TEA Times
We’re not in Kansas any more
Welcome to the new King Street Center of inefficiency! Thanks to our employer, we have now successfully spent large sums of taxpayer money packing and unpacking cardboard boxes. In the process you may have noticed that you lost something… not to worry, it was only your Metro cultural identity. Consider the Merger fully implemented.
Sorry for the long silence since the last issue of TEA Times on July 28th. There is much to report, but I’ll err on the side of brevity. Attend the next business meeting to hear more.
Political Action
Last issue we described a strategy to turn up the political heat. Here is a sampling of the actions we’ve taken during the past month.
- On August 3rd, Jim Cline sent a letter to King County (Kerry Delaney) to highlight the County’s action that allows Teamsters Local 117 to represent engineering and technical employees at the Renton and West Point Treatment Plants.
This action is clearly “voluntary fragmentation” -- precisely what the County argued against when TEA’s petition was originally before PERC.
- On August 12th, TEA met with Local 17 president Joe McGee and business agent Ray Goforth to explore options that could bring an end to the legal battles. Both sides agreed that now is time for the leadership on both sides to propose a solution to the County, since the County is obviously not willing to resolve the issue on their own. We will continue this constructive dialog in conjunction with our legal efforts. The basic carrot and stick approach. Do you trust them?
- On August 17th, TEA met with Bob Derrick, acting OHRM director and Class/Comp proj. mgr. (replaces Roberto Cruz); Lin Schnell, Labor Relations Manager and Kerry Delaney were also in attendance.
Mr. Derrick seemed knowledgeable of the issues and asked significant questions; he even agreed with our positions on a few issues (such as Clerical staff in DDES, Bob’s former Department, are represented by the same Union as Engineers and Technical staff, Local 17!). Mr. Derrick agreed to review King County’s actions to date and determine for himself whether he could support TEA. He agreed to get back to us by August 27th.
Court Action This Week
The final summary judgement has been submitted to Judge Tabor for approval. On Friday, August 27th at 9am, Judge Tabor will hear oral arguments by King County and our attorney, Jim Cline, regarding specific wording in the judgement. Several TEA members will attend the court session.
Contributions
Thanks to all of you who are staying current! For those who aren’t, you know what to do. All it takes is $10/month, any way, shape or form.
Next Meeting
Come hear the latest news, have lunch and help plan the future at the next scheduled TEA business meeting, Tuesday, 8/31, Elliott Bay Bookstore Cafe, noon.
|