December 1, 1999

On Friday, November 19th, the Election Committee mailed the ballots to members at their home addresses. Instructions were included in the mailing. Please following the instructions exactly or your vote may not be counted. Ballots must be received (via the U.S. Mail ONLY) by December 11, 1999, at 6:00pm. Ballots received after that time or via inter-office mail will not be counted! The ballots will be counted at the BCEA Office on Monday, December 13, 1999, starting at 10:00am. If you have any questions, please contact a member of the Election Committee or consult your copy of the constitution. If you are a member in good standing and have paid dues for at least one month prior to the Nominations Meeting and have not received your ballot in the mail or there is a problem, please contact the Election Committee Chairperson or leave a message at the BCEA Office for the Election Committee. The 2000 Executive Board will be installed at the Annual Meeting on December 15th.

CONTRACT RATIFICATION

NEGOTIATIONS are over! A Contract Ratification Meeting was held Monday, November 29th at the Central Lirary Auditorium. Well over 100 members were in attendance to view the specifics of the new contract, ask questions, and vote! Voting continued the next day, Tuesday, November 30, at the BCEA Office with the Negotiations Team in attendance to answer questions and conduct the vote. Between the two days, 220 members received copies of the proposed agreement and ballots. At 6:00pm, when the ballots were counted, 215 members voted, 178 voted YES and 37 voted NO. The City Council approved our contract Tuesday night. You should be seeing your retro-checks on December 22nd. If you are a member and have not yet received a copy of the proposal, please stop by the BCEA Office and pick one up.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each member of the 1999 Negotiations Team for all of the time, effort, concern, and hard work they put into this process! This year's team members were Vince Kieffer, Robert Kaczmarek, Michael Castro, Gaye Mains, Paul Bentley, and myself. I would like to thank each member of our Negotiations Advisory Team. At each session, at least one member of the Advistory Team was in attendance. Their input and suggestions were invaluable!

Negotiations are never easy and representing a large diverse group like ours makes our task even harder. Every member of our team and the Advisory Team listened to the members concerns, complaints, and suggestions and made decisions accordingly for everyone. I really feel that we were able to negotiate a really great contract for our membership! We have a three year deal with good money in each year! We have finally been able to bring all benchmarks up to survey! We have also been able to secure an excellent retirement benefit (EPMC) at a very low cost! (For a change, our cost will be lower than any other group's!) We were also able to fix some other inequities and make some great language changes to protect our membership!

1999 STEWARD ELECTIONS

Nominations flyers have been posted in work areas where stewards are up for election. Members are encouraged to nominate a member who has expressed a willingness to run for a term of two (2) years commencing January 1, 2000. Your steward should be a person who is committed to attending monthly steward meetings, passing along your concerns, and acting as a conduit of information between the officers of the Union and the members they represent. If more than one member is nominated in your work area, an election will be held and each member in that work area will be sent a ballot. If only one member is nominated, that member shall be declared elected. New stewards will be announced and installed at the Annual Meeting on December 15th.

The BCEA would like to thank the following stewards whose terms end December 31st for their service to our Union over the past two years:

We currently also have one vacant steward position in the Police Department/Crossing Guards. The BCEA encourages members who are interested in getting involved, think about running for steward!

2000 AFSCME AWARD PROGRAM

AFSCME, in keeping with its commitment to educate the leaders of tomorrow, will be providing fifteen (15) awards to the Presidential Classroom for Young Americans program in 2000. Since 1968, Presidential Classroom has introduced high school students to Washington, D.C. and the inner workings of our political system. This nonpartisan, nonprofit organization offers an exceptional civic education opportunity. Fifteen (15) children of AFSCME members will participate in thePresidentiall Classroom Scholars Program March 11-18, 2000. The program includes seeing congress in action, seminars on the working of government conducted by some of the nation's most influential leaders, discussion and debate sessions on current issues and visits to Washington's famous monument, museums, and memorials. The award covers the cost of transportation, tuition, room-and-obard, and materials. Interested high school juniors or seniors who are children or financial dependent grandchildren of AFSCME members should submit their applications postmarked no later than January 14, 2000. Applications and details are available at the BCEA Office.

AFSCME FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

The AFSCME Family Scholarship Program for the year 2000 will be awarding ten (10) scholarships of $2,000 each to children of AFSCME members. The scholarships will be renewed for $2,000 each year for a maximum of four years, provided the student remains enrolled in a full-time degree program at an accredited institution. Applicants must be a high school senior graduating in the Spring of 2000 who will enroll in a full-time, four year degree program at any accredited college or university. Applicants must also be a daughter or son of an AFSCME member or whose legal guardian or financial responsible grandparent is an AFSCME member. Completed applications must be postmarked no later than December 31, 1999. Applications and details are available at the BCEA Office.

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT - Vince Kieffer

Lately, the Executive Board of your local has been reminiscing about the history of our organization as we approach sixty (60) years of service to our fellow employees. While cataloging the contents of our storage unit, we came across some wonderful old newsletters, reminders of our association's past history.

These old newsletters, which date from the 60's and 70's decades bring back quite a few memories and revelations depending on one's age. For example, the Central Library was being built in 1963 at the cost of $1,100,000. You couldn't even pay for the landscaping for that much cash today! In 1965, the construction project at that time was the "new" Municipal Services Building. Yes, the same building that will be torn down and and replaced next year.

In 1966, the BCEA was negotiating a new agreement with the City. The Association was asking for eleven (11) paid holidays, a single health plan to cover employees and their families, free parking for employees working at City Hall, a uniform allowance, and pay increases based on salary surveys. They ended up settling for a 2.75% pay raise and the above listed benefits. Their successes created a foundation that we continue to build on.

Looking at these artifacts of our organization's past is enlightening and inspiring. As with any worthwhile endeavor, it took many dedicated people coming together as an unit to work toward the common goal of bettering the lives of their fellow employees. We can only hope that the present and future leaders of the BCEA and it's membership continue to "get involved" and further enrich the lives of our co-workers.

REPRESENTATION RIGHTS - Tami Antonello, Executive Board Member

What are they and how do they help me?

You have the absolute right to request BCEA representation for any hearing, investigatory interview, counseling, below satisfactory evaluation, meeting to mete out discipline, accident review, and discussion or meeting concerning layoff, retirement, grievance meeting, arbitration proceedings, and Civil Service Board meetings or hearings. It is important that you protect your representation rights!

While the right of representation is available to you, it is not necessarily automatically provided to you. When you realize that any of the above circumstances are about to take place, it is up to you to request Union representation. Call your steward! If he or she is unavailable, call the Union Office.

If, during your employee evaluation, you realize that your evaluation is below satisfactory, you may ask to stop the meeting in order to contact your steward for representation. If you are called in to the supervisor's or department manager's office and realize you are about to be disciplined, ask that you be allowed to contact your steward for representation. The simple step of requesting Union representation may save you your job or, at the very least, may serve you from unnecessary questioning or undeserved disciplinary measures now and in the future.

Remember ... Your Union stewards and officers are here to help protect you! We can't do it unless you let us. Call us when something is going on. If, for some reason, you fail to ask for representation during any of the above scenarios, let your steward know what has happened. It may not be too late to help.

Keep your steward informed about what is going on in your work area at all times. It may make a big difference in your working conditions, safety, and general well being!

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - KATHLEEN LINDBLOM

Well ... this is my final newsletter article as your PRESIDENT! Wow, there have been times when I never thought I would hear myself that ... but it is time! It has been my sincere pleasure and great honor to serve as your President for the past five years!! It has been quite a ride! During that time we have rebuilt our UNION and accomplished many of my goals! Our membership has increased two-fold! We have made numerous internal changes to be more accountable to the membership. We have secured numerous member-only benefits. We have negotiated two contracts that have included Fee for Representation and now a great retirement benefit, EPMC. We have improved our training to better represent the members. Even with all of the accomplishments, there are still things that need to be done and some things I feel bad about not yet completing. I do, however, have confidence in our foundation and that our new President, Bob, will be able to pick up where I have left off and move our UNION forward! I plan on still being around helping out. Finally, I would just like to say thank you for allowing me to serve all of you as your PRESIDENT! It has been wonderful!

I hope to see all of you at the Annual Meeting on the 15th.