The Governor has filed the supplemental budget bill that includes our contract funding.  It is bill number H4868 and we need everyone to call their legislators today and ask them to push this through. Please contact your local legislators using the front page of this website in the left hand column, click on contact your State Rep's and follow these directions:

enter your zip code

under the pink highlighted area fill in your address and press go

click on your State Rep and State Senator name

click on their name and contact them either by email or phone

Remind them that we agreed to yet another set of consessions (after we took a 0% year and we had our health insurance increased), and that we would appreciate them passing this bill so that we can receive the COLA's we have agreed to.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  Let's all make calls so we can get this passed ASAP. 

Hope your summer is going well.  I am back to work part time so if you can't reach me at the USA office feel free to call my cell at 413-427-3867.

In solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President USA

413-545-4862

     When last I wrote to you I told you of our meeting with the Governor and asked that members call their legislators which many of you did.  It was reported back to me that many Rep's and Senator's told you that they could not fund the contracts without our taking concessions like the other state unions have.  So as a coalition, USA, MSP, PSU, CSU, GRACE, and the state and community colleges have been meeting and we originally said NO to the concessions which included furloughs.  There was a lot of back and forth with the Governor's office and finally a meeting was held 2 weeks ago with the President's office.  At this meeting the President's office laid out the concessions you have been sent and again there was an effort made to change and add items but it was refused by the University.  Another meeting was held with just the leaders of the coalition and it was decided by all units at that time that this was the best offer we were going to get at this time.  So, we as the leaders agreed to sign the tentative agreements and let the members vote as to whether we accept this or not.  I have heard from a few people that they feel we sold them out or we caved in, this totally is NOT the case, this is your union and your contract, if you do not feel we should take this deal then vote NO.  If a no vote wins then we will have to deal with the consequences of such a vote, it will probably mean we will get zero's for COLA for the next three years.  As your President I am very disappointed that we are having to consider these concessions but the leadership of all the unions have agreed that this is the best we can do at this time.  Believe me if the economy picks up or some other unit gets a better deal we will re-open this contract and fight for the same.  Many considerations went into this decision and one of them is the budget, we could hold out and demand the university make up the difference in salaries but if we do where do you think the money will come from?  I guarantee that lay-offs would occur and then we would all be wishing we took this deal.  We need to change the funding in this state and that is going to take time, so I urge you to look at all the facts and vote accordingly.  I am hopeful that better times lay ahead, I just don't know how far ahead they are. REMEMBER THE UNION BEGINS WITH "U"!!!

Peace and solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President USA

Several board members met with Governor Deval Patrick about our contract funding last night and he told us that he submitted our contracts to the legislature for funding and that we need to contact them to get them to fund them. 

So I am here to ask that all of you contact your legislators and ask them to fund our contracts.  They may tell you that they can't be funded until we go back to the table and consider take backs so that we may do our part to help with the economic crisis we are facing.  Respectfully remind them that we have given take backs, we have taken a 0% increase, we are paying more for our health insurance, and we are paying higher co-pays when we use that insurance. 

The Legislators continue to talk about shared sacrifices but in a time when we were offered a  0% increase and a 1% the President of the University was given a 15.4% increase (he has since announced that he will forego this increase until we receive ours). Where is the shared sacrifice there? 

I will continue to work with the MTA on funding issues with the Governor but I am asking you all to contact your Representatives and Senators every payday to remind them that we are still waiting.  Many of them are  faced with competition for their seats this year for the first time in awhile and if they want our continued support they need to step up and to honor the deal they made with us.  Please take a moment to call or email them as soon as possible and then follow up every payday so they know you are not going to drop this issue. Preserving collective bargaining rights is imperative if we ever want to get salary increases and benefits in the future.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me or any board member and we will try to help you.  Remember that the legislators work for us because without your vote they can't get re-elected so now is the time for us to capitilize on our vote.  Have a great day and as always I will keep you posted.

In solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President USA

     A couple of issues I would like to address-

• Many of you have called or emailed me about the budget shortfalls that have been announced in the press.  We are concerned that there will be budget cuts but we don't know to what extent at this time.  What we can all do is contact our legislators and express our concerns over the shortfalls, ask them to invest in public education by fully funding K-Higher Ed, and to let them know that we believe in progressive taxes where everyone pays their fair share. 
•  We have also been advised by the University that they plan to eliminate pay statements in early June, we have not agreed to anything and I am awaiting a legal opinion from our legal counsel to see if they have the right to implement this action.
•  Funding our contracts, we have been lobbying to get this contract funded and a group of us will be meeting with the Governor to talk to him about this issue on April 27th (we will report out from this meeting).
•  We hear everyday that the economy is picking up and I hope this is true but for now there is so much unknown.  I will try to keep you as informed as I can and feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
•   On a ldifferent note I would like to remind all of you that can to use the services provided by Print Services so we can keep our brothers and sisters working and try to get them back to full time.
•   I recently used the UHS Optical Services and I highly recommend that we use these services for the same reason.  Let's frequent the services we can to keep our brothers and sisters working.
•   Stay tuned for more updates as information becomes available.

In solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President USA

     I have heard the rumors and seen the news coverage about the state holidays.  Let me assure that these are bargained issues and if the Legislature votes to change the holidays then they would have to bargain this issue with us.  I have written to Channel 22 news and tried to set them straight but who knows if they will tell our side.  I asked the question would Senator Knapik be willing to take the $5 million dollar savings and fund our contracts, reinvest in public higher education by hiring back some of the laid off employees and fill many of the positions that were lost during the last round of early retirement?  It is really easy to point the fingers at state workers when times are tough but we need to stand tough and remind them of all we  have lost in the last 10 years- higher health premiums and co-pays, cost of living increases that don't keep up with the cost of living and more work with less staff just to name a few.  It's our job to educate John Q Public and talk to our neighbors and families so they know that working for the state isn't like working for the gravy train.

     Stop and Shop employees will be going on strike March 5th at noon unless the company comes back to the table and bargains in good faith.  I ask all of you to consider not crossing the picket lines should this occur.  Bring your business elsewhere and send a message to the company that continues to make billions in profits and want's their employees to pay more for health care and to short change them in salary increases.  I personally would join the line before I ever crossed one.  Thank you for considering this. 

Solidarity forever,

Donna

     The union was notified last week along with ten of our members in Print Services that one of them was being laid off and the others are to have their hours reduced to 80% time.  I met with the affected members on Tuesdayand we will be requesting information from the University to help deal with this situation.  Thus far the University has followed the contact and they are citing the reason for the layoffs as follows: Layoff notices were given to the following USA/MTA employees in Print Services.  This action is being taken due to declining revenues caused by declining volume of print jobs for Print Services.   They also say that should the volume of work increase then they will try to restore the employees hours. Our union brothers and sisters are being harmed and we can help avoid this from happening.  For those of you who have the opportunity please consider sending your print jobs to Print Services here on campus.  I understand that they will match prices from oustide vendors and I recommend you call and have a conversation with members over there.  I have recently heard some disturbing news that folks are being told not to use Print Services because they don't do a good job, this is totally not true.  I have used their services now for years and they have improved tremendously and I know many areas on campus that do use them.  Please spread the word about the travesty that is happening here on a public university campus.  Remember that an injury to one is an injury to all and they could be coming after your job next.  If you have any questions or comments please contact me or feel free to start a blog on this website on this issue. 

In solidarity,

Donna

So you are all invited on February 5th from 12-1:30 in CC 101 to come join us and have a discussion about how we can solve some of the deficits we face.  I am hoping that those who come will be there to come up with creative ways to change things and not to point the finger at those who have graciously come to work with us.  I firmly believe that if we anger our elected officials they will tune us out and we will never resolve the issues we all face.  So if you want to be part of the solution and not the problem come join us on the 5th and let's try to change the state we are in.  If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me or call my cell.

 USA members,

Paul Toner, vice-President of the MTA, is a trustee on the Group Insurance Commission representing labor and despite his best efforts to veto any changes the following has happened:

Mid-year plan design changes.  I am disappointed to report that at the GIC meeting this morning, the Commission voted to make the plan-design changes. These deductibles and co-pays will be effective on February 1, 2010, and each enrollee will be notified about the changes in advance.  These changes will not apply to enrollees participating in the Medicare supplemental plans, but will apply to all other GIC plans.  Because of these changes, premiums will be reduced and enrollees will see a slight decrease in their share of the premium costs.    The Commonwealth’s Health Savings Account enrollment period is extended until 12/4 and state employees can increase their contributions in light of these changes.  The “savings” generated by this cost-shift was reported to be about 18.8 million dollars; short of the projected deficit of 35 million dollars.  

Paul Toner

So, as you can see the timeline for the health savings account has been extended and I encourage all of you to take a look at joining or increasing your totals.  Clearly this is yet another example of the Commonwealth balancing their budget on our backs.  And further evidence that we need to talk to our legislators about raising revenues here in the Commonwealth.  Please send an email or call your area legislators and tell them we need them to do their jobs and to raise revenues, starting with raising the state income tax back to 5.95% and gently remind them that balancing the budget on the backs of state employees is not acceptable.

On a brighter note I would like to take a moment to wish all of you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving. While times are tough all over we can be thankful for what we do have, our families, our friends, food on our tables, and our health.  So take some time this Thanksgiving holiday to thank someone you love and as always please say a great big thanks to our men and women who are serving in the armed forces to protect us all. 

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving,

Donna

In solidarity,

Donna

Donna Johnson