AFSCME has been talking smack about us, claiming we're not a Union. Here's our MNPEA Business Agent's response:
Attention Minnesota Public Employees:
Because of our ongoing organizing of public groups in Minnesota there have been numerous rumors and statements originating from a couple of big unions about who we are, what we promise and what our service to members is. Here are some of the things being said and our response.
In a recent letter from the President of Local 82, AFL-CIO (MPLS Firefighters Union) he starts with the statement that MNPEA has been comparing itself to the AFL-CIO and AFSCME. Neither I nor the other Officers of MNPEA have ever compared ourselves to them. Why would we? They represent most of the things wrong with the Labor Movement in the 21st century. When I was President of Local 320 Teamster President James Hoffa, after years of requests from Teamster members and officers to leave the AFL-CIO, finally took a vote among the top two officers of all the Teamsters Locals. The desire was overwhelming to leave and we did. In the 34 years I've been involved in MN unions as a member, agent and officer, I have watched AFSCME roll over in contract negotiations time and again. Our members and many of theirs have voiced the same opinion. While the Teamsters left the AFL-CIO, they kept a non-raid pact with AFSCME or we would have had several of their groups cross over to Teamsters. Until MNPEA there has been a monopoly on most public jobs in MN by AFSCME and Teamsters.
He also stated that MNPEA doesn’t have political clout because we’re too small. MNPEA is already three times larger than the MPLS Firefighter Union. We haven’t had issues speaking with elected officials, their doors are open to us just like the others. The main difference is that we only endorse candidates if 70% or more of our members are in agreement. We report relevant information concerning political impact on their jobs to our members and let them decide who they want to support and/or vote for like adults. We don’t badger them with endless phone calls and mailings, wasting their dues money and time. Our members consider such behavior on the part of unions to be intrusive and insulting to their intelligence.
He then went on to say that people don’t have a voice with MNPEA and our 3 staff members. In fact our bylaws allow the members to over-ride Executive Board Decisions on grievances they want taken to arbitration if the Board isn’t recommending it! If 70% of the members in a bargaining unit want to arbitrate anyway we do it. He also said that we make promises we can’t keep! WE MAKE IT VERY CLEAR THAT WE CAN’T PROMISE BETTER CONTRACTS ETC, just that we’ll work harder and return all calls etc. What we do promise are $39 per month union dues through 2016 . No hidden costs. We invite Stewards to our Board meetings and if we ever need to raise dues they will be part of the decision process and we must have the members vote in the increase. We hold Steward elections after each contract is negotiated and approved by the members. The AFSCME groups up in the ARC that came to us were flabbergasted! All of the positions there were appointed under AFSCME!
Both Teamsters and AFSCME representatives have claimed that we aren’t elected. We started this association from scratch and are the first Executive Board Members. Our bylaws provide for elections just like theirs. All of the groups that have come to us elected to do so. That’s the process through the MN Bureau Of Mediation. Before I retired from Teamsters Local 320 myself, our President Dave Deal and several members ran against their Executive Board in the Teamsters Delegate Election in 2011 and WE WON! None of the 320 Board Members, Agents and members running with them got to go. WE represented the Teamster members at the convention. This had never happened to an existing Teamster Executive Board before. Change can be had if you have the courage and conviction to stand up, which we did and continue to do. Don’t let the big unions intimidate you, they’re not tough guys like some of them pretend to be unless lazy is the new tough LoL! You deserve better.
AFSCME is currently spending their member’s dues money paying several people to take off work and replacing their wages while they come out to places of work and member’s homes to spread lies about MNPEA. They are doing mailings, emails, home visits and phone calls 7 days a week. Many of the mailings and flyers have no author listed! Not much due process when anonymous letters and rumors lead the procession. The lies for the most part are down right childish. Silly things like your contract doesn’t go with you. You’ll lose your job. Anyone can call the MN Bureau Of Mediation, the State Agency that handles union and employer affairs, and ask them how things really work.http://mn.gov/bms/index.
One of the things big unions aren’t telling their members is how many paying members they have lost in Right To Work States. For example in Wisconsin AFSCME went from over 50,000 paying members to under 15,000! AFSCME wants to blame conservatives for their condition. NO! It’s the lack of service and the high monthly dues that are the downfall of big unions. We hear this constantly from workers calling us wanting to leave their outdated Neanderthal unions. Meanwhile Officers and Agents working for the big unions continue to receive multiple salaries and retirements. They continue to hold extravagant conferences around the country where they stay at fancy hotels with free drinks and food etc. It’s like the rats at the top are stealing everything they can before their ships sink.
We have a new vision for the 21st century instead of the archaic 1950s model the large unions use. 24/7 Legal Defense for our members and their spouses. Including not just Licensed Peace Officers but all public employee members! If a legal issue arises outside of work you call our attorneys. If your employer wants to question you and it can lead to discipline we send an attorney to represent you. We also have open financial dealings. Try to get the spending facts including “Miscellaneous Expenditures” from the big unions. It’s a very sad time in America when big union Executive Boards are corrupt as or worse than many corporate Executives Boards. Good luck to working Americans with that scenario.
You can chose to allow the same old same old or you can stand up and demand change. We are prepared to debate any big union officers, agents, employees etc anytime. Let them try to slander us and lie about us in a public forum. We’ll tell you what really goes on in these organizations and what they really do with your dues money and a whole lot more. Check us out at www.Mnpea.com.
Thank you for your time,
Mike Golen
MNPEA Director
Because of our ongoing organizing of public groups in Minnesota there have been numerous rumors and statements originating from a couple of big unions about who we are, what we promise and what our service to members is. Here are some of the things being said and our response.
In a recent letter from the President of Local 82, AFL-CIO (MPLS Firefighters Union) he starts with the statement that MNPEA has been comparing itself to the AFL-CIO and AFSCME. Neither I nor the other Officers of MNPEA have ever compared ourselves to them. Why would we? They represent most of the things wrong with the Labor Movement in the 21st century. When I was President of Local 320 Teamster President James Hoffa, after years of requests from Teamster members and officers to leave the AFL-CIO, finally took a vote among the top two officers of all the Teamsters Locals. The desire was overwhelming to leave and we did. In the 34 years I've been involved in MN unions as a member, agent and officer, I have watched AFSCME roll over in contract negotiations time and again. Our members and many of theirs have voiced the same opinion. While the Teamsters left the AFL-CIO, they kept a non-raid pact with AFSCME or we would have had several of their groups cross over to Teamsters. Until MNPEA there has been a monopoly on most public jobs in MN by AFSCME and Teamsters.
He also stated that MNPEA doesn’t have political clout because we’re too small. MNPEA is already three times larger than the MPLS Firefighter Union. We haven’t had issues speaking with elected officials, their doors are open to us just like the others. The main difference is that we only endorse candidates if 70% or more of our members are in agreement. We report relevant information concerning political impact on their jobs to our members and let them decide who they want to support and/or vote for like adults. We don’t badger them with endless phone calls and mailings, wasting their dues money and time. Our members consider such behavior on the part of unions to be intrusive and insulting to their intelligence.
He then went on to say that people don’t have a voice with MNPEA and our 3 staff members. In fact our bylaws allow the members to over-ride Executive Board Decisions on grievances they want taken to arbitration if the Board isn’t recommending it! If 70% of the members in a bargaining unit want to arbitrate anyway we do it. He also said that we make promises we can’t keep! WE MAKE IT VERY CLEAR THAT WE CAN’T PROMISE BETTER CONTRACTS ETC, just that we’ll work harder and return all calls etc. What we do promise are $39 per month union dues through 2016 . No hidden costs. We invite Stewards to our Board meetings and if we ever need to raise dues they will be part of the decision process and we must have the members vote in the increase. We hold Steward elections after each contract is negotiated and approved by the members. The AFSCME groups up in the ARC that came to us were flabbergasted! All of the positions there were appointed under AFSCME!
Both Teamsters and AFSCME representatives have claimed that we aren’t elected. We started this association from scratch and are the first Executive Board Members. Our bylaws provide for elections just like theirs. All of the groups that have come to us elected to do so. That’s the process through the MN Bureau Of Mediation. Before I retired from Teamsters Local 320 myself, our President Dave Deal and several members ran against their Executive Board in the Teamsters Delegate Election in 2011 and WE WON! None of the 320 Board Members, Agents and members running with them got to go. WE represented the Teamster members at the convention. This had never happened to an existing Teamster Executive Board before. Change can be had if you have the courage and conviction to stand up, which we did and continue to do. Don’t let the big unions intimidate you, they’re not tough guys like some of them pretend to be unless lazy is the new tough LoL! You deserve better.
AFSCME is currently spending their member’s dues money paying several people to take off work and replacing their wages while they come out to places of work and member’s homes to spread lies about MNPEA. They are doing mailings, emails, home visits and phone calls 7 days a week. Many of the mailings and flyers have no author listed! Not much due process when anonymous letters and rumors lead the procession. The lies for the most part are down right childish. Silly things like your contract doesn’t go with you. You’ll lose your job. Anyone can call the MN Bureau Of Mediation, the State Agency that handles union and employer affairs, and ask them how things really work.http://mn.gov/bms/index.
One of the things big unions aren’t telling their members is how many paying members they have lost in Right To Work States. For example in Wisconsin AFSCME went from over 50,000 paying members to under 15,000! AFSCME wants to blame conservatives for their condition. NO! It’s the lack of service and the high monthly dues that are the downfall of big unions. We hear this constantly from workers calling us wanting to leave their outdated Neanderthal unions. Meanwhile Officers and Agents working for the big unions continue to receive multiple salaries and retirements. They continue to hold extravagant conferences around the country where they stay at fancy hotels with free drinks and food etc. It’s like the rats at the top are stealing everything they can before their ships sink.
We have a new vision for the 21st century instead of the archaic 1950s model the large unions use. 24/7 Legal Defense for our members and their spouses. Including not just Licensed Peace Officers but all public employee members! If a legal issue arises outside of work you call our attorneys. If your employer wants to question you and it can lead to discipline we send an attorney to represent you. We also have open financial dealings. Try to get the spending facts including “Miscellaneous Expenditures” from the big unions. It’s a very sad time in America when big union Executive Boards are corrupt as or worse than many corporate Executives Boards. Good luck to working Americans with that scenario.
You can chose to allow the same old same old or you can stand up and demand change. We are prepared to debate any big union officers, agents, employees etc anytime. Let them try to slander us and lie about us in a public forum. We’ll tell you what really goes on in these organizations and what they really do with your dues money and a whole lot more. Check us out at www.Mnpea.com.
Thank you for your time,
Mike Golen
MNPEA Director
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