·2009 Team MAPE Legislative Report - The 2009 Legislative Session ended last week.
For the third consecutive year, there will be no special session and no
government shutdown. However, no comprehensive budget agreement was reached
between the Legislature and the Governor. While the legislative session did not
end as well as some had hoped, MAPE was successful in preventing debilitating
cuts, increasing recognition for MAPE through our cost-saving ideas, and
coordinating our legislative and contract campaign efforts. Thank you MAPE
members for the key role you played in these accomplishments!
·Governor Pawlenty, seat our Senator! On June 1st, the Minnesota State Supreme Court
will hear Coleman's arguments. The minute the decision comes down, Minnesotans
will be rallying to show Gov. Pawlenty that the election over and we need two
Senators. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
ABOUT THE "SEAT OUR SENATOR" RALLY.
·Watch for your MAPE contract ballot in the
mail. Contract ballots will be
mailed by May 29th. MAPE members are being asked to ratify a new two-year
contract agreement. The tentative agreement was unanimously recommended for
approval to the Board by the MAPE Negotiations Team and supported unanimously
by the MAPE Board of Directors. Ballots must be sent back to the special Post
Office box set up for this election by June 19th and will be counted on June
22nd.
·Please check seniority rosters to make sure
your information is accurate. The seniority rosters that are being produced by agencies now will
be the rosters used for any layoff activity during the upcoming biennium
beginning on July 1, 2009. Now is the time to check the rosters to determine if
the hire or promotion dates listed for your classification(s) are correct. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
·Advanced, basic steward training
courses scheduled for August. MAPE members have
opportunities to participate in the basic and advanced steward training courses
in August of 2009.Basic steward training will be held on August 4th. The
two-day, advanced steward training course will be held Aug. 12-13. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
TWO PEOPLE ARE STANDING
IN THE WAY OF MOVING AMERICA FORWARD: NORM COLEMAN and TIM PAWLENTY
On June 1st, the Minnesota State Supreme Court will
hear Coleman’s arguments. The minute the decision comes down, we must
show Gov. Pawlenty that the election IS OVER.
COME JOIN TOGETHER WITH
THOUSANDS OF MINNESOTANS IN SENDING A MESSAGE TO PAWLENTY TO SIGN THE ELECTION
CERTIFICATE AND SEAT OUR SENATOR
WHERE: Steps of the Minnesota
State Capital
WHEN: Noon the day after the
Supreme Court’s decision is announced. Events will continue all
afternoon, so if you are working, make sure you come down after work.
More information about the events will be posted on the Minnesota
AFL-CIO website as soon as the court rules: www.mnaflcio.org. Keep your eyes
out for another EMAIL that same day. Please forward this far and wide.
The 2009 Legislative Session ended on time on May 18th. For the third consecutive
year, there will be no special session and no government shutdown. However, no comprehensive budget agreement was
reached between the Legislature and the Governor.
Team MAPE has compiled a comprehensive 2009 Legislative Report.
The 2009 Legislative Session ended at midnight
last night. For the third consecutive year, there will be no
special session and no government shutdown. However, no
comprehensive budget agreement was reached between the
Legislature and the Governor.
Thank you to all MAPE members that contacted your elected
officials! While the legislative session did not end as
well as some had hoped, MAPE was successful in preventing
debilitating cuts, increasing recognition for MAPE through our
cost-saving ideas, and coordinating our legislative and contract
campaign efforts. Thank you MAPE members for the key role you
played in these accomplishments!
MAPE played a key
role in end of session negotiations. MAPE Legislative
Affairs Director Richard Kolodziejski testified at midnight
Saturday in front of the Legislative Commission on Planning and
Fiscal Policy about millions of dollars in cost saving measures
that could help solve the budget crisis. The DFL used the
cost-savings MAPE uncovered in their negotiations with the
Governor. Kolodziejski agreed the proposals would help save over
$169 million, which would help reduce the deficit.
Huge success: MAPE member to elected official contacts
increased significantly. Often times, we were able to
generate hundreds of legislative contacts in a matter of hours.
In the case of the Moose Lake prison privatization issue, your
contacts played a significant role in affecting the legislative
process. Thank you to all MAPE members kept up the pressure on
our legislators this year! CLICK
HERE FOR A BREAK-DOWN OR OUR 2009 LEGISLATIVE CONTACT
STATISTICS.
Contract Issue Coordination - Right in the midst of
the legislative session, we also succeeded in reaching a
contract agreement with the state sooner than ever before. The
legislative and contract negotiation processes are intrinsically
linked. We effortlessly synced the two, helping us succeed in
both arenas.
Early in session we worked to defeat pay freeze
legislation. This legislation would have tied our hands at the
bargaining table.
For the first time ever, nearly every member of the MAPE
negotiations team attended Team MAPE Day on the Hill.
We used Day on the Hill and other activities to keep
legislators updated on what was happening in our negotiations
process.
We helped to defeat furloughs in negotiations by showing
that, in the end, furloughs would actually cost the state money.
Legislators were very interested to learn this information.
The early end to the negotiations process assisted
legislators in preparing agency budgets and finance bills.
The cost saving ideas put forth during the negotiations
process were shown to the Legislature and eventually became
fodder for end-of-session discussions with the Governor.
Thank you to all MAPE members who contacted
your legislators throughout the session! Stay tuned for a more
detailed review of the session and its impact on MAPE members.
Throughout the entire legislative session, MAPE members did a tremendous job relentlessly contacting their elected officials.
Team MAPE made of 6,000 member-to-elected official contacts.
We had our most successful Day on the Hill ever with over 200 attendees.
We were able to mobilize over 100 members to attend the Invest in Minnesota Rally in the final days of the session.
Often times, we were able to generate hundreds of legislative contacts in a matter of hours. In the case of the Moose Lake prison privatization issue; your contacts played a significant role in affecting the legislative process.
Thank you to all MAPE members that kept up the pressure on our legislators this year!
MAPE succeeded in
helping to pass a measure expanding the vacation donation program to allow
employees to donate 40 hours of vacation to an eligible recipient and the
recipient to immediately accept hours when they stopped receiving wages.
MAPE worked to prevent
IT outsourcing, despite a provision to the State Government Finance omnibus
bill which will require the CIO of the Office of Enterprise Technology, in
consultation with heads of other executive agencies, to report to legislative
committee chairs with a plan to transfer from other state agencies to the OET
state employees who work in the following areas areas: development, upgrading,
replacement, help desk, problem resolution, or maintenance of state data
centers, system software, data networks, servers, workstations and office system.
MAPE helped to
defeat all proposals to end the Corrections Early Retirement Benefit (CERP). The proposal made by
Governor Pawlenty to remove MAPE employees from the corrections employee
retirement plan was removed from the Public Safety and Health and Human Service
omnibus bills. The Governor has now signed both bills. Thus, any changes
to the CERP benefit have been avoided for this session.
MAPE was successful
in defeating attempts to privatize the Moose Lake Correctional Facility. In
just one day, MAPE members made 279 member-to-legislator contacts to express
opposition to HF 1280 – the bill relating to the privatization. The author of the bill, Rep. Torrey Westrom
specifically cited the communications he received as his reason to cancel a key
hearing on the subject.
MAPE helped to
defeat a bill which would have eliminated state tree nurseries and selected
fish hatcheries over the next five years. This would have meant a loss of MAPE jobs.
Looking for ways to solve the current budget deficit impasse, legislative leaders asked MAPE late Saturday night to testify about the cost-saving measures MAPE recently proposed.
Around midnight on Saturday night, MAPE Legislative Affairs Director Richard Kolodziejski was called to testify in the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy. Kolodziejski explained where the savings would come from and how the state could go about collecting uncollected revenues.
MAPE was directly identified multiple times as the source of the cost-saving suggestions.
The package of cost-savings was first presented to the state as part of contract negotiations. Facts gathered as part of this process were used to show, for example, that furloughs would actually cost the state money. This information helped MAPE to push back against state attempts to force us off our jobs and helped us to reach a contract agreement with the state that was later unanimously supported by our board of directors.
Governor Pawlenty has now signed the State Government Omnibus bill. Therefore the following provisions are now law:
A measure expanding the vacation donation program to allow
employees to donate 40 hours of vacation to an eligible recipient and
the recipient to immediately accept hours when they stopped receiving
wages.
This provision will allow a state employee who
is a veteran with a service-related disability to apply to their appointing
authority for up to an additional 40 hours
of sick leave to receive treatment for their disability.
Among other actions, this part of the State Government Finance omnibus bill will require the CIO of the Office of Enterprise
Technology, in consultation with heads of other executive agencies,
to file a report to the chairs and ranking
members of legislative committees on state
government, a plan to transfer from other
state agencies to the OET state employees who work in the following areas areas: development, upgrading,
replacement, help desk, problem resolution,
or maintenance of state data centers, system software, data networks,
servers, workstations and office systems.
The proposal made by Governor Pawlenty
to remove MAPE employees from the corrections employee retirement plan was removed from the Public Safety and Health and Human Service
omnibus bills. The Governor has now signed both bills. Therefore, any changes to the CERP benefit have been avoided for this session.
MAPE is part of the Coalition for Working
Families that produced this ad in conjunction with our partners. The ad
asks to people to contact Governor Pawlenty and ask him to protect the
services people need most in tough times.
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