AFSCME in your kitchen

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Knock, knock

The Hennepin County Workhouse Corrections Officers are strongly considering joining the MNPEA. The advantage would be that rather than being lumped in with the non-essentials as AFSCME always does, they would finally bargain as essential employees. The Hennepin County ACF Corrections Officers and the Hennepin County Detention Deputies could bargain as the majority of the Essential Hennepin County Employees and it wouldn't matter what the non-essentials settled for.

 AFSCME Union reps are calling our members and even knocking on our doors. Scared? They should be. All of the Arrowhead AFSCME corrections groups have already joined MNPEA. .See the full list of MNPEA groups  here. Of course one must wonder where they got a list of Corrections Officers names, addresses and phone numbers. Also, in States like Wisconsin over 40% of AFSCME's bargaining units went FAIR SHARE. Why? They don't represent their members. While AFSCME members have endured wage freezes and cuts, AFSCME CEO's, er Leaders took hefty salaries. For instance,.Intl. President Gerald Mcentee made a cool $1,121,988 in 2012. Go to Union Facts.com to see all of their salaries. You'll get the point.

Let's compare representation:

MNPEA Dues - $39 a month, including the Legal Protection

AFSCME Dues-1.5% taken out of every check.

MNPEA Legal Plan- Full on and Off Duty protection, no extra cost.

AFSCME-NO LEGAL DEFENSE! As a Corrections Officer why would you risk criminal and legal action out of your pocket? Especially in the era of the PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act).

MNPEA, Attorneys at Internal Affairs interviews

AFSCME, Not

MNPEA, Attorneys at Step 2 Grievances

AFSCME, Not

MNPEA, 24 hour hotline. Attorneys available for all critical incidents, day and night.

AFSCME, Not

Maybe AFSCME should spend less on CEO size salaries and politicians and more on members.

Workhouse Corrections Officers, every contract they force you to bargain with non-essential employees. By law, you could have bargained separately, and should have. As essentials you have no right to strike, instead you have the right to binding arbitration. AFSCME has NEVER arbitrated your contract.

One more point. For years us Detention Deputies wanted to be in the same bargaining unit as the Workhouse CO's. We had two obstacles. Teamsters Local 320 and AFSCME. They had a "no raid" clause and required whoever decertified the one to go a full year non-union before joining the other. Get rid of the last obstetrical. Join MNPEA!

Arbitrator Picked

The Arbitrator has been picked for the Sick Time Grievance. It is former Hennepin County Judge Harry S. Crump.  I will keep you posted on the date. The issue is that the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office arbitrarily created a 96 hour sick time limit in June of 2011 without negotiating it, then enforced it retroactively one year. Since then people have been written up for taking sick family members to hospitals, pregnancies even using fitness for health!!

The weird part is, is that at a time the County became self insured the Sheriff's Office is forcing people to go to the doctor on monitored sick leave.

The contract is clear on what you can use sick time for, not how much can be used.

IN THE NEWS

Corrections Corporation of America Loses Four Prison Contracts This Month

This is an interesting read. Private prisons billing the State for posts they weren't manning.

What happens when Internal Affairs is Wrong?

What happens when Internal Affairs is wrong?

Well, it just cost the California Department of Corrections about $1,000,000 and "Now the California Correctional Peace Officers Association wants the investigators investigated."

Full story here: The Sacramento Bee

I've been a Union Steward probably longer then a lot of you have been in Corrections. I've sat in Internal Affairs investigations where they were just fact finding, but I've also sat in ones where it appeared there was a pre-determined outcome they were steering towards. 

I also have personally been involved on two occasions when our own Internal Affairs has violated our members Garrity Rights. 

I can only advise, never go to Internal Affairs without contacting our MNPEA attorneys. If you get a letter to go to I.A. call 651 287-8883. Do not go alone. 

Do not be pressured to give a statement without representation because they are in a hurry. It is your contractual and legal right.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/04/5468605/judge-says-witnesses-evidence.html#storylink=cpy

Results of Steward Election

The following members were elected Steward in the Hennepin County Detention Deputies Unit:

       1.  Phil Miles

       2.  Wade Lazlo

       3.  Ben Ebbers

       4.  Jason Herlitz

       5.  Mike Smith

       6.  Newton D'Taillefer

       7.Ted Westerdahl

Thanks for your support. We are here for you!

May MNPEA member meeting

There is a MNPEA member meeting

on Thursday, May 9 at 6 PM

2233 N Hamline Ave 

Roseville, MN 55113

The meeting will be in the basement meeting room by the swimming pool.

MNPEA also is passing on that it is National Correctional Officers Week.

We also would like to welcome the Edina Police Dispatchers Unit!

Steward Election Ballots

Look in your mail boxes. Union Steward election ballots will be in all MNPEA member boxes. Choose up to 7 names.

March 15th Grievance Hearing

Today our attorney, a grievant and myself met with the employer for a Step 2 Grievance hearing regarding the 16 hour rule and the Tattoo issue.

16 Hour Grievance: This arose because a night shift deputy was written up for violating the 16 hour rule, when in reality he hadn't. As you know we are not allowed to work more than 16 hours of overtime in a seven day period.

He worked 16 hours between a Thursday and the following Wednesday. He then signed up and worked the first 4 hours on a Friday. Because a night shift begins at 10:30 PM and runs until 6:30 AM, the payroll system counted it as if he worked it on Thursday rather then Friday he signed up for. Never mind the same system correctly paid him for the same thing a couple of months ago.

Management has 10 days to make a decision. I think our case was well presented.

The Tattoo issue: There's nothing that doesn't make my stomach churn about this. The Union position is that this is a new condition of employment and therefore needs to be negotiated. Per our Agreement.

The employer position is that Sheriff Stanek has the right to set grooming standards, per a lawsuit Sheriff Omodt won in District Court in the 80's over mustaches and fingernails. Therefore they believe, the Sheriff has the authority, they won't hear the grievance and if we want to pursue it we can go to court.

The Union position is that Tattoos are not "grooming," and therefore should be negotiated as a condition of employment.

I did bring up our displeasure at the fact that the Detention Deputy they let go under the Tattoo policy was denied unemployment because the County told the State Unemployment Office she was "fired for misconduct." The County said that she has since appealed and is now receiving unemployment.

So here we stand.

Reminder:

The sheet to self nominate for a Union Steward Position is up on the bulletin board until March 23rd. Get involved!

The jail experience from a customer point of view

This blog post was forwarded to me. It's a first hand account of a blogger who had the misfortune of getting a "tour" of our facility. He describes his experience from the squad car on. It's entertaining, accurate and enlightening from a jailer's perspective. The writer is not a regular, just a guy who didn't take care of some business and ended up at our facility.

I encourage you to read it and smile:

So I Went to Jail Last Night.

Wait there's more (I got the link from the first comment on this post):

So I Went to Jail Last Night: Bonus Track

Tattoo Gate-Hennepin County Sheriff's Office

This is a real life example of my Semper Fi Don't Apply post.  Star Tribune reporter, Rochelle Olson wrote a story about Ryan Stevens and several other Hennepin County Sheriff's Office applicants who were turned away simply because of the new "no visible Tattoo" policy. 

From what the article presented, Mr. Stevens seems an ideal candidate. He already works in the field as a Corrections Officer with the Minnesota Department of Corrections and has a degree in Law Enforcement. 

Our Union, the Minnesota Public Employees Association (MNPEA) has an active grievance against the Sheriff's Office regarding this policy. The reason being that Sheriff Stanek has suddenly made Tattoos a condition of employment without negotiating it in violation of our contract. Unfortunately, unilateral action without regard to the contract seems to be a hallmark of this administration.

Sheriff Stanek's Personal Information Officer is quoted in the Star Tribune article saying in response to the Tattoo issue: 

"Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lisa Kiava said the priority is the safety of the people in the jail. About 70 percent of the male inmates have used illegal narcotics in the hours before they are arrested and some are drunk while they are being booked. She said another 30 percent are mentally ill.

"We are working with a challenging population," she said"

What the hell kind of response is that? The Sheriff's Office response doesn't even address the issue. Maybe the Sheriff is still stuck in gun control talking points mode. 

Many of us long term Detention Deputies and the Licensed Deputies have ink. It's never been an issue. The article even states that the Sheriff's Office is the only Hennepin County Department with such a policy. It's not an issue at the County Workhouse or Juvenile Center. This appears to be Sheriff Stanek's personal issue.

Policies such as this will only make it increasingly difficult to hire good people. The Sheriff's Office must already overcome the fact that the Hennepin County jail has the lowest starting pay of any seven county metro area jail (even though it's the largest and most dangerous), employees must pay a lot of money to park downtown and the current schedule makes it almost impossible to get weekends off until an employee has been there for five years.

Good luck Mr. Stevens, you seem a good candidate and I'm sure you'll find a good job in the field. The loss is on the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office that let a potentially good employee slip away over something as trivial as tattoos.

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.

MNPEA Member Meeting

MNPEA MEETING

THURSDAY DECEMBER 13, 2012

6PM, FOOD WILL BE PROVIDED

2233 N Hamline Ave 
Suite 603 
PO Box 131143
Roseville, MN 55113

Welcome East Bethel and White Bear Lake PD

Welcome City of East Bethel Public Employees and White Bear Lake PD to the MNPEA family. 

As an aside I find it interesting that over one year after we left Teamsters Local 320 they continue weird online attacks against me on their websites. 

If they spent more time servicing their members and less time attacking former members maybe they wouldn't keep losing groups like East Bethel. 

Perspective/Priorities

$2,000 a year in additional compensation for the Hennepin County Board, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek-No problem!


$417,000 for ONE vehicle for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office-No problem!

$25,000,000 CASH for downtown office building-No problem!

Modest raise for Hennepin County Detention Deputies who have had no raise since 2008 and now are dead last in the area for starting wages in their field? DENIED! 

*The MNPEA asked for a 1.5% Market Adjustment, a 1.5% Cost of Living Raise and Steps for 2012..The total increase for the Detention Deputy bargaining unit would have come to only $143,298.

Hennepin County Artbitration Award

Congratulations Hennepin County on winning your Arbitration with the Detention Deputies, Techs, Dispatch and Crime Lab Techs. You have the honor of running the LARGEST, BUSIEST AND MOST DANGEROUS JAIL IN MINNESOTA AND HAVE THE DISTINCTION OF THE LOWEST STARTING PAY AND THE THIRD LOWEST TOP PAY!

This is the award from Arbitrator Mary Jo Schiavoni:   Arbitration Award 

There hasn't been a cost of living raise since 2008 and no step increases for new hires since 2010. This has caused us, the largest jail in Minnesota, to fall to dead last in starting pay and our people remain there for years! The MNPEA asked for a 1.5% Market Adjustment, a 1.5% Cost of Living Raise and Steps for 2012.

Some highlights:

While, the County acknowledges that it has the ability to pay, it argues that it 
should not have to pay given the state of its finances and the economy. The MNPEA 
argues that  the County cannot use the excuse of a weak economy to justify its zero 
percent offer when it weathered the recession with a budget surplus and growing cash 
reserves.  The previous history of wage freezes has moved Hennepin County to the 
lowest starting wage of any metro area county and it now ranks dead last compared to the 4
Met Council 7 County Metro counties in starting detention wages.


Some interesting findings of the Arbitrator are that,


There is no question that the County has the money to meet the MNPEA’s 
requested increases inasmuch as it would constitute a minor percentage of the County’s 
overall budget.

and,

Even recognizing that  four of the non-essential units have not settled for the 
County’s offer, four other essential units represented by AFSCME and Teamsters and 
independent units of Sheriff’s and Social Service Supervisors have accepted the wage 
freeze and $500 lump sum.  There are correctional employees in those bargaining units 
whose job positions are very similar, if not identical, to those of the Detention Deputy 
position in this unit.  It is difficult to conclude that the employees in this particular 
bargaining unit are entitled to more than those similarly situated from an equity 
standpoint.  This has established, as the County argues, a strong internal pattern favoring 
the County’s position.  

So the AFSCME Workhouse CO's and the TEAMSTER Juvenile Center CO's hurt everyone by rolling over, yet again! No wonder we left the Teamsters!


With respect to market  considerations in  recruiting and  turnover for this 
bargaining unit, the MNPEA has not been able to establish that the County is having any 
serious difficulty in the recruiting or retention of bargaining unit employees under the 
current wage schedule.

As of today 25% of the Detention Deputies hired a few short weeks ago have quit to work for better paying jobs in other departments!

So again, congratulations Hennepin County. I'm sure the results of this victory will be less staff, lower morale  and more overtime.

The estimated cost to Hennepin County for the MNPEA proposal was $143,298.  At a cost of about $25,000 to hire and train a new employee I'm sure that savings will be gone in a couple of months.

Let me put this in perspective. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office spent over $400,000 on one vehicle last year.

MNPEA Bargaining Units

This is a list of all of the bargaining units who have joined MNPEA. Check back as this list is growing!

Ada Police

Albert Lea Police

Arrowhead Regional Corrections, Essentials

Arrowhead Regional Corrections, Non-Essential

Blue Earth County Corrections & Sgts

Carver County Deputies

City of East Bethel

City of Jordan Clerical

Dakota County Corrections Supervisors

Faribault County Corrections & Dispatch

Freeborn County Deputies

Freeborn County Sgts

Glencoe Police

Hennepin County Corrections & Dispatch

Hutchinson Police

Lakeville Police

McCleod County Corrections & Dispatch

McCleod County Deputies

Mendota Heights Police Sgts

Mille Lacs County Sheriff, Supervisors

Norman County Sheriff, Essentials

Owatonna Police Corporals

Owatonna Police Sgts

Rice County Deputies

Rice County Sgts

Sibley County Sheriff, Essentials

University of Minnesota Police

Washington County Corrections & Dispatch

White Bear Lake Police

Wilkin County Deputies

Wilkin County Corrections & Dispatch

Winthrop Police

Welcome newest MNPEA members!

I'd like to welcome aboard the two latest groups to join MNPEA:

The Arrowhead Regional Corrections Board, Essential Employees and the Hutchinson Police Officers.