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TEA WW Bargaining chair and our TEA's attorney attended the Joint Labor Management Insurance Committee (JLMIC) meeting on June 12. In this meeting, labor negotiators for TEA and for Total Compensation confirmed the obligation for the County to bargain medical benefits with the JLMIC, as well as total compensation coalition unions.
The TEA WW Bargaining Team will be meeting with the Director of Labor Relations, Megan Pedersen, on Monday, June 18. We will also be mediating our WW Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Tuesday, June 19. TEA WW Bargaining Team will report on the results of these meetings at the TEA Regular Meeting at noon to 1:00, Wednesday, June 20 in KSC 4-C or Skype in at phone # (206)263-8114, Conference ID 211561.
The WW Bargaining Team extends a big thank you to all of those who have expressed their support to us, and promoted membership engagement during this difficult time in negotiations.
Many TEA WW members have been asking us questions about the Master Labor Agreement emails sent out by Wastewater finance on June 14. TEA would like to make very explicit that TEA WW staff and supervisors are not subject to the terms of the MLA and the email announcements do not apply to TEA.
It has been presented to the TEA Board that the JLMIC agreement authorizing the administration of the VEBA Benefit is expired. TEA has also confirmed with its legal counsel that TEA should not participate in imposing VEBA retirement account requirement on its members until such time as a new agreement is negotiated. As part of this new negotiation, the issues around the VEBA "benefit" can be fully vetted out. Please come to the June 20 TEA Regular Meeting to discuss a proposal to the TEA Board to notify the King County Office of Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations that TEA is withdrawing from the program until such time as such a requirement is part of the TEA Collective Bargaining Contracts.
Jacob Sheppard is requesting leave donations.
Anyone wishing to donate leave time should complete a leave donation form-- http://www.kingcounty.gov/audience/employees/benefits/leaves.aspx --then submit the form to the respective Human Resources department for processing. Please review the donor requirements at the webpage above, or on the form itself.
In September 2017, the King County Executive announced a proposal to remake the Metro Transit Division into its own Department. The planning for the change began in late 2017. A series of workgroups within Transit resulted in a number of recommendations that were presented to the General Manager and leadership team in February 2018. The latest milestone was creating and presenting the budgets needed to move forward and to begin making changes to meet the Jan.1st, 2019 goal of completing the "Division to Department" (d2D) process. The proposed reorganization will affect union bargaining units and collective agreements. The Transit Division has recently retained Ceci Mena as a Labor Strategist to begin the process of identifying the possible impacts to labor organizations, agreements, and members. Town halls will be organized to provide information, and receive input.
TEA's annual meeting is when members elect officers to the TEA Board for two-year terms. Watch this space for upcoming information on the process of nominating members for the positions of President, Vice President, and Secretary. We urge new members especially to consider running for positions or volunteering in other ways in the election, counting of ballots, and other activities to support your labor organization. It is a great way to meet new people, understand the history of this labor organization and the many hundreds of hours over the past years that have been contributed to the representation of members in bargaining collective agreements, pursuing grievances and holding the County accountable for unfair labor practices.
Information on how the elections are conducted is contained in Article IX of the bylaws. The revised bylaws that members will be asked to approve at the annual meeting includes some revisions to the process to plan, execute, and document the election process. The TEA Times will present that recommended process for planning and documenting in the next issue, with the goal of following the recommendations as closely as is feasible since the changes are intended to make the process more transparent and accountable.
The Bylaws Committee the committee edited the bylaws in accordance with review by Jim Cline, TEA's legal counsel. The revised bylaws will be sent and/or presented to members for review within the next two months. The membership will be asked to vote on the revised bylaws at the annual meeting in September.
The DRC has completed its work of projecting future revenues from TEA dues and initiation fees. The DRC presented the findings to the TEA Board in April and May. The next step is to present the findings to the Council of Representatives and to seek input from legal counsel and other unions about the amount of reserve funds that is recommended for a union of TEA's size. For more information, contact Sally Turner, Treasurer.
TEA Board
Alton Gaskill, President
Michael Sands, Vice President
Gillian Zacharias, Secretary
Sally Turner, Treasurer
Roger Browne, Wastewater Bargaining Chair
Jerry Williams, Transit Bargaining Chair
Ken Madden, Council of Representatives Chair