LOCAL

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS PUBLIC AND LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYEES’ UNION

320Summer 2016 Edition Volume XIX - Issue #2

IN THIS ISSUE... 2. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report, Brian Aldes 4. President’s Report, Sami Gabriel 3. Vice President’s Report, Curt Swenson 5. Legal Update: New FLSA Overtime Rules Take Effect December 1, 2016. By Paula Johnston

2016 SCHOOL BUS ROADEO - FOREST

LAKE DRIVERS PAGE 3

SUCCESSFUL ACTIONFOR LOBBY DAY!

LOCAL 320 SECRETARY-TREASURER’S REPORT

Page 2

By Brian Aldes

Over the past sever-al months Local 320 has been engaged in a strategic planning process with sup-port and guidance from the International

Brotherhood of Teamsters. The process be-gan with an evaluation of the Local Union’s mission and objectives.

Our Union is slowly moving from a service model to an organizing model. Before I discuss the transition and what it means for Local 320’s membership, I will describe how the models differ.

The service model is the most typical way of handling workplace issues and admin-istering labor union staff and resources. This model has served Local 320 very well when times were good and labor unions were stronger. Nowadays with the continual political and legal attacks, “business as usual” just doesn’t cut it!

Service model unionism is process orien-tated with professional staff providing an array of services including negotiating con-tracts, arbitrating grievances, and assisting members with day-to-day issues. On the other hand, the organizing model suggests that workers are capable of accomplishing some of these objectives through collective action at the work-site and that the actions can, at times, provide better results.

OFFICERS AND STAFF

Brian AldesSecretary-Treasurer and

Principal OfficerSami Gabriel

President/Business AgentCurt Swenson

Vice President/Business AgentCraig Johnson

Recording-Secretary/Business Agent

Marcia (Marty) LambTrustee, St. Paul ISD 625

Richard WheelerTrustee, MSUAASFAlston Dutchin

Trustee, U of MPaula Johnston

General Counsel

Local 320 Business AgentsAmy Hill

Mike HortonMichael KoppJosh Loahr

Roger MeunierTerry NeubergerVance Rolfzen

Erik Skoog

Attorney | Business AgentHalla Elrashidi

Communications | LobbyistGus Froemke

OrganizerClaire Thiele

Support StaffSusan BastianKatie GlaserRon Phillips

Suzanne SlawsonJoni SpauldingKristi Ziegler

Minneapolis, MN Local Union Office8:00am - 4:00pmP: 612-378-8700F: 612- 331-89481-800-637-5430

Onlinewww.teamsterslocal320.org

Emaillocal320@teamsterslocal320.org

Published by Teamsters Local 320

3001 University Ave SE #500Minneapolis, MN 55414

MEMBER ACTION COMMITTEE

Here’s the gist of what’s happening at Local 320: aspects of the service model must continue because union members rely on professional service, guidance, and support. Union members want access to legal and legislative experts in addition to business agents who understand technical issues of contract negotiations and contract interpretation. However, in some cases it is better for workers to come together and organize around a contract campaign, group griev-ance, or workplace issue than to simply allow problems to meander through the bargaining or grievance processes. In other cases, management has legal rights and prerogatives to make rules or implement policies even though those rules and poli-cies can deny justice and equity to workers. When that occurs officers, staff, and mem-bers must learn to think outside the box.

Local 320 developed its Member Action Committee to move our Union towards an organizing model. As Committee Chair, it’s my job to balance the two models and ensure that members get the same qual-ity service they have come to expect. The Committee has met on three occasions and put forward a survey for the entire mem-bership. Please make sure to complete the survey and the mapping form. Once the surveys are completed and the forms are collected the Committee can further its work.

TEAMSTERS LOCAL 320 MEMBER ACTION COMMITTEE

2016 SCHOOL BUS ROADEO

Page 3

By Brian Aldes

On May 7, 2016, Forest Lake Teamsters participated in the Minnesota School Bus Roadeo at the Arden Hills DMV. Drivers competed in three categories: a road skills test, written driver test and pre-trip inspection.

The road skills test included 11 different everyday obstacles such as a railroad crossing, student pickups and parallel parking.

Teamster Steward Earl Nelson placed 4th overall, and 1st in the public school category, which earned him a trip to the 46th Annual School Bus Drivers International Safety Competition, being held this year on July 16th and 17th in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The Forest Lake School District generously provided the buses for practice and drivers received all the time they needed during off-work hours and weekends.

TEAMSTER GAINS IN LAST U OF M CONTRACTVICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

By Curt Swenson

Teamsters at the University of Minnesota made extraor-dinary gains for this contract after many years of stagna-tion. We must continue to celebrate these hard-fought victories! We made these

huge gains with our contract campaign:

• Two percent raise for Teamsters during each year of the labor contract plus step increases. • Lab animal attendants and electricians received substantial market adjustments.

• The University agreed to structured labor-management committees (LMC) to be facilitated by the Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS). Dur-ing the LMC’s a variety of topics will be addressed including team cleaning, bidding, and vacancies.• Six weeks maternity leave for expecting mothers (up from two weeks).

With the campaign, Raises and Respect, alongside AFSCME, we were able to make substantial gains for all University unionized workers and it is now on all of us to secure those gains and to fight like hell to ensure we continue to make even more gains.

Left to right: Jeanie Peltier, Karina Larson, Eric Larson, Darcy Overland, Earl Nelson, and Rebecca Devine

LOBBY DAY AND VOTER REGISTRATION

Page 4

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

By Sami Gabriel

Lobby Day was another success for Local 320 members, but the legislative session was anything but a success for Minnesota’s working families.

Teamsters Local 320 Members with Representative Debra Hilstrom (DFL-Brooklyn Park)

Teamsters Local 320 Members with Representative and House Assistant Minority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul)

Teamsters Local 320 Members with Senator Jim Abler (GOP-Anoka)

Our largest state employers failed to get adequate fund-ing and are in limbo with their bonding projects. With no tax bill local governments lost out on increased state aid.

We need to change these failed dynamics at the State Legislature. That’s why Team-sters will be out registering voters in coming months!

LEGAL UPDATE BY GENERAL COUNSEL

Page 5

By Paula Johnston

Last June, the Department of Labor released proposed regulations that would modify certain provisions of the FLSA. Specifically, it proposed regulations modifying the requirements of the so called “white collar exemptions” – the executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales exemptions. The highly compensated exemp-tion (“HCE”) also falls under this umbrella term. The rules have been finalized and will take effect on December 1, 2016. (Some positions, like lawyers and doctors, are statutorily exempt. The new rules will not affect those posi-tions.)

White collar exemptions are deter-mined by specific tests. A position must meet each element in the test to fall under the exemption. The first element in each test is based on salary: the employee must be compensated on a salary basis (as defined by the regulations) at a rate of not less than $455 per week. “Sal-ary basis” means that the employee is paid a predetermined amount per week. This amount is fixed and can-not be reduced based on the quality or quantity of work performed. The new FLSA overtime regulations raise the sal-ary basis amount from $455 per week to $913 per week. This means that any employee working in a position that meets all of the other elements of a white collar exemption but earns less than $913 per week will no longer be exempt after December 1, 2016, and the employee will be eligible to earn overtime pay.

The salary threshold will be automatically increased every three years based on an automatic-escalator, which is a significant change to the regulations. To give some context to that statement, the current threshold of $455 per week was set in 2004.

NEW FLSA OVERTIME RULES TAKE EFFECT DECEMBER 1, 2016

The HCE total compensation level will be raised from $100,000 to $134,004. Employees performing office or non-manual work and paid total annual compensa-tion of $134,004 or more (which must include at least $913 per week paid on a salary or fee basis) will be exempt from the FLSA if they customarily and regu-larly perform at least one of the duties of an exempt executive administrative or professional employee

identified in the standard tests for exemption.

Employers have several options when it comes to dealing with employees affected by the new rules. The employer could simply start paying the overtime, or limit the number of hours worked per week to for-ty. Alternatively, the employer could raise the

employee’s sal-ary to meet the new $913 per week threshold to main-tain the exempt status. Any of these options would be an improvement for the employee.

Of course, there are employers who will eliminate positions due to the new rules, but they will – I hope – be in the minority.

These new overtime rules were long overdue. The current salary basis threshold of $455 per week, or $23,660 per year, is unconscionably low. The fact that the amount remained stagnant for over a decade only compounded the problem. As of December 1st, mil-lions of employees will start earning the overtime that they have long deserved. This is a tremendous victory for working men and women in America.

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