T E A

T i m e s

September 18, 2003

September Meeting Schedule
  September 22    WTD Contract Negotiating Team, 12-1pm
  September 23    TEA Business Meeting (King St. Center, 5F), 12-1pm
  September 29    WTD Contract Negotiating Team, 12-1pm
  September 29    WTD Productivity Mediation, 3-5pm
  September 30    TEA Business Meeting (King St. Center, 5F), 12-1pm

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Election Results for TEA Officers
Congratulations to Dave Crippen (Second Vice President) and Eric Mandel (Treasurer) for their election to the Board for a two-year term of office.  Their term of office expires in September 2005.
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Results of Vote on Dues Proposal
The vote on the dues proposal resulted in support of Option B over Option A.  Totals were 143 votes  (62% of total votes) for Option B and 85 votes (37%) for Option A.  Two (2 ballots were disqualified because there was either no name on the envelope or no signature on the back of the envelope.  Option B establishes the TEA dues rate equal to the current voluntary rate of 0.4% for all TEA employees with a special one-time assessment.  Members will begin paying dues after voting to ratify their contract and subsequent formal approval by the King County Council.

Several members expressed various concerns with Option B at the Annual meeting, including:
-       the magnitude of the assessment
-       the formula for calculating the assessment (ie. using # of months since TEA recognition rather than number of months since hiring
-       no provision to cap the assessment (currently it increases each month until contract approval)
-       the fairness of assessments for new and P/T members

The Board will evaluate these concerns and report back to the membership any proposed changes in accordance with the Bylaws and the Financial Plan.
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Results of Vote on Bylaw Amendment
The proposed Bylaw Amendment to address the ratification of multiple contracts (as presented in the TEA Times on Aug. 26 and Sept. 9) was called to a vote by those members present at the Annual Meeting.  The proposed change was approved.  A complete text of the TEA Bylaws can be found on the TEA website: www.teaseattle.org
(Please note the amendment has not yet been incorporated into the text there but will be soon.)

·       Classified Ads: TEA members can post classified ads for free. Send classified ads to Patty Overby, TEA Secretary at (patty.overby@metrokc.gov)