Summer’s Here
Summer
is supposedly approaching us and I am left wondering what happened to our
Minnesota spring. Our spring event, the St. Paul Saints baseball game and
tailgating party happened to fall on what has this year become a typical
spring day; rainy. The social and recreation committee did a great job
planning; except for ordering a warm sunny day. We were able to gather under
a large tent, which was to be used by Best Buy, but since many of their
people did not show up, we moved on in and were able to stay dry during the
festivities. For those of you that purchased tickets but did not show
because of the weather, you can still redeem your voucher for the free hat
by going to the ticket office anytime during the season.
The next event we have scheduled for our members is the
member appreciation BBQ which is being held Thursday 6/16/05 in the parking
lot and will be catered by Divine Swine. This must have been appealing to
the members, based upon the ticket response we received, almost every member
turned in their ticket. At the event, we will use the admission ticket you
received as an entry for door prizes; so don’t forget to bring it with you
when you come down for your lunch. Also, we will be taking donations for
COPA, as well as holding a 50/50 drawing/contest for COPA. You can purchase
tickets, one for a dollar, or 6 for $5.00, with the lucky drawing winner
receiving half of the money collected and the other half going to COPA.
At our May meeting a motion was made and passed to send ten
representatives from the local to attend an All Craft Conference to be held
Aug 8-10 in Las Vegas. The workshops that will be attended will be on
organizing and contract negotiations. Upon return, those representatives
will hold an informational workshop to inform our local members of the
material covered/learned at the conference and how our local members can
become involved.
We are looking to implement another recruiting drive with
incentives for becoming a member, and also for signing up a non-member. Any
ideas from members would be appreciated. There is strength in numbers, and
with contract negotiations just around the corner we need to show unity and
stick together to negotiate an acceptable contract.
With our contract set to expire we will be discussing
issues that we would like changed in our next contract. We will bring
resolutions forward and discuss and rank the importance of each item we
would like to see implemented. I will be involved in the negotiating of our
next contract and I would like to know what items you would like to see
addressed at the national and local levels. Give some serious thought to the
changes you would like to see in our national and local contract and
memorandum of understanding and present to me in writing and I will
certainly look into the merit of each.
Summer should be approaching us rapidly, and with that
comes an increase in the number of members off on annual leave each day. I
have observed and talked with many members that are stressed out about the
volume of work they have and the feeling that they cannot afford to take
time off because they will get too far behind on their work. I want to
remind people that the most important things in life are your health and
family. Put those things first and do not let work consume your thoughts and
contribute to your stress level. If you need or want to take time off from
work do not let the volume be a consideration as it is management’s
responsibility to provide all of the necessary tools to the employees to
perform their duties. This includes adequate back up employees to cover work
due to employees off on leave. If management does not provide you with a
backup to cover your desk while you are away that is their problem, not
yours.
A person can only do so much in an eight or ten hour day.
Do not let management make you work twice as hard because of their
incompetent decisions. It is their responsibility to provide you with help,
or give you the number of hours of overtime to complete your duties. If
management really cared about the volume of work and how it is stressing you
out they would do what is necessary to alleviate the situation. Instead,
they are requiring more and more out of us and adding to the stress. If they
don’t want to address these issues then each of us must do what we need to
do to take care of ourselves. My advice to all is to do what is expected,
and that is; a fair days work for a fair days pay. Enjoy your summer and
take the time off that you need for your own mental and physical well being.
Life is too short to stress out and worry about your work load; after all,
your supervisor doesn’t.
In Solidarity,
Steve Brooks
