. Carried.

Motion to table above motion by Scutt. 2nd-Glombowski. Defeated.

Motion by Dan Chester to extend meeting until end of business. 2nd-Beemblossom. Carried.

Scholarship Drawing: 1st - Mark Stachowiak 2nd - Derek Van Lunkhuyzen Alternates: 1st - Daniel Miller 2nd - Vu Nguyen 3rd - Toni Payne 4th - Edward Sakocius

Motion by Mike Long to have the WMAL loan the Solidarity for Charity Committee $250, as done in the past, for the Solidarity for Charity ball game, to be paid back later. 2nd-Sweeney. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Jennifer Gilbert to purchase five tickets to the Coalition of Labor Union Women dinner on April 25 at the UAW region 1D office. The president, Steve Austin, would be given one of the tickets, with the other four raffled off at this meeting. 2nd-Beemblossom. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Scutt to have the WMAL donate $250 to the United Farm Workers of America. 2nd-Glombowski. Carried.

Motion by Robin Neilson to have the WMAL donate $100 to the Mel Trotter Mission. 2nd-Beemblossom. Carried.

President yielded chair to vice president.

Motion by Glombowski to get an additional 40 hours of LWOP for Associate Office Director duties. 2nd-Chester. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Barb Tubbs to have the WMAL reimburse her for overpayment to the dental program of approx. $85. 2nd-Long. Carried.

Motion by Hodges to change by-laws to read “members and or officers authorized to travel on behalf of the union that would rather drive than fly to a union function be only paid the cost of the airline ticket if lower than payment for mileage. This would be determined by the executive board in advance of the authorized function”. 2nd-Amos. Discussion. Defeated.

Motion by Gilbert to have the WMAL pay half the cost of busses to transport people to picketing, game, and back to the hotel. 2nd-Grose. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Scutt to amend main motion by adding “a limit of a total of two busses”. 2nd-Smith. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Austin to amend the motion by adding “a limit of a total of three busses”. 2nd-Gilbert. Discussion. Defeated.

Motion by Tim Burke to provide bowling towels to state convention delegates. 2nd-Glombowski. Discussion. Tabled.

Motion by Chester to table above motion. 2nd-Sweeney. Carried.

Motion by Glombowski to have WMAL pay for hotel room for associate office director during the state convention. 2nd-Gilbert. Discussion. Defeated.

Motion by Grose for the WMAL to send George Hendricks to the National Convention to attend the retirement workshop to include mileage, per diem, lodging and applicable taxes. 2nd-Austin. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Scutt to suspend normal business and move directly to Labor Management. 2nd-Glombowski. Carried.

Vice President yielded chair to president.

Labor Management -- Automation clerks used in the FSM operation at P-1. Kelly girls not required to take the same test as postal employees to work in CFS. CFS mail shifted to stations. This mail was previously worked by Gilbert, but he is retiring. Scutt hopes to get his job re-posted. Chewing tobacco a problem for maintenance. Employees have been using the sinks to spit out the tobacco. Parking in the basement...can the empty equipment be relocated? No napkins or napkin dispensers at P-1. Overtime for pool window clerks? Where do they sign the list for overtime? Where can they work overtime? Scutt said if principal office is main office, overtime should be there. Pool window clerk at Northwest station working there for 2 years. Grievance should be file for a new position.

New Business - cont:

Motion by Beemblossom to have the WMAL purchase 5 dinner benefit raffle tickets @ $10 to be raffled of this evening. 2nd-Gilbert. Carried.

Drawings:

$35.00 to COPA, $35.00 to Orville Glombowski.

Special Drawing: Five tickets to benefit dinner -- Doug Kunst, Rose Jerrils, Ronda Payne, Dan Chester, Ken Vanderwal.

Special Drawing: Four tickets to Coalition of Labor Union Women dinner -- Robin Neilson, Andrea Malski, Missy Grose, Linda Yarnot.

Special Drawing: 10 Hams -- Steve Austin, Cindi Cunningham, Karen Hodges, Barb Tubbs, Catherine Beemblossom, Sandra Johnson, Jim Smith, Linda Yarnot, Cheryl Gregory, Orville Glombowski.

$10 door prizes: Phil Stritzinger, Ronda Payne, Missy Grose, Lola Verboom, Jennifer Amos, Gilbert Branagan.

Meeting adjourned at 10:16 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted

Jennifer Amos
Recording Secretary

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