When you get your ballot, vote for the Hoffa Slate!
The Hoffa leadership has been good for our bargaining unit. They have been supportive of public employees and the Leadham Slate is not.
Through the Teamsters, we as correctional officers in the Hennepin County Jail have gained:
1. Paid Holidays. Prior to becoming Teamsters in 1999 we not only got straight time for working a holiday, we actually had to pay the employer "payback" hours every year, in other words we worked about 48 hours a year of "free" overtime.
2. The 55 Retirement. This bill was introduced and lobbied by the Teamsters that gave us our own correctional retirement at 55 rather then the PERA 67!
3. The Bloodborne Pathogens Bill. As of July 1st, 2006, an inmate exposing you to blood and body fluids must give a blood sample so you can know if you've been exposed to an infectious disease.
4. They pay lobbyist to pass legislation favorable to increasing our pension and to our profession.
5. They provide Team Legal to protect you from civil and criminal prosecution arising from our profession.
6. National Security. The Teamsters were early to protest the Dubai Port sale and regularly lobby against Mexican trucks entering U.S. soil with poor safety standards and sub par inspections.
7. They are against the outsourcing of U.S. jobs and are against NAFTA.
8. They lobby in Washington to protect workers pensions.
The list goes on and on. This is Hoffa's legacy. I know many people ignore union ballots, but take a minute to educate yourself. Whoever heads the Teamsters affects our locals and our strength. Lets vote Hoffa and keep a good thing going.
Wade - I can see where the paid holidays and 55 retirement are benefits for us detention techs, and in the bigger picture, I can understand why voting for the Hoffa slate might (I emphasize MIGHT) be an advantage to us, but forgive me if I'm more than a little skeptical that our own union gives a damn about us at all. The issues we have the tech steward raise (uniform allowance, FTO pay, etc.) are routinely dismissed as being not worth consideration or "too dangerous" to risk bringing up. I realize that there are only ten of us and close to 200 detention deputies and also a lot more telecommunicators, but do you represent all of us or not? Our dues money is just as good as any deputy's or telecommunicators, and our issues are just as valid. It's no wonder the administration thinks they can just keep dumping on us when our own union won't act in support of us.
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