General Membership Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 7:04 PM at 918 Benjamin NE, Grand Rapids.
Meeting was opened with the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.
Moment of silence was observed for Rick VerHage.

Roll Call of Officers:

Present:
Ray Novakoski, President
Dick Page, Executive Vice-President
Barbara Tubbs, Recording Secretary
Jennifer Amos, Treasurer
Jim Myszka, Maintenance Craft Director
Mike Long, Sergeant at Arms
Linda Norman, AO Director
Scott Larabel, MVS Craft Director
Absent:
Bill Scutt, Clerk Craft Director who was excused because he had a prep day for an arbitration case in Flint.

October general membership meeting minutes were accepted. Correction: minutes should have reflected that Tim Burke is also on the election committee.

Applications for Membership:

Cedar Springs clerk: Sherry Dames Baldwin clerk: Candace Payne Grand Rapids clerk: Al Griffin Retained (mail handlers): Katie Kresten, Ebony Cook

Presentation of $2015.18 raised by golf outing in May was made to American Diabetes Association rep Amy LaPointe by chair Jim Stoddard and Ray Novakoski.

Bill from Mike Long for pizza tonight for up to $50.00 carried.

Officer’s Reports:

Treasurer’s Report: Amos: Accepted as written.

AO Report: Norman: In Grand Haven, filed grievance for reverted position. FMLA was denied for member whose daughter has cystic fibrosis. Appeal will be in heard in January. Number of remanded grievances in system. Four hours straight pay was won for Ada PTF. OWCP issue in Byron Center. Learned a lot in training past weekend. Thanks for sending her. OIC in Wayland has changed leave policy without authority to do so. Waiting for information on excessed clerks. Should have info some time this month, then will file grievance.

Maintenance Report: Myszka: Met with Bob Martin last week. Going forward with maintenance skills development program. Four or five people from GR will attend in February. We are short 3 MPEs plus custodians. We want to get the skills for our people rather hire off the street. Management wants to revert custodial positions. We are filing a grievance on it. We have requested new staffing package. We need 1 ½ more positions at annex.

MVS Report: Larabel: Mike Hill and Scott have been spending about 40 hours between them working on grievances. Majority have been on transporting of mail by non-MVS personnel. About 90% have been won and the USPS has spent $1000s on these grievances. Many times MVS drivers are available. This is an ongoing situation. Lately management has starting denying these grievances and they have been appealed. Thanks to all the members who have documented this. Please continue to do so. This is a matter of protecting jobs. If you have time to do MVS work instead of your job, do they need your job? They have agreed to hire 4 new drivers. We have shown that there us enough work available. There are 3 jobs at the VMF. Two have been vacant for months. We need commitment from everyone. Transporting mail is MVS work.

Legislative Report: Tubbs: The big mailer lobbyists were out on November 3rd pushing for changes in the bills as passed in committee this year. There will be a big battle for us next year. Chairwoman of the workforce subcommittee of the President’s commission on the USPS, Carolyn Gallagher has been nominated by Bush to the USPS Board of Governors. Donate to COPA.

President’s Report: Novakoski: Big battle next year for us. Bargaining rights are at stake. APPs should be here in mid-November. May be delayed because of the problems in Oklahoma. District conference in Traverse City last weekend. NBA John Clark was there and gave an intro on the JCIM. There will be joint training starting in November. Local elections coming up. There was no opposition for the Treasurer position, so Linda Chandler will be the new one. Board poll was taken and approved to send her to national secretary treasurer training in Washington DC. She will also attend the installation of officers. CFS is having problems with overtime. Tina Myers and Jennifer Amos are working on them. VOE drawing will be at next month’s meeting. Notice was received from regional coordinator Sharyn Stone that there will be area review teams sent to installations with low VOE scores.

Committee Reports:

Election Committee: Cat Beemblossom:

The following members are running for election:
President: Jennifer Amos, Steve Austin, Bill Scutt
Executive Vice-President: Steve Lang, Amy (Puhalski) Marcus
Recording Secretary: Karen Hodges, Barbara Tubbs
Sergeant at Arms: Steve Karbutowski, Ron Roediger
Clerk Craft Director: Tina Myers, Dan Quillan
Unopposed for Office:
Treasurer: Linda Chandler
Maintenance Craft Director: Jim Myszka
MVS Craft Director: Scott Larabel
AO Director: Ronda Payne
Ballots will be mailed on November 18th.

Motion by Beemblossom 2nd Austin to accept by acclimation the unopposed candidates for office. Withdrawn.

A & E: Amy Marcus: Thursday November 18th is next committee meeting. Please RSVP for the December 5th Christmas party by November 26th.

Retiree: George Hendricks: As of 9-30-04 there are 138 members. COPA is fine, but we cannot outspend corporate America. It is more important to contact your Senators on a regular basis. Martin Luther King: “We will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Motion by Myszka 2nd Austin to accept by acclimation the unopposed candidates for office. Ruled out of order.

Unfinished Business:

Waiting for a response from Industrial Relations Director Greg Bell on casual in lieu of grievance. Referred there by Terry Stapleton’s office.

Point of Inquiry: Austin: How much did it cost the Local when Scutt got arrested? Ray will look into it. Bill has inquired how much he owes so he can reimburse the Local now that his pay adjustment is being processed.

New Business:

Board Recommendations:

To allow 8 hours LWOP for Ed Erickson to attend the health fair to represent the APWU. Carried.

To make it a policy to only give one jacket to new members ONCE when they join the Local for the first time. Carried.

To send WMAL editor to the PPA convention in Reno in Aug 2005 to include 5 nights lodging, per diem, airfare, ground transportation, lost time, taxes, registration. Carried.

To donate $250.00 to God’s Kitchen. Discussion. Carried.

Motion by Austin 2nd Jackie Pike to accept the Mecosta office as part of our Local, vote to not be a secret ballot if no one objects. No one did. Discussion. Call for question by Long 2nd Austin. Carried. Motion carried. Motion to accept membership of Shelly Sapp carried.

Motion by Beemblossom 2nd Hendricks to make Deb Groulx an honorary member of our Local. Discussion. Carried unanimously.

Motion by Page 2nd Austin to garnish wages of Bill Scutt, if needed, if repayment of 24 hours of LWOP pay to Local is not made by December 1, 2004. Motion to table by Norman 2nd Beemblossom. Defeated 10-7. Motion carried 10-7.

Motion by Austin 2nd Pike to extend the meeting. Carried.

Point of Personal Privilege: Burke: Thanks to members who volunteered at the Haunt.

Motion by Beemblossom 2nd Austin to make it a policy to use the upstairs and downstairs bulletin boards for the Wish upon a Star Christmas project. Carried.

Motion by Austin 2nd Lang to give the gavel to Ray for all his years of service to the Local. Friendly amendment to engrave his name and years in office. Carried.

Labor Management: Meeting was scheduled for the 10th, but has been rescheduled. Let an officer or steward know if you have something for L/M.

Drawings:

COPA $18.00, Rose Jerrils $18.00

Turkeys: Dick Page, Rose Jerrils, Scott Larabel, Jim Birman, Jackie Pike, George Hendricks, Barbara Tubbs, Jennifer Amos, Steve Lang, Ray Novakoski.

$10.00 Door Prizes: Al Makevich, Cat Beemblossom, Linda Yarnott, Tammy Byrnes

Adjourned at 9:02 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Barb Tubbs
Recording Secretary

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