EA Voice Newsletter November 2016
Message from the President
Dear Members,
As we enter this holiday season, I would just like to remind members to stay safe out there and enjoy the time with your families. Of course that also means this is the time for several holiday parties. The EA will be helping with the Children's Party which will be taking place on December 20th. Sign ups and more information will be posted soon. In addition, we are also working with the District in support of this years Chairman's Salute. More information about this event will be coming out later.
Speaking of events, the Social Committee was contacted by the Oakland A's about tickets for next year. While nothing has been set in stone, we are looking at a game between the A's and the Giants! And since we are working on this event this early, we will be getting better seats than the third level, value deck seating.
We are continuously updating our website and trying to improve communication with membership, but I could use some help. If you are familiar with SquareSpace and MailChimp, then please contact me. I'd like to improve our website and newsletter to make it more user friendly and more eye catching.
Finally, I would like to say that a classification study for Inspectors, Engineers and Administrative Analysts is almost finished! These updated classes will be completed when the APCO and the EA President officially sign a side letter next week. However, it should also be noted that at this time the Air Distinct has indicated to the EA's Meet and Confer team that they are currently not ready to conduct salary surveys for staff. While this isn't the news we had hoped to hear, the EA assures you that we will energetically pursue this issue as most of the union job specs date back to 1992. The EA is not going to let this set back get us down, and we plan on submitting our recommendations for the next three classes to be studied immediately. We plan to stay positive and to move forward as we enter into contract negations next year.
Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
— Chris Coelho, EA President
eapresident2015@gmail.com
Help us with our next contract
Are you interested in helping with your next contract? Are you good at crunching numbers? Do you like looking at contracts to see what other agencies get for benefits? Then we could use your help. We are looking for members to help support the negotiating team. We are not looking for members to join the negotiating committee, but we are looking for support help. We are looking for support now as we don't need to wait until we start negotiations to start researching information. If you are interested and want to help, please email me and we will set up a meeting to discuss this further. Thank you. (Chris at eapresident2015@gmail.com)
Grievance Committee Brown Bag Session
I'd like to thank everyone that attended our Grievance Committee Brown Bag on November 10. This is something new that this EA Board is trying and I think these informational sessions will help give members a chance to learn more and support the EA. We plan on hosting a few more of these informational sessions next year and our next one will probably be the end of January or early February 2017.
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee is a three member committee convened to assist the Treasurer and to make recommendations to the Board of Directors about the financial structure of the Association. They can assist in the preparation of:
· Annual Budgets
· Recommendations on investment strategy
· Periodic audits of the Employee Association financial records
· Researching and drafting language for the By-Laws in regards to the finances of the Employees' Association
EA Board Meetings
The EA Board meets on the second Wednesday of the month in the Bay Area Conference Room 6102. Meeting agendas are posted to the EA and the Public Bulletin boards one week prior to the meeting. Our next EA Board Meeting is Tuesday, December 13 at 12:15. The location and agenda will be posted one week before the EA board meeting.
Better know your MOU
SECTION 3.10 ASSOCIATION RIGHTS
Nothing contained in this Memorandum of Understanding shall be interpreted or construed in any way that prohibits or restricts the Association of its rights granted by law and accordingly the Association retains all rights guaranteed to employee organizations under the Meyers-Milias Brown Act (Government Code Sections 3500 and following), the Public Records Act (Government Code Sections 6250 and following) and all other applicable provisions of law.
SECTION 3.11 MANAGEMENT RIGHTS
The rights of the District include, but are not limited to, the exclusive right to, subject to the provisions of this agreement and consistent with applicable laws and regulations:
a. Determine the mission of its constituent departments, boards, and committees.
b. Set standards of service.
c. Determine the procedures and standards of selections for employment and promotion.
d. Hire, promote, transfer, assign, retain in position, direct, or take other nondisciplinary action toward its employees and to relieve them from duty because of lack of work or for other legitimate reasons.
e. Maintain the efficiency of governmental operations and exercise complete control and discretion over its organization and the technology of performing its work.
f. Determine the methods, means, and personnel by which government operations are to be conducted.
g. Determine the content of job classifications.
h. Take all necessary actions to carry out its mission in emergencies.
The District will not use the provisions of this Article, for the purpose of discriminating against any employee or to avoid or evade the provisions of this agreement.
The provisions of this Article do not absolve the District or District Management from their obligation to meet and confer with the Association in advance of taking any action changing, modifying, or affecting employee wages, hours or working conditions.
This Section is not subject to the Grievance Procedure.
