The May General Membership Meeting for 2023 was scheduled for May 18th, 2023. According to Executive Board Member and Steward/Delegate Mary Kachline, it was postponed by one week to May 25th, 2023 “due to the election.”
There is no reason the election should have postponed the meeting.
At the meeting, special guest speaker Ernest Garrett, president of AFSCME District Council 33, spoke for a little under an hour on himself, where DC33 was before he took office, where DC33 is today, and where DC33 is headed for the future. Part of his talk included a petition to make Eid a holiday in the state of Pennsylvania. The Rabble Rousers would like to encourage you to sign!
Per President Garrett (Taken from Facebook):
I am asking all members to support the Eid Holiday Bill Package that has been introduced by friends of District Council 33, State Representatives Tarik Khan, Jason Dawkins, and Carol Kazeem. We implore members to support the new proposed legislation to make Eid a STATE HOLIDAY. Please use the link below to go directly to the Emgage Action Center where you will find the form. Please fill out the form COMPLETELY before submitting it. Remember, when the 10,000 members of District Council 33 and their families come together, we can accomplish anything!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION
A Muslim member told me that it was silly for this bill to include only one Eid, when there are two Eids (Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha), and I believe that is a just criticism. I believe that in a negotiation, it’s unwise to ask for a bare minimum because that’s the best you can ever get. Ask high, and you’ll get more. That said, this is the bill as it exists, and I believe we should support it.
After that, 696 President Anthony Dinkins read aloud from a packet of information distributed at the beginning of the meeting.
After some discussion, the meeting adjourned. Full, unofficial meeting notes by myself and Evelyn Flint are available below.
Our takeaways were as follows:
- There were no meeting minutes. There was no treasurer’s report. All meetings should begin with meeting minutes from the previous meeting, and a new, up-to-date treasurer’s report.
- The meeting never hit quorum. This usually isn’t an issue for Local 696 as it has been governed by the SBU- it’s rare for actual union business to take place at a 696 general membership meeting. This was no exception: the meeting was purely informational.
- The meeting felt like a new-hire orientation. There was minimal discussion of contract negotiation, grievances, or business specific to Local 696.
Local 696 has failed to distribute meeting minutes for:
- November 2022
- February 2023 (Nomination meeting)
- March 2023
- April 2022 (2023 Election Protest meeting)
Why is this important?
Meeting minutes are the official record of Local 696 business. Decisions regarding the Local, its finances, what issues it plans to take on- everything that takes place must be recorded in the minutes. An AFSCME Local is not a club. It is not a social group. It is not something to be taken casually. An AFSCME Local- any AFSCME Local, is a political, financial, influential organization that can only do its job when its leadership is accountable to its membership. The treasurer’s report is perhaps even more important- it’s a record of where your union dues are being spent. Local 696 has not distributed treasurer’s reports in my entire time as a City employee. Sharon tells me they’ve never distributed treasurer’s reports since 1997. What are they doing with our money?
Thank you for reading. Below is the packet distributed at the meeting. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions!
-Matt