In attendance: Eric Coker, Forrest Parker, Braden Elliott, Danny Ritter, Michelle Marie; special guest member Lauren Visconti; Ashley Bromley, Angela McClendon
Meeting called to order at 10:10 AM
Minutes from 4-9-13 meeting – Approved!
Email Decisions – (1) Reimburse Convention drivers $75; (2) Pay registration costs for two members to the Labor Notes “Troublemakers School”; (3) Approved final version of Rabble Rouser Vol. 1 Issue 1; (4) Approved final version of the Steward Council areas list; (5) Approved spending a little extra money on food to cover campaign lunch for Daniel Holder’s AFT-OR presidential run.
Bargaining – Danny, Ashley, Wren, and Eben met with Jeri and David last Wednesday to open the conversation about bargaining. The OSU team agrees with CGE about trying to wrap it up by June. They suggested opening the entire contract to be sure we cover all possible changes related to BU status. In order to make this all happen, we’ll need to meet for a couple hours twice a week. Unfortunately CGE’s bargaining team members have pretty inflexible schedules, so it seems likely that there will be 2 members who can go to every session and another 2 or 3 who can alternate sessions.
Convention Recap – The CGE delegation was seated! The credentials committee voted unanimously in our favor. Then a LOT of work happened in committees and the grad locals led a lot of the business. Our “Grad for President” campaign was not ultimately successful, but CGE overall did a great job at politics and preparation (even at short notice). At one point, the grad locals were commended for their RRO skills. Also, Kevin Weitemier was elected to be a VP on the AFT-OR EC. We’ll schedule a Convention debrief in the next couple of weeks, probably at someone’s home to keep costs reasonable.
Labor Notes Recap – Lauren attended the Portland Troublemakers School on Saturday and really enjoyed it. There were people there from a great diversity of trades, many workshops, and a speaker from the Chicago schools. Some big messages from the day were about continuing to push forward when you win something, not falling for the diversionary tactic of “budget deficits,” trusting membership for union direction, building coalitions with other unions, and community engagement.
New Members Issue – We need to decide what to do about people who sign blue cards now in the membership drive, who are not covered by the current contract. We’ll take those cards as new members but won’t turn them in for payroll deductions until the new contract is settled (probably) in June.
Elections – Update on Steward Council nominations: Braden has received 19 nominations (16 accepted) from 8 areas. Nominations are open for about 2 more weeks. For the EC, we’re making a list of people to talk to.
GMM – Dave Cecil has asked to come down (with David Rives) to “sit in the back” and observe. We feel like the agenda is too full – and not a great time to “get to know the local” – so we’d like to invite them to our End Of Year BBQ instead. Turnout plan: mention it in office visits, ask reps to talk with their areas (Braden will email today), send all-member email (Thursday), send personalized emails (Monday). Food: we’ll do taco bar again! And we have a plan for drinks. Agenda: Ashley has a draft on her whiteboard.
Ed Ray Meeting – We’ll schedule it for May 9 at 10 AM.
ASOSU Elections – We’ll ask the candidates to answer an email questionnaire, and then post their answers on the website.
Strategic Plan – We’re totally going to review this next week. Before then, please look it over to be prepared for the conversation!
SEIU Bargaining Rally – This is at noon on Thursday the 18th, meeting outside Reser Stadium. They’d like us to bring some people. Braden will email the reps list and Eric will mention it on fbook.
Fbook Email Invite – We’ve decided not to email-invite our members list to our fbook group.
Meeting adjourned at 11:50 PM