All Facilities/Maintenance Operation Employees that are at 80% salaries will return to full 100% salary starting July 1, 2012.  Your first paycheck reflecting 100% will include six days at 80% and four days at 100% rate.  This is due to the pay period having six days in June and four days in July.  Your next pay period and all after that will reflect 100% salary.  There are no changes at this time for ITS Employees.

Rolando Sardinas/Business Agent

 

DCSMEC is happy to announce and welcome Brent Goins as Yard Representative for MC2 replacing Rolando Sardinas.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Please make a note that our Regular Membership meeting will be held at Ronald W. Regan High School, 8600 NW 107 Avenue, Miami, FL  33178 in the School Auditorium commencing at 4:30pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012.

Please make every effort to attend.

Fraternally,

Joe Cortese

Rep. Chris Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, on Monday sold his bill that would prohibit payroll deduction of union dues for public workers and require annual approval to use dues for political purposes as one that will “empower” union members. That claim prompted derision from union leaders and Democrats, but the bill was approved by the Republican-heavy House Appropriations committee. It now heads to the House floor. Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, is sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate.

Dorworth said he doesn’t believe governments should be in the business of handling payroll deductions for union dues. That can be taken care of by private vendors, he said. And the written approval for political expenditures, he said, gives individual union members control over how their money is spent.

Democrats criticized the move as politically motivated and a waste of time.

“How many jobs is it going to create? How is it going to reduce our deficit? What is the public good that’s going to be served by this bill?” asked Franklin Sands, a Democrat from Weston who earned applause for calling Dorworth’s proposal a “union busting” bill.

House Democratic leaders Ron Saunders from Key West pledged to make a stink about the politics at play when the bill comes up for debate on the House floor. “Why are we here on a bill that is supposedly to protect union members and not a single union member has spoken in support of it?” Saunders said. “I don’t see the reason for this bill.”

Indeed, as has happened as the proposal has been discussed in recent weeks, several union members expressed outrage and disgust for the measure.

“I don’t know who everyone thinks the union is. The union is the membership. They vote to take positions. They vote to spend their money on things. And if they don’t want to, they opt out of it,” said Lisa Henning, legislative director for the state Fraternal Order of Police. The bill, she said, “is a true blue attempt at shutting us up.”

Others called attention to the bill’s staff analysis, which concluded it would be more difficult for unions to collect dues.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/union-dues-bill-headed-house-floor

Florida AFL-CIO

Legislative Brief

A snapshot view of the Florida Legislature’s activities for the week of:

3/07/11 – 3/11/11

Week 1 – A really, really tough week

http://www.flaflcio.org / Florida AFL-CIO

Worker Gag Bill – The Florida Legislature has jumped on the national bandwagon in pushing forward with legislation designed to eliminate the voice of our public employee unions.

SB 830 by Sen. Thrasher and HB HB 1021 by Reps. Dorworth and Gaetz(M) would make the following changes to state law regarding how public employee unions operate.

· Dues Deductions – Florida Statute 447.303 currently grants public sector unions the right to have “dues and uniform assessments deducted and collected by the employer from the salaries of those employees who authorize the deduction.” Employees may rescind that deduction at any time through written request to both the employer and Union. These bills make it illegal for any public sector employer to deduct union dues or any other assessments.

· Political Deductions – These bills make it illegal for any employer to deduct COPE funds for “the purpose of political activity, including contributions to a candidate, political party, political committee, committee of continuous existence, electioneering communications organizations, or organizations exempt from taxation under s. 501(c) (4) or s. 527 of the Internal Revenue Code.” Unions will no longer be able to participate in politics through COPE deductions or any other type of voluntary assessment processed by employers.

· Political Participation – These bills create new and onerous requirements for any public employee union to use any money generated by dues for political purposes. Unions will have to get written authorization each year from the membership to use general funds for donations or expenditures for candidates, political committees or issue advocacy. There must also be a detailed account of all of these types of expenditures to the members and if any aspect of all this paperwork is found to be in error, refunds must be processed and sent to the membership.

SB 830 was up in the Senate Community Affairs Committee on Monday afternoon. Dozens of union members, leaders and students gathered outside the committee room, mouths taped shut, in silent protest of this bill that would gag workers across the state of Florida. The goal was to show the media what Florida politics would look like under a regime where the big business lobby was the only game in town. The protest was a great success and garnered good coverage in the media. (For video visit our YouTube site). The committee meeting ended before discussion could begin. It will be heard on Monday, March 14th at 10:15 am. HB 1021 was discussed in the House State Affairs Committee on Thursday, intentionally scheduled during a critical hearing on the state pension system on another floor. Over 60 activists attended the meeting where a small group of representatives from our coalition spoke about the bill. When the last speaker finished, all 60 filed out of the room leaving it empty with the exception of lobbyists from the Florida Chamber of Commerce and other business groups and a few, self-proclaimed “Tea Party” members. A press release regarding this action is available on our website. The measure passed with a 12-6 party-line vote. Its next stop is the House Appropriations Committee.

Teacher “Quality”: SB 736, what most have dubbed the “Son of SB6” passed the full Senate on Wednesday. Here is an account from our brothers and sisters at the Florida Education Association:

After about 2 hours of debate SB 736 – the anti-due process bill known by some as SB 6 Lite – was passed by the Senate by a vote of 26 to 12.

As senators glad-handed each other for what they claim to be a monumental achievement, on-lookers walked away shaking their heads amazed that on the third day of session, one of the most controversial education bills filed this session had traveled through the process at lightning speed. Sure, they gave the appearance of transparency and a deliberative process, but the outcome was a foregone conclusion. This bill was going to pass and it was going to pass early, fast and exactly as they had planned without meaningful changes… even if those changes were rationale and reasonable. As expected, they adopted none of the amendments that would have made the bill better.

We can agree with SB 736 proponents on this much: the current evaluation systems in most districts leave much to be desired, are not helpful to teachers and are basically meaningless. Current evaluations are little more than drive-by observations and a list of things to be checked-off by an administrator. These evaluations do nothing to help a teacher become their very best.

But SB 736 is only slightly better and very flawed. This bill is based on an evaluation system that has not been developed, never been tested, and based on a model that researchers say should only be used as a small part of a comprehensive evaluation – never 50 %! Most disturbing is that this proposed system will be the basis for all decisions about teacher pay and employment.

It is really not about helping struggling students. This bill is about a political agenda set long ago: elimination of due process for teachers. The bill fails to include that crucial element that would really make a difference to our students: timely data to help teachers make decisions to help students succeed, and the support and training for teachers to help them improve their craft.

But wait! That doesn’t matter… teachers will magically get better because Florida is going to pay great teachers far more (although they have no dedicated source of funds) and those horrible slacker teachers will be fired ASAP! Life will be good – kids will be learning, better looking, healthier and Florida will be able to compete in the global economy! Hurray! This bill will professionalize teaching according to Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R- Daytona Beach). Teachers will finally be respected when this bill becomes law!

“Young teachers will come to Florida because we can tell them: we will pay you more for your hard work,” Sen. Flores gushed during debate. What she didn’t mention was there is no new funding available to pay those fresh young faces more. In fact, education is facing huge budget cuts this year. Additionally, those teachers who are still on the ‘grandfathered schedule’ in 2014 will only get the scraps after those on the ‘performance schedule’ get their chunk of change.

Sen. Bill Montford (D-Tallahassee) warned senators “this will collapse upon itself, by its own weight, because of lack of funding.”

Supporters of the bill paint a far rosier picture, but those in the trenches working on the Race to the Top evaluation instruments are telling us there is trouble ahead – key elements of the evaluation process such as the value added model and final evaluation instruments have not been completed. There is no time to test the new system, no time to train administrators to use the system and no time to inform teachers as to how evaluated. The bottom line is: teachers are being asked to accept an untried untested system that will profoundly affect their pay and career on faith.

Voting for the bill: Alexander-R, Altman-R, Benacquisto-R, Bennett-R, Bogdanoff-R, Dean-R, Detert-R, Diaz de la Portilla-R, Evers-R, Fasano-R, Flores-R, Gaetz-R, Garcia-R, Gardiner-R, Hays-R, Latvala-R, Lynn-R, Negron-R, Norman-R, Oelrich-R, Simmons-R, Siplin-D, Storms-R, Thrasher-R, Wise, and Haridopols-R

Voting against the bill: Braynon-D, Dockery-R, Hill-D, Jones-R, Joyner-D, Margolis-D, Montford-D, Rich-D, Ring-D, Sachs-D, Smith-D and Sobel-D

At the same time SB 736 was being debated, members of the House Education Committee were discussing HB 7019 By Rep. Fresen (R-Miami) – the nearly identical House version of 736. HB 7019 passed the committee by a party-line vote with Republicans voting for the bill. It will be on the floor of the House next Tuesday, March 15 with a final vote by the House anticipated on Wednesday, March 16.

After hours of failed amendments presented by Democrats, Rep. Dwight Bullard (D-Miami) told the committee, “You say you want to reward the best teachers. Nothing in this bill does that.”

Unemployment Insurance: The House passed its first bill of the Session on Thursday. Unfortunately it was HB 7005, the disastrous legislation that gives big business another tax break by taking lifeline benefits away from the unemployed. The bill:

· Makes it easier to lay off or terminate workers without providing unemployment benefits
· Places additional hurdles in front of workers trying to get benefits
· Reduces the possible weeks of unemployment benefits from 26 to 20 weeks with the maximum being as low as 12 weeks in times of low unemployment
· Reduces the “Experience Rating” tax rate calculation for businesses by 10%
200 unemployed workers from around Florida converged on the Capitol in protest of the bill but the Republican majority pushed it through, after changing the rules and placing serious restrictions on debate. The measure passed with a party-line vote.

SB 728 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with a unanimous vote on Wednesday. The Senate version is much better than the House. It still places additional burdens on the unemployed but does not reduce benefits. House leaders and the Governor are twisting arms in the Senate to adopt the House language but we are urging the Senators to hold firm. We do have commitments that they will but a call to your Senator urging them to stand their ground would be helpful. Senator Nancy Detert is carrying the Senate bill and should be thanked for her much more balanced approach.

Pensions: SB 1130, the pension bill dealing with the FRS passed the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee on Thursday, March 10th with a vote of 12-1. Sen. Gary Siplin cast the only “No” vote. Substantial amendments were added to the bill thanks to a well coordinated effort by our coalition of public sector unions. The amendments dramatically reduce the negative impacts of the legislation.

· Members of FRS making less than $40,000 per year will not be forced to make a contribution.
· Contribution for workers earning between $40,000 and $75,000 is capped at 2%
· Regular class pension fund members making more than that would have to contribute 2 percent of their first $75,000 in salary and 4 percent of what they make above that. Senior administrators and elected officials would simply pay 4 percent of their full salary if they make more than $75,000.
· The Defined Plan will still be open for new hires earning less than $75,000 per year, while those making more than that would be forced to take a 401 (k) style proposal without a defined benefit.
Republican Senators Latvala, Dean and Norman did much of the heavy lifting on these amendments. It is widely believed that at the bill’s next stop, the Senate Budget Committee that some of this will be removed by Budget Chair Sen. JD Alexander. The strong vote in committee however, gives us hope.

Rich Templin, Ph.D.

Legislative & Political Director

Florida AFL-CIO

(850) 224-6926 / (850) 566-4348 cell

Twitter:rtemplin

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless

means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” – Paulo Freire

Brothers and Sisters

A rally will be taking place on Tuesday March 8th from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Mahi Temple located at 1480 NW North River Drive Miami Fl. This rally coincides with the many state wide rallies going on around the state in support of working families everywhere throughout the state.

Bring a sign, whistle, horn, drum or just yourself to show solidarity to all union working families throughout the state and our local area. In these difficult times we face if we do not show a united front then surly the powers running this state will only feed on our inability to unite.

I hope to see you all there on Tuesday!

In Solidarity,

Keith Love

Business Agent

DCSMEC

Brothers and Sisters here are some of the bills going into the start of the legislative session. As you will see the scope of these bills is to take away the rights of working families, and to try to totally wipe out the unions ability to collectively bargain on your behalf. We will keep you up to date and informed as to the progress of these bills.

Republicans who swept into power in state capitols this year with promises to cut spending and bolster the business climate now are beginning to usher in a new era of labor relations that could result in the largest reduction of power in decades for public employee unions.

But as massive public protests and legislative boycotts in Wisconsin this week have shown, the Republican charge can be fraught with risk and unpredictable turns as politicians try to transform campaign ideas into action.

The question GOP governors and lawmakers are now facing is exactly how far they can go without encountering a backlash. Do they merely extract more money from school teachers, prison guards and office workers to help ease their states’ budget problems? Or do they go at the very core of union power by abolishing the workers’ right to bargain collectively? Do they try to impose changes by steamrolling the opposition, or by coming to the bargaining table?

“The consequences will be rolling forth for many, many years,” said James Gregory, director of Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington. “The battle lines have been drawn and will be replicated around the country. This is going to be very tough for unions and public sector employees.”

In Wisconsin, new Republican Gov. Scott Walker is going for it all — the elimination of collective bargaining rights for public employees plus sharp increases in their health care and pension payments. His plan advanced quickly to the Republican-led Senate, despite several days of protests that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to the Capitol. Then Senate Democrats suddenly fled the state Thursday, bringing the legislative process to a halt.

Wisconsin was the first battleground. But it is unlikely to be the last.

A similar proposal to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights drew throngs of protesters Thursday at the Ohio Capitol. Hundreds more have demonstrated in Tennessee and Indiana, where Republican-led committees have advanced bills to restrict bargaining rights for teachers’ unions. And governors from Nevada to Florida have been touting the need to weaken union powers and extract more money from government employees to help balance out-of-whack budgets.

The confrontation comes as organized labor is reeling from a steady loss of members in the private sector. The public sector, with about 7.6 million members, now account for the majority of workers on union rolls, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among union leaders, a sense of crisis is growing. Labor is preparing to spend at least $30 million to fight anti-union legislation in dozens of states, according to internal budget numbers reviewed by The Associated Press. They’re lobbying local officials, organizing public rallies, working phone banks and buying television and newspaper ads in a desperate attempt to swing public opinion.

“Plans are being put into place to silence workers, lower their wages, cut their benefits and increase the likelihood that they will suffer injuries and fatalities at work,” said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “It is happening at a breakneck pace and too little attention is being paid.”

Labor plans to spend large amounts of money on battles in Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Unions see their goal as not just playing defense — as opponents chip away at bargaining rights — but going on offense to try to educate the public about the role of unions.

But last fall’s midterm elections, which brought the defeat of many union-supported candidates and victories by pro-business Republican adversaries, show the difficulty the unions face in a climate shaped by the sour economy. In many states, Republican governors have blamed unions in part for the state budget crisis by negotiating flush benefit packages for public workers that have forced states to slash aid to schools, social services and important services.

Wisconsin’s legislation, for example, not only would eliminate collective bargaining rights but also force public workers to pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care coverage — increases the governor calls “modest” compared with those in the private sector. It’s projected to save $300 million over the next two years to address a $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, citing an estimated $8 billion budget gap, wants to restrict union rights for state workers and in townships, cities, counties, school districts and publicly funded universities. The legislation would generally eliminate salary schedules.

Kasich drew support Thursday from local tea party leader Ted Lyons, an electronics executive from Troy, Ohio, who said the proposed union changes are long overdue. “The labor unions have become so powerful now on a worldwide basis,” Lyons said. “It’s beyond just the benefits of the membership, it’s about all the spending.”

Lyons’ voice was nearly drowned out by a crowd of protesters.

But some other Republicans are intentionally avoiding the sorts of confrontations that have sparked demonstrations.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, the former chief operating officer of computer manufacturer Gateway Inc., won election last November on a similar pro-business agenda and also wants savings from public employee costs. But he’s not seeking to abolish collective bargaining rights and has publicly denounced legislative efforts to strike at union membership and fees.

Snyder wants all government employees to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums. But he’s not ramming the change at unions, and went out of his way Thursday to highlight his desire to work with them.

“As a practical matter, we’re asking for $180 million in concessions, and we know we need to go bargain for that,” Snyder told reporters Thursday after delivering his 2011-12 budget proposal. “We want to do that thoughtfully in partnership with our employees. We’re not here to create threats.”

___

Associated Press writers Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Kathy Burks Hoffman in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report. Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo., and Hananel reported from Washington, D.C.

Florida AFL-CIO · United Labor Lobby

Legislative Alert!

135 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 · 850-224-6926 · FAX 850-224-2266 · www.flaflcio.org

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

THE FIRST SHOWDOWN OF 2011 IS HERE!

JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE OR BY PHONE

Tell your legislators:

“DON’T BALANCE THE BUDGET ON THE BACKS OF

FLORIDA’S PUBLIC WORKERS”

The Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee has been holding hearings over the past few weeks concerning radical changes to Florida’s public pension systems, both the FRS and local plans.  In spite of the fact that all of the information indicates our pension systems are strong and contributing to our overall economy, some seem determined to continue a dangerous course.  This Friday, February 18^th at 8:00 AM they are holding a public hearing on pensions in Tallahassee.  All workers and retirees are needed to contact your elected officials and tell them to leave our public sector pensions alone!

• Florida’s budget is facing an over $3.5 billion deficit yet they are still talking about tax cuts for the wealthy and eliminating all corporate taxes! In order to pay for those tax cuts, they want to raid our pension systems which are some of the strongest in the nation.
• Legislators want to force public sector employees to pay 5% toward their pension contributions, amounting to a new income tax on our teachers, firefighters, police officers, state and local government workers.  Public servants who have sacrificed raises over the past few years to balance state and local budgets and are paid at levels below their private sector counterparts.
• Closing the Defined Benefit plan for all new hires, forcing them into risky 401k plans where Wall Street will gamble with our tax dollars.  Forcing all new hires into defined contribution plans will cost all taxpayers $150 million the first year, $300 million the second, $450 million the third and so on until 2018!

JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE TO SPEAK OUT ON THIS FIRST ATTACK ON FLORIDA’S WORKERS!

If you can travel to Tallahassee, please contact Phyllis Garrett at pgarett@flaflcio.org

If not…

CALL YOUR LEGISALTORS ON THE COMMITTEE AND TELL THEM TO STOP ATTACKING OUR PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS AND THEIR RETIREMENT SECURITY.  CLICK HERE FOR THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS’ CONTACT INFORMATION.

CALL DON’T EMAIL

We need all private sector workers to stand in solidarity with our public counterparts, this is just the first attack of many this session…when they come for you your public sector brothers and sisters will be there!