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T E AT i m e sSeptember 3, 2002September Meeting Schedule
All members are encouraged to attend the Monthly Meeting on Wednesday, September 18.
Based on input from members who are concerned about TEA's buget, lunch will not be provided.
You are encouraged to support the Elliott Bay Caf‚ as a thank you for the use of their reading room for TEA meetings.
Election of TEA Officers
Nominations for TEA officers closed on August 28th. The nomination committee
is please to present the following list of candidates:
President - Roger Browne, Ken Madden
Ballots will be distributed to work-group representatives on September 5th for
distribution to TEA members. Completed ballots can be returned to your work-
group representative, sent to the TEA Secretary, Severne Johnson, or hand
delivered at the Annual Meeting on September 18th.
Candidate statements will be posted on the TEA website: www.teaseattle.org
County Agrees to Maintain Medical Benefits
TEA has successfully negotiated an extension of our existing medical benefits.
TEA members in Transit Design and Construction and the Wastewater
Treatment Division will be protected from the changes that other employees will
experience. TEA members will save money and keep their current doctors.
King County finally admitted that they cannot change our working conditions
during the contract bargaining process. While other King County employees will
have the new medial benefits plan imposed on them, TEA members will keep the
existing medical benefits, care providers and prescription programs.
Productivity Incentive Fund Checks for WTD
On July 29th, Don Theiler held an All-Hands meeting to announce the findings
and recommendations of the Productivity Incentive Fund Committee. TEA has
three representatives from WTD working on this committee. Mr. Theiler told
employees that everyone in the WTD would be receiving a check from the
Incentive Fund; TEA members, however, would have their checks withheld until a
labor contract was approved or another agreement, such as an MOU (Memo of
Understanding), was reached.
This action on Management's behalf may be illegal; management cannot
circumvent the negotiation process by communicating directly with TEA members
regarding negotiation issues. TEA may need to file an Unfair Labor Practice
(ULP) complaint against King County for this breach of negotiation protocol.
The TEA Wastewater bargaining team has tried to negotiate a settlement with
the County that would provide TEA/WTD members their productivity checks and
avoid a ULP. Unfortunately, after two WTD negotiation sessions, these
discussions have broken down and TEA may have no other choice than to move
forward with a ULP.
In order to document the history behind the Productivity payout, we need your
help. Anyone who attended the July 29th All-Hands meeting and heard the
statements by Mr. Theiler regarding Productivity and TEA should contact TEA off
in order to provide a written account of what transpired at the meeting.
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