Semper Fi? Don't Apply!

Hey Marines and other veterans. Proud of your service? Did you get a visible tattoo on your arm?

Well you are not welcome to work for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office!

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota will not hire you. They have a new no visible tattoo policy and are enforcing it with a vengeance for their new hires and perspective hires.

This week a newly hired detention deputy of four months was walked out. She had a three year old tattoo on her arm that said, MPLS (short for Minneapolis).

They never noticed it during her back-grounding or training. Even though she wore a short sleeved polo shirt for training.

They didn't notice it until about 4 months into her employment. I'm told someone noticed it on her while watching a training film she was in. She was told to remove it or resign. She did neither.She offered to keep it covered. Not enough. This week she was walked out.

In discussing the tattoo policy at one of her hearings I asked about veterans with tattoos. I was told they had already turned some away.

So much for veteran friendly.

So I repeat, Semper Fi? Don't apply!


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Dean Enge hs passed

Dean Enge, worked at the Hennepin County Adult Corrections Facility (the Workhouse) as a Senior Corrections Officer for 26 years. He was the Chief Steward for their AFSCME Corectional Officers for many years.

Most of you will remember him as a Workhouse Transport Driver. I will always remember him as a Union Steward that worked hard for his members.

Rest in Peace. You will be missed.

See his obituary for full details.

Funeral services for Dean David Enge will be held on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013 at 6:00 P.M. at The Peterson Chapel in Buffalo. Pastor Phillip Jackson will officiate. 

A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 2nd from 4-7 P.M. Pastor Phillip Jackson will officiate.

Honorary Casket Bearers are all The Employees of The Hennepin County Adult Correctional Facility.

Arrangements for Dean Enge are by The Peterson Chapel in Buffalo. Online condolences may be made to www.thepetersonchapel.com

PTSD study in Correctional Officers

 Brie Pileggi, former Hennepin County Detention Deputy, is working on her doctorate in clinical psychology and writing her dissertation on the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among corrections officers. 

She writes, "Recent research found that nationwide, 31% of corrections officers and jailers were found to have PTSD, which is a rate approximately two times higher than the rates for post 9/11 NY fire fighters, Operation Iraqi Freedom soldiers, and emergency medical professionals. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this problem, the general population had a rate of only 3.5%. It was also found that on average, those who had PTSD called in sick seven times more per year than those who did not." 

She wants to survey all of us Detention Deputies, as well as DOC Correctional officers. The HCSO is not willing to distribute the survey via their email so I am asking all of you to share your email addresses with me for that purpose. I will also add your name to our egroup. 

Email wade.laszlo@gmail.com with your name and email address. I will add you to our egroup and share it with Brie for this very valuable research.

 Brie also wrote: "The MN Department of Corrections, where I worked for a while after I left the county, posted the full article on their internal website for their employees:

http://desertwaters.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PTSD_Prev_in_Corrections_2012.pdf"

I encourage you to click on the link and read it.

The Importance of Negotiation and the Contract

The Sheriff's Office wants to do something contrary to the contract. They want to move the shift bid from February 15 to January 15. Sounds innocuous enough until you consider a couple of things.

 First of all our contract states in Article 7, sec 4:

On or about February 15 and August 15 of each year, each Detention Deputy and Detention Technician shall be permitted to bid for the shift such employee prefers within the work unit of the Sheriff's Office to which such Detention Deputy and Detention Technician is assigned.  

Last year the Sheriff's Office  delayed the shift bid by 2 weeks and wouldn't respond to emails or calls as to why until we filed a grievance and the County sided with us.

Secondly, during negotiations we tried to add seniority to that clause for bidding our days off on the 28 day schedule. They would have none of it. (They don't want any contract language relating to the 28 day schedule). That was also the time they could have negotiated to move the shift bid date. But as we know they don't negotiate, they just tell us what they want.

Third, they just won their arbitration and they got 100% of everything they wanted and we got nothing...now they want our permission to violate the contact!

The Facts: YOU own the contract. This is the language in it. The only way for MNPEA to agree to a change is for 100% of you to approve it...that couldn't happen in 48 hours.

Finally, the email from the Administration wasn't even addressed to us, it was addressed to the Licensed Deputy Association with MNPEA as a CC.

Hey Hennepin County, the time for changes is at the bargaining table. This summer when we sit at the bargaining table feel free to negotiate that clause in the contract, but we will want something too. There's a novel idea, actually negotiating rather than the usual B.S. of settling with AFSCME then shoving the deal down our throat.

*1/18/13 Update
Hennepin County Labor Relations informed me the Shift Bid will take place on or about February 15 as the Contract states.