December 2012 The President’s Report by President, Paul J. Bachtel DECEMBER LABOR HISTORY CALENDAR Page 3 MORE SERVICE HOURS — LESS STUDY Page 4 MERAA 2012 HOLIDAY CELEBRATION Page 4 ATU STRIVE FOR GOLD Page 5 WHY WE NEED A FAIR CUSTOMER COMPLAINT SYSTEM Page 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Page 6 SEATTLE HOLIDAY LIGHTS TOUR Page 6 PROPOSAL TO CHANGE BYLAWS Page 10 2013 ATU COPE LOBBY DAY Page 11 HAPPY RETIREMENT TO ANDY GILMORE Page 12 Visit online: www.atu587.com VOL. XXXV, NO. 12 Bargaining Update continued on page 7 T he bargaining table takes on a new emphasis as we work through the holiday season. On the union side, we are grateful for having gainful employment while so many others are looking for work, and we are dismayed by arrogance and outright selfishness by some on management’s side of the table intent on cheating those less fortunate. King County Metro Benefits: Last month I wrote to you about the disparity caused by the deceitful design of Healthy Incentives. While I enjoy the Gold level of benefits, I do so knowing that the plan’s design causes those with limited computer skills or who speak English as a second language to often receive only the Bronze level of benefits. Not a happy feeling during the holiday season. We are attacking this disparity in two ways. First, in the coming months we be will fielding Health Champions to help as many members as possible complete the Wellness Assessment Questionnaire and Individual Ac- tions Plan. If we all achieve the Gold level of benefits there will be no cost saving to King County and therefore no incentive to continue this type of wellness plan. Full compliance is the best way to kill Healthy Incentives and to that end our Health Cham- pions will be providing assistance to any member having difficulty completing the Healthy Incentives paperwork. We will again be rec- ommending the paper option with members maintaining photo copies of all documents submitted and sending those documents to WebMD “return receipt requested.” Second, we will be at the bargaining table demanding no increase in benefits cost sharing and permanent reforms to our Healthy Incentives wellness program in 2014 and beyond. Healthy Incentives: Choose the Paper Option If you’ve been following my presi- dent’s reports these past few months you know we must participate in Healthy Incentives in 2013 to obtain the lowest cost healthcare in 2014 un- less we obtain something different in “We are 11 months away from contract expiration and preparations for contract negotiation are underway.”
Transcript
Dece
mbe
r 201
2
The President’s Report
by President, Paul J. Bachtel
December Labor History caLenDar
Page 3more service Hours — Less stuDy
Page 4meraa 2012 HoLiDay ceLebration
Page 4 atu strive For GoLD
Page 5 WHy We neeD a Fair customer
compLaint system
Page 5Letters to tHe eDitor
Page 6seattLe HoLiDay LiGHts tour
Page 6 proposaL to
cHanGe byLaWs
Page 102013 atu cope Lobby Day
Page 11Happy retirement to
anDy GiLmore
Page 12
Visit online: www.atu587.com VOL. XXXV, NO. 12
Bargaining Update
continued on page 7
The bargaining table takes on a new emphasis as we work through the holiday season.
On the union side, we are grateful for having gainful employment while so many others are looking for work, and we are dismayed by arrogance and outright selfishness by some on management’s side of the table intent on cheating those less fortunate.
King County Metro Benefits:
Last month I wrote to you about the disparity caused by the deceitful design of Healthy Incentives. While I enjoy the Gold level of benefits, I do so knowing that the plan’s design causes those with limited computer skills or who speak English as a second language to often receive only the Bronze level of benefits. Not a happy feeling during the holiday season.
We are attacking this disparity in two ways. First, in the coming months we be will fielding Health Champions to help as many members as possible
complete the Wellness Assessment Questionnaire and Individual Ac-tions Plan. If we all achieve the Gold level of benefits there will be no cost saving to King County and therefore no incentive to continue this type of wellness plan. Full compliance is the best way to kill Healthy Incentives and to that end our Health Cham-pions will be providing assistance to any member having difficulty completing the Healthy Incentives paperwork. We will again be rec-ommending the paper option with members maintaining photo copies of all documents submitted and sending those documents to WebMD “return receipt requested.” Second, we will be
at the bargaining table demanding no increase in benefits cost sharing and permanent reforms to our Healthy Incentives wellness program in 2014 and beyond.
Healthy Incentives: Choose the Paper
OptionIf you’ve been following my presi-
dent’s reports these past few months you know we must participate in Healthy Incentives in 2013 to obtain the lowest cost healthcare in 2014 un-less we obtain something different in
“We are 11 months away from contract expiration and preparations for contract
negotiation are underway.”
December 2012
2
Business of the Membership
MOTION: By Bruce Tiebout that Local 587 follow the Constitution and General law of the Amalgam-ated Transit Union, paragraph 6.15, and send a delegate to the Interna-tional Convention in San Diego, California the end of August 2013.
Motion failed.
MOTION: By James Reese to donate $1,500.00 to the ATU In-ternational Disaster Relief Fund to aid members hurt by hurricane Sandy.
Motion passed.
MOTION: By Harold Batson that Financial Secretary Paul Neil is to prepare a report to present to the
membership at its next regularly scheduled meeting, itemizing all monies spent on the Tonya Gildon arbitration. This is to include, but not limited to attorney fees, arbitra-tor fees and all monies paid to or promised to the grievant.
Motion failed.
The following members were De-cember pot draw winners: Tamieko Cook, (charter meeting), Charles Miller (morning meeting), Paul Hausmann, (JTA meeting), Karen Martin, (Clallam County meeting) and Darren Diss, (afternoon meet-ing). The Clallam County Rolling Pot of $425 was lost by Stewart Miller. Next month it will be $450.
The Month at a Glance
Tentative AgendaCHARTER MEETING Thursday, December 6, 20128:00 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
MORNING MEETING Friday, December 7, 201210:30 a.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #82800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
JEFFERSON TRANSITMonday, December 10, 20127:00 p.m. Port Townsend Rec CenterPort Townsend, WA
CLALLAM TRANSITTuesday, December 11, 20127:00 p.m.Vern Burton Memorial BuildingPort Angeles, WA
Membership Meetings:
Executive Board Report
November 28, 2012
Published monthly in Seattle.
Official publication of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, AFL-CIO, representing employees of Metro/King County, Clallam Transit, Jefferson Transit, Seattle Personal Transit, and First Transit.
2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, Washington 98121Telephone: 206-448-8588.
Affiliations: Washington State Labor Council, King County Labor Council, Northwest Joint Con-ference Board, ATU Legislative Council, Olympic
Labor Council.
Letters to the editorLetters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, addresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is the 15th of each month. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprintable by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish.
Send letters to:
Judy Youngc/o ATU Local 587 News Review 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, WA 98121
WeinGarten riGHts statementI request to have a union representative present on my behalf dur-
ing this meeting because I believe it may lead to disciplinary action taken against me. If I am denied my right to have a union representative present, I will refuse to answer accusational questions and any I believe
officerS of The AMALgAMATeD TrANSiT UNioN, LocAL 587:
Web site: http://www.atu587.com
Minority Affairs Officer MICHAeL MOOReVehicle Maintenance Position #1 CORy RIGTRuP Vehicle Maintenance Position #2 DAN KeNNy Vehicle Maintenance Position #3 RANDy STeINMANFacilities Maintenance ALFONSO ISLASupervisors KevIN HeNDRICKSSpecial Classifications eRIC BuTLeRKing County units Outside KCM NINuS HOPKINSTransit Operator Position #1 ANDRew JeROMSKy Transit Operator Position #2 veRITA ALexANDeRTransit Operator Position #3 TAMIeKO COOKTransit Operator Position #4 LISA NAuLTTransit Operator Position #5 CHeRISe MILLHOuSeTransit Operator Position #6 NATHANAeL CHAPPeLLe Transit Operator Position #7 LINDA ANDeRSONTransit Operator Position #8 RAy MASONClallam / Jefferson County ROBERT EASHRail Representative CHuCK MILLeR
A r b i t r a t i o n U p d a t e1. Richard Wischmann: Grieved
2. Millwright et al: Grieved Metro decision to manage Vehicle Main-tenance Millwrights with Facilities Maintenance managers and changes in work requirements; scheduled December 3 & 4, 2012.
3. Ravi Ronser: Grieved termination for alleged gross misconduct; sched-uled December 18 & 19, 2012.
4. Sam Men: Grieved failure to honor grievance forfeiture by Transit Human Resources; being litigated through stipulated briefs, decision pending.
5. Antonio Bridges: Grieved suspen-sion for alleged Personal Electronic Device use while operating a Metro
vehicle; scheduled January 29, 2013.
6. Karen Rispoli: Grieved discipline issued and a forced transfer as a re-sult of an ongoing equipment failure causing a door to remain open while a train was in motion; scheduled February 12, 2013.
7. Emerson Gordon: Grieved ter-mination for alleged violation of attendance probation; scheduled November 27, 2012.
8. Terry Hino: Grieved King County Metro’s failure to properly assign overtime; schedule pending.
9. Jill McGarrah: Grieved termination for alleged gross misconduct; sched-uled January 8 & 9, 2013.
10. Earl Mangold: Grieved discipline is-sued for alleged violation of nonexis-tent lift use policy; schedule pending.
WEDNESDAy MEETING Wednesday, December 12, 20123:30 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
Among Topics to be Discussed: Grievance and Arbitration Update
Unfinished Business: None
”The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
~ Helen Keller
Please notify the union office of any member’s passing so that this information may be shared with the rest of our union family.
In Loving Memory…
Van G. Harker, a KCM Transit Operator, last worked out of South Base, passed away on October 27, 2012. Brother Harker joined the Local February 2005. He was 67 years old.
Joy Cooper, a retired KCM Transit Operator, who last worked out of Atlantic Base, passed away in the month of October. Sister Cooper joined the Local in 1978.
The following Officers were present: President Bachtel, Vice President DeVoss, Financial Sec-retary Neil, Recording Secretary young, executive Board Officers Alexander, Anderson, Butler, Chappelle, Cook, eash, Hendricks, Hopkins, Isla, Kenny, Miller, Moore, Nault, Rigtrup and Steinman.
Vice President Safrin and Ex-ecutive Board Officer Mason were attending the arbitration of Brother emerson. executive Board Officer Millhouse was out sick and Jerom-sky was absent.
MOTION: By Robert Eash that members employed at Clallam Tran-sit in the paratransit division shall continue to pay the International minimum dues until further notice.
MOTION: By Ninus Hopkins to establish a standing motion that starting in 2013 up to $1500 may be spent on a Holiday parties for paratransit member in King County.
MOTION: By Robert Eash to accept the International Delegates Election results as presented.
MOTION: By Ninus Hopkins that ATU Local 587 allocate up to $2,500 for Lobby Day.
December 2012
3
December Labor History CalendarCompiled by Bill Clifford
1945—ATU 587 initiates Shop Steward program.
1 Dec925—Bus service starts on 24th
Av SW and streetcar line operations begin north of Cowen Park.
1955—Rosa Parks, an African American, refuses to give her bus seat in front to a white man, Montgomery, Alabama. She set off a successful year-long bus boycott by blacks and sparks the Civil Rights movement of the next decade.
2 Dec1956—A court injunction forces
587 employees back to work after a 10-day walkout. On the same day 587 members also reject management’s offer of an additional 6 cents per hour for drivers. 587 wanted an across the board increase of 25 cents for all employees. After the vote, the Transit Commission unilaterally changed the handling of AC time, cashing out AC in excess of 40 hours. 587 got an injunction against that abuse of the contract.
3 Dec1928—Seattle Transit discon-
tinues service on Ray Street and youngstown shuttles and on west Green Lake bus line.
1990—ATU 587 stages mid-day walkout/mandatory union meeting at Seattle Center, shutting down all Metro service. (A handful of our members stayed at work, one worka-holic died of a heart attack soon after. Members who worked during the 1977 strike made a point of showing their faces at this meeting.) The con-tract had expired on October 31 and negotiations were hostile. Nearly the whole contract was sent to arbitra-tion while simultaneously both sides agreed to “collaborative bargaining.” After 19 months of negotiating and
posturing and thousands of dollars of arbitration expenses, 75% of the membership voted for the new con-tract in May 1992.
5 Dec1955—The Montgomery Improve-
ment Association (MIA) is formed to coordinate the Montgomery bus boy-cott (see Dec 1) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is elected president. Boycott ended in victory 21 December 1956).
I am a Greyhound driver,I’m on the road all dayIt never came into my mindto take a cut in pay!I work at honest laborso I’m qualified to saywhen it comes to slashing salarieslet management lead the way!ChorusThere’s a union buster in the driver’s seat.There’s a weasel under Greyhound’s skin.But they can’t sell me that shilligaleefor the union cause will win. (2X)I am a baggage handlerworking class personified.The corporation’s profits are wrenched from my insides.Some hooligan-in-trainingreplaced me yesterdayso your luggage for Acapulcoended up in Thunder Bay!I’m this ordinary fellow,wants to get to Albany,won’t buy Greyhound’s one-way ticketto twilight and misery.I refuse to leave the drivingto some scabbing son of a bitch.So you’ll see me on the Thruway
for it’s safer to hike and hitch!ChorusThere’s a union buster in the driver’s seat.There’s a bloodhound under Greyhound’s skin.But they can’t sell me that miseryI’m on strike until we win! (2X)
7 Dec1935—National Labor Relations
Board hears its first case, from AAS-eRe (ATu) Local 1063 of Pittsburg, PA.
8 Dec1886—American Federation of
Labor founded.
14 Dec1956—Following the walkout of
November 23 and a string of injunc-tions from both parties, the corpo-ration counsel of Seattle rules that the contract between Local 587 and Seattle Transit is subject to arbitra-tion. This ruling had national effect in establishing the right of public employees to arbitration.
17 Dec1892—Division 4 of the Amal-
gamated Association of Street Rail-way employees of America (ATu) founded in Tacoma. Frank H. Terry represented the Tacoma Carmen’s Association at the Amalgamated’s founding convention and was elected first IvP. Division 4 foundered and Tacoma tried again in 1903 with Divi-sion 330 of the Amalgamated Asso-ciation of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America. Division 330 disappeared after an unsuccessful strike. (The International changed its name again in 1934, becoming--Amalgamated Association of Street, electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America—and again in 1964 to the Amalgamated Transit union.)
1933—white Center streetcar service discontinues due to slides.
19 Dec1983—Greyhound CeO Fred
Currey, encouraged by Reagan’s destruction of PATCO and Frank Lo-renzo’s union busting at Continental Airlines, comes after ATU members with a series of unfair labor practices and scab replacements. ATU struck. The strike was settled on Dec 19, with ATU members giving up about 15% of their pay package. Another strike in 1990 lasted three years and nearly bankrupted both ATU and Greyhound. As a result Fred Curry lost his job as head of Greyhound and ATU President Jim La Sala jumped on the interest-based bargaining bandwagon.
20 Dec1970—The Occupational Safety
and Health Act (OSHA) takes effect.2005—Thousands of New york
City members of Transit workers Union Local 100 and ATU Local 1056 begin a two-day strike against the transit system over retirement, pension and wage issues. The strike violated the state’s Taylor Law; TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was jailed for ten days and the union was fined $2.5 million and lost its dues check off until 2007. TWU did preserve its pension plan, secured wage increases of 3%, 4% and 3.5% over the three years of the contract, and won Martin Luther King Day as a new holiday. Workers lost Taylor law penalties (two days pay for each day on strike) from their paychecks in 2006.
21 Dec1921—Supreme Court rules labor
injunctions and picketing unconsti-tutional. Chief Justice (and former president) william Howard Taft declared that picketing was, in part, “an unlawful annoyance and hurtful nuisance...”
23 Dec1925—Bus service starts on Em-
pire way (now Martin Luther King way).
2012—Great benchmark in Mayan calendar: “The Long Count cycle will return to the symmetry of the beginning.”
24 Dec1921—Beacon Hill line begins
with one bus donated by the Beacon Hill Improvement Club.
2012—Brother Nick Claus makes major OT.
28 Dec2012—Full moon--watch out for
revelers.
30 Dec1988—In the struggle against
apartheid, ATU 587 President Dan Linville sends offer of support to the Transport and General Workers Union in Durban, Republic of South Africa.
31 Dec1918—Following a Nov 5 advisory
vote, Ordinance 39025 provides for the acquisition of Puget Sound Trac-tion, Light & Power Company with 20-year utility bonds, $15 million at 5% interest. The PSTL&P extensive but run-down streetcar lines were added to Seattle Municipal Street Railway’s two lines that began in 1910.
ZUMBAGREAT MUSIC!!!
HEALTHy INCENTIVES!!! Feel good, exercise with friends, laugh, dance and the best part:LOSE THAT HOLIDAy WEIGHT & HAVE FUN AT THE SAME TIME!!
Anyone can do this — Go at your own pace!$12 a month check or cash • deadline December 31, 2012
December 2012
4
The following I communi-cated to the City of Seattle Councilmember’s meeting
as they consider Seattle’s budget to spend up to $10,000,000 for another streetcar study and a whopping $650,000,000 in construction of more streetcar corridors.
“Councilmember’s I would like to point out some of the economic advantages to the current Electric Trolley Bus (eTBs) system:
1. The current ETB System oper-ates on rubber tires allowing the ETBs to climb steep hills where steel wheels on steel tracks cannot.
2. the proposed new ETBs will have batteries, unlike rail cars; this will allow ETBs to go off-wire around traffic congestion.
3. A year ago we presented a cost benefit analysis of eTBs (ref. http://www.wallingfordsolarinitiative.org/projects/electric-trolley-bus-jobs-initiative) to the County’s Transportation, Economic and environment Committee. Our analysis demonstrated over $8M is saved in use of ETBs over diesel buses and $6M is gained from the federally funded overhead wire. Therefore expanded use of the ETBs under existing overhead wires and expanded use of ETBs increases the economic benefits of eTBs.
4. Electric vehicles offer an op-portunity to leverage federal funds to create local family-wage jobs in manufacturing and construc-tion. Electric vehicles, because they
can not reach Seatt le under their own power are ideal can-didates to have t he cars and propulsion sys-tems shipped separately and final assembled locally. In ad-dition the elec-tric supply from solar panels can help boost local solar panel manufacturing jobs and electrician jobs from installation of the solar panels. The Federal, State and increase in Seattle City Light electric rates make solar panels a much more viable option to supply the electricity. The Wallingford Solar Initiative has proposed solar panel installations on both Gas Works Park’s Play Barn and the new Wallingford Transfer Station’s roofs provide enough electricity to power an Electric Trolley Bus electrical substation (ref. www.wallingfordsolarinitiative.org).
I hope you will find these economic advantages of electrical vehicles, especially Electric Trolley Buses, important in your decisions around the Transit Master Plan. Sincerely, Chuck Lare”
The hundreds of millions of dol-lars advocated for streetcars appears to be based on the assumption that streetcars are more comfortable to ride and easier to use. That may
be true rela-tive to a 25 year old Breda but hardly a fair c o mp a r i s o n . The com for t and ease of use of new Electric Trolley Buses is what needs to be compared. Many of the modern ETB
designs are virtually indistinguish-able from streetcars (see the modern options at: http://www.tbus.org.uk/vuchic.htm).
As we are threatened with further elimination of service due to lack of funding, streetcars’ inefficiencies and expensive duplication of ser-vice need scrutiny. One of the most glaring examples is the Eastlake streetcar corridor estimated $50M per mile before roadway and bridge reinforcement costs are added. The Eastlake corridor would also duplicate the $19M infrastructure ETBs have been using for the last fifteen years. If anything we need
to be expanding ETB service where existing infrastructure is already paid for – greater use increases the value from existing infrastructure.
Fortunately we have strong sup-porters of eTBs in King County Councilmember Larry Phillips Chair of the Transportation, eco-nomics and environment Com-mittee. And City Councilmember Rasmussen who recognizes that without streetcars having their own dedicated lane, streetcars can be stuck on rails, stopped behind traffic obstructions. In contrast ETBs hav-ing rubber tires and battery powered off-wire capabilities able to easily maneuver around traffic obstruc-tions, resulting in ETBs’ providing greater value.
Which do you think our Riders would prefer, paying $50M per mile of streetcar or gaining 500,000 more hours of transit service? What would you prefer, spend $10M for another study or add an additional 100,000 service hours and rely on what ETBs’ through decades of service have demonstrated?
More Service Hours — Less StudyBy Atlantic Base Shop Steward Chuck Lare
On Monday October 8, 2012, I was driving my 16/05. I had left the ferry terminal at
7:05am. I had about 20 passengers, mostly folks from off the ferry on their way to work in the CBD. I ar-rived at 3rd and Union at 7:15am. I was number three at the zone so I had to make a second stop when the other buses moved ahead. I moved ahead and stopped. Just a couple of people got off. On the new 7000 buses the back door takes 4 to 5 seconds to close. Two people got on and I prepared to move out.
Suddenly I was being punched in the mouth. There I am, holding onto the steering wheel with my foot on the brakes. I had to just take the punches. I could not risk letting the bus go out of control. I had no idea why this was happening. I turned my head and yelled, “Somebody help me!” A passenger pulled the person away from me. A second passenger took the other side of the person who then began to yell and scream. I was able to then push the EA button. A man outside asked if he should call 9-1-1? I said, “yeS!” The radio coordinator called. I told him I had been beaten and asked for help. A supervisor arrived and this was the third person trying to subdue this very wild acting person. The police arrived and cuffed and removed the person.
After a few minutes the police pulled back the large hoody of the
person’s coat. It was a woman, about 30 years old with blond hair. From what I noticed, I assumed this was a street person with a whole lot of mental issues. I was okay. My lip was bleeding, my front teeth were jarred, my upper jaw was sore and my ears were ringing. I was taken to the doctor after I filled out mountains of paper work at the base. Then I filled out more paperwork at the doctor’s office. I had no serious injuries and was released.
The net result was that I got off work four hours early to go home and tend to my lip. I was on RDO after that and therefore did not get any more time off. Shucks! My thoughts afterwards are as follows: The passengers were great and they jumped right in. It took three men to keep this person subdued until the police arrived. I cannot tell you why I was attacked. It was not a personal thing. I sort of feel like this was a random act. Maybe she was mad at Metro. She was saying all sorts of things. Most of her yelling didn’t make much sense.
I have since been contacted by the prosecuting attorney. She will probably be charged with a class “C” felony. The conviction for this is a 10-25 year prison term. We will see what happens. These are pretty much the facts. I wrote this article to inform others and the only piece of advice I have is, if you need help, ask or yeLL for it! I did not feel alone.
Punched Out On 3rd & UnionBy Phil Lamebull, #20438, Ryerson Base
December 2012
5
At the start of benefits nego-tiations, your Union made it clear that the Healthy Incen-
tives program was not working well for our members. when the County asked why, we explained that in 2011, only 59% of ATU members reached gold, while 76% of all other county employees reached gold. In 2012, 64% of ATU members were gold while 81% of all other county employees were gold. As we heard from our members, there is a long list of reasons why the Healthy Incen-tives program as designed did not work for our members. In addition, many of our members felt that the Healthy Incentives program was not a meaningful tool to help them improve their health. ATU heard your concerns and has taken action!
A Wellness Subcommittee, com-prised of ATU members, Transit Management, and Healthy Incen-tives program staff, was created with the mission of improving the Healthy Incentives program by helping ATU Local 587 members and their spouses improve their health and reach the gold level of the ben-efits plan. Based on feedback from 587 members, the Subcommittee has been working hard to create a program that is simple, meaningful, and useful.
In 2013, a Pilot Program of changes to Healthy Incentives will include:
New Text for well-being program
that allows you to record your activi-ties via text messages;
New Diabetes Prevention and Control Programs;
Expansion of the Living Well with Chronic Conditions Program;
Most of the Individual Action Plans will be six weeks rather than ten weeks; and
Improvement of the online inter-face for the WebMD program.
The WebMD home page and the paper Individual Action Plan are also simplified. The paper Individual Action Plan helps you focus on stress reduction, exercise or nutrition and will be available by calling WebMD OR by download from the WebMD website. The required number of entries on the Individual Action Plan is only three per week for six weeks.
So, to get gold in 2013 (for benefits
in 2014), you need to:1) Complete the wellness Assess-
ment by January 30.2) Do an Individual Action Plan;
recording three (3) activities a week for six weeks by June 30.
Please remember that if you cover a spouse or domestic partner, both you AND your partner must com-plete the Wellness Assessment and Individual Action Plan in order to reach gold.
At this point we do not know what our benefits plan will look like in 2014, since benefits negotiations for 2014 and beyond are ongoing. The best way to save you and your family money is to get gold!
To help you get to gold, there will be Health Champions available at all the work sites. The idea for Health Champions grew out of the observation that there is a great deal
of camaraderie among the Local 587 members and one way to increase the number of our members who earn gold is to help each other.
Health Champions were mostly selected from the shop steward list and have volunteered to either lead an activity that will help you reach gold or provide assistance with navigating the WebMD site, texting or the paper plan in order to complete the Individual Action Plan. They will be trained by the County and will become familiar with the Wellness Assessment and the various Individual Action Plans. Contact information will be posted on the union bulletin boards so that you can call on them for assistance.
A series of classes are being planned on subjects particular to ATU members – like work life bal-ance on a 12 hour shift, how to pack healthy eating for a long shift – and each class will include instruction on how to put the learning into play in your life to get credit toward gold.
The Wellness Subcommittee as a whole has worked hard to create a Healthy Incentives experience that is more simple, more useful and more meaningful. Our seal of approval in the form of the ATU Strive for Gold Logo will be on upcoming materials and posters we have worked on.
Our goal is that 100% of our members earn gold in 2013!
ATU Strive For Gold
KC Metro Operators are work-ing harder than ever while Metro Management’s “ef-
ficiencies” continue to degrade Cus-tomer Service. Metro Management is infuriating customers with their elimination of routes, overcrowding the buses and running buses late by eliminating recovery time. The cus-tomer in-turn, takes their hostilities out on whom? you, the Operator, the frontline worker, conveniently placed behind the wheel - a “Metro target” for the customer to wield complaints. Metro Management’s “efficiencies” are carried out by the Operators and then the Operators are disciplined when the Customer complains.
What’s a hard working Operator to do? Take a lead from the Chicago Teachers’ community supported strike. Chicago Teachers a year before their contract expired formed Action Committees whose members were responsible for communicating face-to-face with 10 more members. The Action Committees’ message was we are building our own local activities and are reaching out to parents and community. Likewise we, as ATU 587 members have the ability to build our own local activi-
ties and reach out to our Riders and community. The Chicago Teachers circulated an open letter for parents and teachers to sign. The letter said that, if they were going to have a longer school day, it must be a better school day with high-quality leaders. Likewise if transit “efficiencies” are to occur then ATU 587 could place a full page ad in the Seattle Times reaching our Riders and community. We, with Riders and community could call on Metro to provide better customer service through guaranteed rest periods for more on-time service, more Runs on remaining routes to reduce overcrowding and provide high-quality leaders who understand how to deliver customer service by not blaming Operators.
As ATU 587 members we can work with the customer to move the blame off the backs of Operators to where it belongs, on the shoulders of Metro Management. “The threat of terrorism to public transport systems has prompted the general public to have an acute understanding of the importance of a healthy and vigilant transit workforce to help prevent and respond to emergencies.”
Operators are “Green Frontline Workers”, the public salutes you! As learned from the Chicago Teacher’s strike, our next contract we need not take-it-any longer when we have solidarity with the community. The community needs to understand Metro Management’s position: “... In order to move the system to better customer service performance, we have focused an increasing amount of our energy on those who perform poorly in this area. The pressure will be on those folks to improve or leave.” (ref. Operators’ Route Book Fall 2012 pages 2 & 3). This example can be used to raise the community’s un-derstanding of Metro Management’s unwillingness to take ownership of THEIR degradation of customer service. Further local activities can reach our Riders and community to inform them about Metro punitive style management e.g.:
Operator(s) suspended for three days on the first occurrence for refusing to pick up a threatening passenger;
Operator(s) suspended for 5 days on Customer hearsay alleging the
observance of Operator on cell phone. Metro refused the Operator’s cell phone calling records to be used in his defense.
Operators fired for unsubstanti-ated CAOs;
In addition to the Rider and com-munity outreach by Action Commit-tee members, our current contract’s language needs to be enforced that guarantees our union’s President/designee right to contact the accus-ers through process, as is intended in current contract pages 182 – 184: “2. Metro makes an exception to its non-disclosure policy in griev-ance situations, where the Union President/designee requests that Metro disclose the name and tele-phone number of the complainant. In this situation, Metro manage-ment facilitates contact between the complainant and Union.”
As did the Chicago Teacher’s strike prevailed with a year’s advanced planning building community through Action Committees, so we too have the opportunity through Riders-Support-Drivers-Support-Riders to hold Metro Management accountable for THeIR Customer Service.
Why We Need A Fair Customer Complaint System
By Atlantic Base Shop Steward Chuck Lare
Submitted by the Wellness Subcommittee
December 2012
6
to retire at age 62 (instead of 65) with no reduction in their benefit. They can also retire before age 62 with less of a benefit reduction than had previously been provided.
Under the law, the replacement ben-efits will no longer be available if a final court of law determines that the repeal of gain sharing is invalid and orders a reinstatement of gain sharing or other alternate benefits as a remedy.”
Our Long-time Uniform ProviderDear Editor: In the nine years that I have
patronized our uniform provider, Don’s, not once has my complete or-der been in stock. I can understand clothing needing alterations to be shipped, but not having hand-warmers, water bottles, belts and gloves in the store…
Moreover, often it takes an exces-sively long time for items to be de-livered. In fact, this past September it took over one month to receive my turtleneck!
As for service, I have found the staff to be disinterested, minimally helpful, and compared to most re-tailers, woefully lacking in quality customer service.
Finally, with respect to cost, I would expect to pay more for high end American made items. Unfortunately, many of the items are not American made and the quality is not commensurate with the inflated prices.
Questionable shipping practices, marginal customer service and high prices; why has Don›s been our exclusive uniform provider for all these years?
Sincerely,Joe KadushinCentral Base
WORK SITE VISITSPaul Bachtel, President, and Paul Neil, Financial Secretary,
will be visiting various work sites during the month of December. Below is a list of times, dates and locations.
December 3rd Bellevue Operations 4:00 am – 6:30 amMonday Bellevue Vehicle Maintenance 6:30 am – 7:00 am December 4th East Operations 4:00 am – 6:30 amTuesday East Vehicle Maintenance 6:30 am – 7:00 am
December 5th North Facilities 4:00 am – 6:00 amWednesday
December 12th Tunnel Facilities 8:00 pm – 9:00 pmWednesday
Letters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, ad-dresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is the 15th of each month. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprintable by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish. Send letters to:
Judy youngNews Review Editor
c/o ATu Local 587 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230
Seattle, WA 98121
senD in your opinions notice to aLL reaDers
Views and opinions
expressed in News review articles are those of the
authors and not necessarily the official position
of Local 587
Letters to the Editor…
Consider Early Retirement?
Dear Editor:
The update below is from the Department of Retirement Systems website.
Local 587 members have been choosing to retire early taking advantage of the early out option that allows anyone 62 years of age or older with 30 years of service credit to retire without reduction in benefit amount and those less than 62 years of age to retire early with a lesser reduction in benefit amount then had been previously offered.
If this lawsuit is upheld the early out options will no longer be offered. Those considering early retirement may well want to
consider their options before this ruling are final.
In solidarity, Paul J. Bachtel
“Status update on gain sharing litigation
Posted October 22, 2012” (Depart-ment of Retirement Systems website)
““Watch and wait” continues to be the order of the day for those monitoring litigation over gain sharing and early retirement provisions for members of certain state pension plans.
All parties in the case have petitioned the state Supreme Court to take direct review of lower court rulings in the litigation and are now preparing legal briefings to submit to the court over the next several months. Under the current schedule, all written arguments are due to be filed by the end of March 2013.
Once all briefs have been submitted, the next steps will be up to the Supreme
Court. The court could decide to accept the petition and schedule a date for oral arguments, or it could decline a direct review, which would put the appeals on the regular track of first going to the State Court of Appeals.
If a direct review is granted, it is not clear when oral arguments would take place. There would also be an undetermined amount of time after arguments are heard for the justices to render an opinion. It is not unusual for the process to take months and, in some cases, over a year.
At issue is a law approved in 2007 which repealed gain sharing provisions for members of certain state retirement plans and replaced them with other pension-related benefits, including op-tions for early retirement. In approving the replacement benefits, the Legislature made them contingent on the successful repeal of gain sharing.
Pension plan members and retirees affected by the repeal brought suit, challenging both the repeal and the contingency provisions. In the first phase of the lawsuit King County Superior Court Judge Richard Eadie ruled that the repeal of gain sharing was invalid. But he also ruled in the second phase that the state can terminate the replacement benefits if gain sharing is ultimately reinstated.
Under the law, the replacement benefits continue to be available until there is legal certainty regarding all is-sues of the case. Legal certainty is not reached until all parties have used up their opportunities for appeal.
The original gain sharing provisions, approved in 1998, allowed members of PERS and TRS Plans 1 and 3 and SERS Plan 3 to share in “extraordinary investment returns” under certain conditions. The law also stipulated that gain sharing was not a contractual right and that the Legislature reserved the right to amend or repeal it.
When the Legislature repealed gain sharing in 2007, it provided certain benefits as a replacement, including new provisions for early retirement. Those early retirement reduction fac-tors (known as ERFs) allow members of PERS, TRS and SERS Plan 2 and Plan 3 with at least 30 years of service
December 2012
7
benefits negotiations. Given we most likely won’t know the outcome of benefits negotiations before Healthy Incentives begins in 2013, I urge you to not only participate in Healthy Incentives but also to obtain Gold benefits status.
I’m acutely aware that the majority of members do not support continu-ation of Healthy Incentives in future benefits agreements but I also know the best way rid ourselves of Healthy Incentives is to have 100% of our membership obtain Gold status. If we all obtain Gold status King County will not save money through Healthy Incentives and will therefore have no reason to continue a costly and worthless program.
To achieve this goal I’m asking all members and their spouses to do the following:
Take the Wellness Assessment Question either online or by paper and print a copy of the result for your records.
Request a paper copy of your In-dividual Action Plan. I’m choosing the diet plan as I find it easiest to fill out. Last year it took me 30 minutes to complete the weekly forms. I filled out the forms in one sitting for all ten weeks. This year the diet plan only requires three entries per week for six weeks. I should be able to complete the forms in 15 minutes.
Make and maintain a copy of the forms for your records.
Mail the completed forms to webMD certified mail - return receipt requested.
Save the return receipt:
In the last year I have received numerous calls from members and managers informing me they had completed the Healthy Incentives process by taking the Wellness
President’s Report, continued
Assessment Questionnaire and completing an Individual Action plan only to have WebMD lose their submission. Without documentation these members and managers were given Bronze, the lowest level of benefit coverage.
In the last year I have received numerous calls from members and managers informing me they had not received the requested paper Individual Action Plan. Please keep a log of each time you call WebMD and if you don’t receive your paper Individual Action Plan within the time allotted (two weeks) call the union Office immediately!
If you need help Local 587 will be providing volunteer Health Champi-ons to assist you in obtaining Gold status. If you still need help call the union office. Together we will hold King County accountable for its dishonest and deceptive Healthy Incentives plan.
Seattle Personal Transit:
At the time of this writing negotia-tions are going well. Both the union and management have exchanged multiple proposals and the union has offered a tentative offer of settlement. It is my hope the parties will reach a tentative agreement in the very near future. Any tentative agreement will be subject to approval of the mem-bership. Members of your bargain-ing team include President Paul J. Bachtel, vice President Neal Safrin, 2nd vice President Clinton Devoss, Fi-nancial Secretary Paul Neal, Record-ing Secretary Judy young, executive Board Officer Ninus Hopkins, Chief Shop Steward Roscoe Seamon, and member Don Gillette. Please direct any specific questions regarding the status of negotiations to one of your bargaining team members.
Clallam Transit System Paratransit
Division:In the spring of 2011 Local 587
joined Clallam Transit System management in bringing Paratran-sit in house. We are now working collaboratively to standardize the fixed route and paratransit contracts where possible, and we are looking for cost saving solutions to operate the transit system more efficiently while providing family wage jobs for all employees. Members of your bargaining team include President Paul Bachtel, executive Officer Rob-ert Eash, Shop Steward Robert E. Lee, and Alternate Steward Kyle Parrish.
King County Metro:We are 11 months away from con-
tract expiration and preparations for contract negotiation are underway. Full-time and executive Board Offi-cers are selecting Core and Subcom-mittee members. Contract surveys are being prepared and our research committee is preparing to help in providing needed comparables to justify union demands.
For Transit Operators, contract surveys will include the standard questions we ask every three years (wages, benefits, working conditions) and in addition questions developed by the Seniority Commission. you can expect News Review articles regarding seniority issues in the coming months. I will be writing in favor of the present system. I know it serves us very well in providing an opportunity for Full-Time Transit Operators to reduce their schedules while maintaining full benefits and continuing to earn a full retirement service credits. It also provides Part-Time Operators with full-time positions (every Full-Time Operator who transfers to part-time opens up a full-time position for a Part-Time Operator waiting to transfer to full-
time). when considering the coming News Review articles on this subject don’t be fooled by the rhetoric, the present system is fair, balanced, and has served us well.
As negotiations begin, King County will no doubt be crying poverty as it continues to seek stable funding for transit. Local 587 will most likely be supporting county efforts in that regard and at the same time demanding union mem-bers continue to receive fair wages and benefits, with improvements in working conditions.
I suspect a major issue of conten-tion will be working conditions for Transit Operators (decent schedules with mandatory breaks and rest-room access). when filling out your contract survey please remember to demand improvements in working conditions for Transit Operators.
The cost of bargaining:
With four bargaining teams at work Financial Secretary Neil is hounding me about the cost of bar-gaining. This is the first time we’ve openly bargained benefits, and the cost of consultants, research, and detail time is taking its toll on our budget. Add to that the structural deficit in transit funding may very well lead to interest arbitration with King County in 2013 (as opposed to reaching a negotiated agreement) and our budget may be suffering an additional blow. Please know that I’m doing all I can to control costs and we have sufficient reserves. The benefits of negotiating our healthcare and each of our contracts to the full extent possible is worth the cost. Rest assured you will gain by the work now being performed. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
Happy Holidays,Paul J. Bachtel
President / Business Representative
Impossible SchedulingBy Mike Cathey, #11552
This past shake up I picked a dual tripper out of North Base. It is route 41’s on both ends. By
the second day I knew I had picked a real lemon and this was going to be a LONG shakeup. This work is sorely lacking in both run times and recovery time. The second day of the shakeup I started a service report with a run card attached noting the actual time it takes to do the work. My response from scheduling was that they know there are problems with the 41 and time was taken from the work as a “Cost Saving Measure”, and if more funding becomes avail-able they will add some time back in. This work cannot be done in the time given and apparently Metro knew that when they did the run cut. When I get downtown in the morning I get 7 minutes recovery time. Well that’s almost doable because I get to start the first trip on time. when I get out to Lake City the recovery time is 11 minutes. Many mornings I’m 11 minutes down by the time I reach the Northgate Transit Center, so when
I reach my Lake City Terminal I’m already past the time I am supposed to start the next trip. I need to use the comfort station at Fred Meyer (which I would guess is a ¼ mile roundtrip walk, the union 5 minutes is simply not enough time), check the coach for lost and found, chalk the tire and gather all my stuff up to walk to the lavatory. This makes me 15 minutes late starting the next trip and I never catch up. I’m supposed to get a 17 minute break before head-ing inbound to the Northgate Transit Center on my last trip to get relieved. I never, ever get this break. I check my coach for lost and found and get going because I don’t want to burden my relief by putting them in a hole right out of the gate. If I were a cynic, I would think that Metro purposely schedules the longest break we are going to get right before we get re-lieved. Playing upon our loyalty to our fellow operators by sacrificing our break and showing up as close to on time as we can.
These late operations have gen-
erated as many CAO’s (about late operations) in a month as I normally get in 5 years. you can’t blame the riding public. After all, these rid-ers are looking at timetables and determining which coach they need to take to get to work or appoint-ments on time. Metro always touts to their operators the Safety, Service, Schedule mantra. One little problem with that, our riders consider the buses running on time to be a part of service even if Metro doesn’t. I have had more people complain-ing about late operations than ever before. I turned in several incident reports denoting people upset about the bus running late and have been told don’t put in any IR’s about that anymore. The training office has told me when people complain tell them to grab a schedule and make a complaint to Metro customer service, which naturally trickles down to me in the form of a CAO.
I do know that I do my level best to drive the bus the way that Metro wants me to. They are paying my
wages and I fully believe that gives them the right to have the coach oper-ated the way they want it be operated. I don’t speed, charge yellow lights or stale green lights. I make my turns at 5 mph, ease in and out of zones, I make sure I have plenty of room before I pull away from a zone and I keep correct following distances. I’m in my mirrors all the time, I wait for runners, I’m easy on the brake and throttle to give people a safe and smooth ride, I wait for people to get a seat before I leave a zone, especially if the floor is wet, or I have an elderly or a disabled passenger or someone managing small children.
The long and short of it is that you cannot safely out drive a bum run card. All operators are likely to do is jam themselves up by getting into accidents. you can only cut corners so long before it will bite you. For me, I also am not going to sacrifice my health by “holding it” or never getting out of the seat to stretch my back and legs.
continued on page 8
December 2012
8
Vice President’s Journal for December 2012
The Grievance Process — The Third Step Hearing
Vice President Safrin’s ReportBy Neal Safrin
This is the third article in a series about the grievance process. After the Vice President re-
ceives notification that the grievance was denied at second Step, the VP then has 15 days to decide whether or not to request a third step hear-ing. As stated last month, a third step hearing does not take place in the case of terminations; the 3rd step hearing will only take place with disputes in contract interpretation and discipline, up to and including suspensions. If the grievance is about a termination, the next step will be to arbitration, if the Vice President determines that we have a good case for reinstatement. Before requesting 3rd step it is my practice to send the grievance file to one of our attorneys for a legal opinion. My question to the attorney is always, “If this case proceeds to arbitration, are we more likely than not to prevail?”
The third step hearing is heard at a higher level than first and sec-ond step grievances. Our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) states, “The grievance shall be presented to Transit Human Resources. Thereaf-ter, the Employee and Union Business Representative/ designee will meet with a committee consisting of a Transit Human Resources designee, manager/designee and other ap-propriate METRO personnel for the purpose of resolving the grievance.”
The Vice Presidents will study the first and second grievance responses from management to determine
whether or not management has con-vincingly argued to deny the griev-ance. Has management addressed all points of the Union position on the grievance? Or have they been avoiding addressing some of the is-sues? Do I have contractual grounds to challenge their assertions? The attorney will be looking at the same things, but the attorney will also look for legal precedent. Has this issue (or something very similar) gone to arbitration before, and what was the outcome?
Once I receive the legal opinion, I will consult with the Union President and often with the other full-time officers before making my decision. If I decide to request a third step hearing, “the meeting will be held within 30 days after the receipt of the Step 3 referral, unless a later date is mutually agreed by the PARTIES. Metro shall, within 10 days from the meeting, notify the Union in writing of its decision.” If no agreement can be reached at third step, the Union will have 60 days to request arbitra-tion, after we receive the decision from management. The last step in the grievance process, arbitration, will be covered next month.
Your Commercial Driver’s License
Several times a year, King County Metro’s Safety Officers will receive notice from the Department of Li-censing of those employees whose CDLs have been suspended. For
many of us, transit operators, first line supervisor’s, mechanics, equipment service operators and other positions, it is a condition of employment to have a valid CDL. when management receives notification of a CDL suspen-sion, they will immediately launch an investigation of whether you have been driving a Metro vehicle with a suspended CDL. If they determine that you have, they will most likely attempt to terminate you. Two of our members have faced this charge in the last two months; one was terminated and the other member received a long suspension.
The Book states, “Metro operators must have in their possession a valid CDL and current medical examiner’s certification.” you must notify your base chief immediately when your license is expired or suspended. Op-erators must submit written notifica-tion of a change of address to the WA State Department of Licensing (DOL) within 10 calendar days using a form supplied by the DOL. Operators are personally responsible for any fines resulting from traffic violations, in-cluding photo radar and photo red light tickets. These are only some of the rules and regulations listed in The Book on page 5, under the heading of Driver’s License.
From what I have seen, the most common way for your CDL to get suspended is when an operator has
an unpaid traffic ticket and does not receive notification of suspension, due to a change of address or not receiving the notification for other reasons. Regardless of the reason, if you drive a Metro vehicle without a valid CDL, you will be facing ter-mination.
So how can you avoid getting yourself into hot water over this? One of the first things you can do is read page 5 in The Book and follow all the rules. Another policy to con-sider adopting is not to loan out your car. Many of us have discovered an unpaid parking ticket months later after loaning a car out, either to our children or to good friends. And if you change residence, make sure that you notify the DOL.
you can also check the status of your CDL on the wA DOL website. It is free to check whether you (or anyone else) have a valid driver’s license if you know the license num-ber. If you want to see an abstract of your driving record for the last five years, you can obtain this for $13.00 at the DOL website. If you don’t use the Internet, you can obtain the same information by mail or by visiting a DOL office near you.
Maintaining a valid CDL is our responsibility; taking the time to safeguard it will be well worth the effort.
Impossible Scheduling, continued
North Base Operators Ivan Londura and Jessica Sutter
recently celebrated the arrival of
twins Sofia Lynn and Jack Aleksei. Congratulations!
Because of the work you perform you are exposed to situations and events that would be considered
“Extraordinary “ by most peo-ple’s standards. A natural desensiti-zation process may take place which allows you to continue working in this field, however, there will still be events which are overwhelm-ing, even for experienced transit personnel.
• Human-caused events elicit stronger feelings than normal disasters.
• Events with unusual sights, sounds or smells.
• Events which are life-threatening to the worker.
• Events which violate the worker’s sense of how the world should be.
• Events drawing high media coverage.
• Events that have elements those workers identify with.
Don’t let yourself become iso-lated. Maintain connection with your community; family, friends, co-workers, supervisors, relatives, members or leaders within your religious group. Talk to them about your experiences with them.
If you notice your concentration or attention being disrupted to the extent that you are concerned about safety on the job, talk to your chief or another appropriate person.
CISM TEAM HOTLINE206-263-676124 HOURS
Critical Incident Stress Management at Metro
What to do? The answer is actu-ally pretty simple. If Metro know-ingly cuts a piece of work that can’t be done on time they need to make the time points estimated. This way the riding public would know that if they absolutely have to be somewhere, at a certain time, they might need to catch an earlier bus. Maybe even make those estimated time points in colored ink on the timetables so there can be no mistake
about which times are estimated. The way it is now is a huge disservice to our riders and also has a detri-mental effect on driver’s morale. I know I’m already sick of people being in my face about running late. It is frustrating and stressful to be doing my job the way my employer wants it done and then be given an impossible schedule to keep. We will get you there. Well, eventually we will. We can do better.
December 2012
9
The Holiday Season
Vice President DeVoss’ ReportBy Clint DeVoss
When people start talking about other folk’s reli-gious beliefs, and I am no
expert, I find that many times they have misconceptions of what those other religions actually believe and teach.
There are many religions with dif-ferent branches as well as sects, and cults. Islam has two major divisions Shi’a and Sunni. The Christian reli-gion has two major divisions; Prot-estantism and Catholicism. Catholi-cism has two main branches: Roman Catholic and eastern Orthodox, while the Protestants have many subdivi-sions, Baptist, Methodist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), Lutheran, Christian Sci-ence, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many more. Judaism also is divided into different movements, chiefly these movements fall into the following groups Orthodox, Reform, Conserva-tive, and Hasidism.
I cannot give you a good represen-tation of the beliefs of all these differ-ent branches and movements other than very, very general information. If I have misrepresented any ones religion, I apologize ahead of time.
The point that I am trying to share is that we all have common interests
and beliefs as well as a shared com-munity interests in our continued employment at an employer that allows us our individual rights. Regardless of your personal beliefs, when you allow others to vilify or belittle another member’s beliefs you shrink your own right to freely exercise your own beliefs. Please do not allow yourself or anyone else to take away your rights by taking away anyone else’s ability to be themselves. Be respectful of our differences in-cluding sexual orientation, ethnic, cultural, and religious beliefs. These differences are also our strengths, because they give us different ways of looking at and solving problems that we all share!
During this time of year, the three major religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism celebrate holidays that give life to their beliefs.
Islam is separated into two major groups; Shi’a and Sunni. My poor un-derstanding of the major difference is that Shi’a Muslims believe that Islam’s Prophet Muhammad should have been succeeded by Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet) as their spiritual leader. While Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr (a senior companion and the father-in-
law of the Prophet) should succeed the Prophet.
Both Shi’a and Sunni have com-mon holidays during this part of the year. The New year (yes, the Muslim calendar is different that the western european one) of the Islamic calendar begins at the time that the Prophet Muhammad’s move from Mecca to Medina, this journey is commonly called the Hegira. This holiday (Al-Hijra) was celebrated on November 15. we share the common practice of making a “resolution” for the New year.
Another holiday celebrated during this time of year is eid-Al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) This Muslim holiday, celebrated during the time of the annual hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, marks the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael, as com-manded by God. Islam, Christianity and Judaism all incorporate parts of what Christians call the Old Testa-ment in thier beliefs.
Christian religions celebrate Christmas which comes from the Old English root “Cristes Mæsse” mean-ing “Christ’s Mass”. while the day that Christ was actually born can be debated and the day that the birth is actually celebrated differs with what calendar is used (Julian or Gregorian). Common to most Christian religions is they set aside a day to celebrate the birth of the son of God or Christ (Jesus). In this country we celebrate that day on December 25th, as both a religious and secular event. Some believe that the origin of December 25th come, at least in part, comes from the pagan Roman celebration of Winter Solstice.
Judaism celebrates Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, beginning on the evening of Satur-day, December 8, 2012, and ending in the evening of Sunday, December 16th. Hanukkah (also spelled Cha-nukkah, Chanuka, and various other spellings) celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (Second Temple) and retaking of their land by the Maccabee’s from the Greek’s.
When the Maccabee’s regained control they wished to purify the Temple and were dismayed to find only a small amount of oil for the purpose. They never-the-less lit the menorah (candelabrum with eight candleholders in a row and a ninth candleholder set a little above the others) and were surprised that the oil burned for all eight days. This is the miracle of oil and is celebrated by lighting one candle the first night, two the second, and so on, until the final night when all the candles are lit.
Other beliefs, I have not discussed the many other religions of the world such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Bud-dhism, Shintoism, and the Rastafari movement, simply because I know so little about them.
Please, as you enjoy the blessings of your life remember that we are stronger for our diversity and to enjoy the freedoms of choice that we currently have, we must defend and respect the right of others to have beliefs different than our own.
A COMMENT ON A PRO -POSED By-LAW CHANGE
The union Office has received a new proposed by-law that could af-fect the level of service that you get when you need help. I am even quoted as saying something to the affect that our Union needed a dues increase because of our financial troubles. I do not remember saying that and if I did it was taken out of context. Cur-rently, we have run in the red for the last two months. That does not mean that the union is in financial trouble, we have almost a million dollars in reserves. What that means is that the Union is to pay for the things that we need to do, for example, we are paying for the negotiation over Healthcare Benefits, including a consultant. The alternative is to walk into the negoti-ating room at a disadvantage, with no facts, figures, and/or expert advice. What you have to remember is that all the services that you receive have to be paid for and if you don’t want to pay the bill then you will get bad outcomes.
Ultimately, we work for you, it is your choice to spend the money that we need to spend to do a good job or NOT.
What this proposed by-law change would do is reduce the number of full-time officers by combining the Recording Secretary and the Finan-cial Secretary. In concept this is all well and good. In practice, the current full-time officers work more than 60 hours per week on the average, so there is just not anymore work that they can realistically do. This includes both the Recording and Financial Secretaries.
So, since there are legal require-ments for reporting, bills to pay, and providing financial information that the Financial Secretary must compile, who is going to do this? The claim made that there is software to do the job is correct, as far as it goes; there is software to do some of it. What about the rest? And what about those folks that have L&I issues or are being medically terminated, do we turn our back on these folk? Currently our Recording Secretary deals with all of these issues, without one fewer folks can be helped. Again, this is your call!
I believe that, while well intend-ed, this by-law proposal is poorly thought through and will result in you receiving poorer service from your Union. There is no such thing as a free lunch!
Happy Holidays!Clint DeVoss
FREEDOM OF CHOICE MAKES US STRONGER
Every so often you run into these clever people who sell you something for almost
nothing. It’s not until after you get it home do you realize that you were taken for a ride. This is how I’ve felt when the conversation turns to ASe Certifications, but to be fair, more than once I have benefited from someone just trying to sell an unpopular item.
What do I make of bringing ASE’s to our worksites? Well, I can think of a few positives…MONey, MONey and more MONey. every shop I have ever worked at increased my pay for each certification I got. I would expect the same from Metro.
Why would Metro offer us more money, especially when money is tight you may ask. I think another Board Officer said it best, “every company wants to hang that ASE sign in the front window were the public can see!”
Well, if that is all there is to it then I say bring on the ASE’s and hang that sign proudly!!!
However, I reckon there is a little more to it than that. As I am natu-
rally gravitated towards throwing punches than taking punches, I find myself asking, no one just gives money away, what’s the catch?
At first glance the idea sounds beneficially one sided. “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip,” an old proverb warns, and I am certain clever people have thought this one through.
In fact, there are a number of po-tential negatives that can come from dividing up a classification. This part is where the Union needs to do some thinking in advance. I’ve been told all those potential negatives can be ad-dressed with some well-constructed contract language. That may be so, but for now the jury is out.
So if ASE’s stir something within you, then I think it’s worth some conversations. Pour your coworkers a cup of coffee and start talking. Seek out those with a difference of opinion, ask them questions and make an ar-gument. When you solidify your own opinion, make your voice heard and tell your Union your wishes. Because when it comes to bargaining, we get nothing for free.
I Was ASE Certified OnceSubmitted by V.M. Board Officer Cory Rigtrup
December 2012
10
The Financial Secretary’s ReportBy Paul Neil
New Member Applications submitted to the
ATU International in October:In the month of October 2012, we reported 26
new members to the ATU International. All are employed at King County/ MeTRO. This brings our total active membership to 4176. This is an increase of 98 members compared to this time last year when we had 4078 active members.
Bills:All financial figures are subject to the review
of the Executive Board. In October total income was $253,729.41
Per Capita payments totaled $60,283.91Other bills for payroll, rent, legal, etc totaled
$214,059.51. This amounts to a deficit of $20,614.01 for the month.
As of the end of October, the figures for this year compared to last are: Income is up $40,210.29 or 1.5%, per capita’s are up $9,893.30 or 1.7%, all other expenses are up $394,323.21 or 20.4% and the deficit is $267,979.75 this year versus a surplus of $96,026.47 at this time last year.
My activities for the month:• Base visits with the President at South Base,
South Facilities, South vM, CSC, SPT, LINK and S. Lake union Street Car.
• October 15th I attend a First Transit LRC along with Vice President Safrin and Executive Board Member Ninus Hopkins.
• On October 8 signed up new members at First Transit and METRO VM.
• On October 9 attended CTS negotiations.• On October 10 attended along with the
other officers the MeTRO Operator of the month
luncheon.• October 12-14 I represented the Nw Confer-
ence at a meeting of the California Conference. The reason I attended is the Nw Conference meets jointly with the California Conference next year and as the Nw Conference Financial Secretary I needed to work out some details with them.
• October 16th was National Bosses Day and our Local 8 staff cooked and brought in lunch. It is wonderful to work with such a great group of Administrative Professionals who are dedi-cated, highly skilled and happy to be working for ATU 587.
• On October 24 I attended SPT negotiations.• On October 26th I went with Executive Board
member and fill-in Recording Secretary Ray Mason to pick up the ballots at the post office for the International Convention Delegate election.
The most effective lobbyist is you!
Financial Secretary’s November 2012 Membership Meeting Report
The election is over and life as we know it did not come to a fiery end except at Pierce
Transit where their ballot measure to raise the sales tax failed by 0.34% or 685 votes out of over 200,000 cast. This loss may spell the end for public transit in that county. Other than that loss it was in my opinion a status quo election and now the hard part
to maintain King County MeTRO Transit at current levels starts.
The car tab money will run out in mid 2014(about 19 months) and un-less we are able to obtain additional funding or the sales tax receipts suddenly increases we here in King County will be looking at service cuts and layoffs. What can you do? One thing you can do is participate
in ATU 587 Lobby Day on February 20, 2013. As always a coach will leave Atlantic-Central that morning and take regular members to Olympia to visit with their legislators. The Union will provide transportation, lunch, and training on how to lobby your legislator and set up an appointment with a legislator from your district.
Legislators love to talk with people
who can actually vote for them. What you need to do is sign up for the trip and show up. Sign-up sheets will be in the News Review. The union will not pay you to go but we will try to get as many members off work so they can participate. The most ef-fective lobbyist is a real voter from a politician’s district—that means you!
November 20, 2012
To: All Members of Local 587From: Recording Secretary Judy Young
Proposal To Change Bylaws • Article III, Section 1, OfficersSubmitted by Harold Batson
In accordance with Article XV, pertaining to bylaw proposals, the fol-lowing bylaw proposal will be published in the December News Review, and will be voted upon through the January cycle of Union meetings.
BACKGROUND with the advent of computer databases the job of Financial Secretary/
Treasurer is not as demanding as it was in the past, (no hand ledgers). And as our local is in some financial difficulties as evidenced by our operating in the red for the last 2 months and the 2nd vice President/Assistant Business Representative – Maintenance stating at the October Charter Meeting that we need a dues increase because of the financial troubles that we are in. I purpose that the Financial Secretary/Treasurer position and the Record-ing Secretary/Correspondent to In Transit be combined into one position.
CURRENT: ARTICLE III OFFICERS
Section 1. The regular officers of the Local shall be: (a) President/Business Representative (b) vice President/Assistant Business Representative (c) 2nd vice President/Assistant Business Representative – Maintenance (d) Financial Secretary/Treasurer (e) Recording Secretary/Correspondent to In Transit(f) Candidates for President/Business Representative, vice President/
Assistant Business Representative, Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Recording Secretary/Correspondent to In Transit shall be elected by the membership at large.
(g) Candidates for 2nd vice President/Assistant Business Representative – Maintenance shall be nominated from and elected by all members within Vehicle Maintenance; Facilities Maintenance; Rail Vehicle Main-tenance; Way, Power and Signals, and Streetcar Maintainers as listed in the current labor agreement with King County/Metro.
PROPOSED: ARTICLE III OFFICERS
Section 1. The regular officers of the Local shall be: (a) President/Business Representative (b) vice President/Assistant Business Representative (c) 2nd vice President/Assistant Business Representative – Maintenance (d) Financial Secretary/Treasurer/Recording Secretary/Correspondent
to In Transit (e) Recording Secretary/Correspondent to In Transit (f) (e) Candidates for President/Business Representative, vice President/
Assistant Business Representative, Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Recording Secretary/Correspondent to In Transit shall be elected by the membership at large.
(g) (f) Candidates for 2nd vice President/Assistant Business Representa-tive – Maintenance shall be nominated from and elected by all mem-bers within Vehicle Maintenance; Facilities Maintenance; Rail Vehicle Maintenance; Way, Power and Signals, and Streetcar Maintainers as listed in the current labor agreement with King County/Metro.
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December 2012
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The Recording Secretary’s ReportBy Judy YoungChanges To State
Industrial May Affect You!
As Local 587members and METRO employees you should be aware that on
November 13, 2012, changes were adopted regarding the state’s worker compensation system. The change is L&I’s Medical Providers Network (under the medical aid rules 296-20, wAC). These modifications will go into effect beginning December 14, 2012. After December 31, 2012, you will need to find another provider if your current provider opted not to join the new Medical Providers Network.
Governor Gregoire signed Senate
Bill 5801, in March of 2011, which directs the Department of Labor & Industries to create a statewide pro-vider network for injured workers, as well as expand access to the state’s Centers of Occupational Health and education (COHe) [The Department of Labor www.lni.wa.gov]. This Labor supported bill is expected to save the State of Washington $218 million a year, as well as returning workers to good health and work, reducing cost that affects us all.
The State funded and self-insured employer statewide providers’ net-work is designed to generate the
following:• Create a single, statewide provid-
er network for treating injured workers, with a goal to include the most healthcare providers possible to ensure access to qual-ity care.
• Provide high quality care for injured workers.
• Establish standards for provider performance that encourage good healthcare practices.
• Establish a second tier within the network, based on demonstrated use of occupational health best practices that qualifies providers for financial and other incentives.
• Remove poorly performing and unqualified providers from the system
• Reduce costs in the Washington workers compensation system The initial visit, a worker could
see a provider who is not in the network. However, the provider will need (if not in the network) to inform worker care must be transferred to a network provider.
Workers will have choice of a provider in the network.
It stands a chance that your doctor or healthcare provider may
already be in this network. An easy way for you to verify this informa-tion is to check your provider’s network status at www.FindADoc.Lni.wa.gov or call 1.800.547.8367. If they are not in the network L&I will only pay for the first visit. After the initial visit, you will need to find a network provider.
you should also know; other providers such as a physical, oc-cupational, and message therapist; pharmacies and hospital, among others are not required to join. Out-of-state providers do not need to join the network at this time. However, you should visit the fore mention website for further clarification.
Those whom have worker com-pensation claims open may have already received this information via letter informing them of their provider’s network status. The let-ter states, starting January 1, 2013 providers can no longer treat your work-related injury or condition if they are not in L&I’s new Medical Provider Network. King County will more than likely inform the remainder of its workforce with bulletins and/or postings regard this important change.
How many of you like the new radio? Not very many jumped up to proclaim un-
dying love. Those who love it may put the paper down or just read another article, everyone else who only likes or does not like the radio, read on.
It seems like the radio is an atten-tion seeking little brat. At the base, wait to log on, push buttons, get go-ing, check to see what IT has chosen for your signage and continue. To begin your trip push another but-ton, try to remember to check your “automatically changing sign” and continue.
Rats, the sign still says terminal, if you want to use the “whiz bang” radio, God help you. To change the signs, first push the button by the file folder icon, next the button by the little bus with letters where the sign should be, now a flash from the past, pretend you are texting without a keyboard. Don’t remember? Push buttons like they’re a phone, but there is a trick to it, one push for the number, more and quicker pushes for the little bitty letters in the signage codes. yippee, for those who are lazy just use the OLD standby, the keypad by the interior sign display, much easier.
Let us not forget all the wonder-ful noises that it makes. Announce-ments, it seems mostly people ask for the stuff they need, not what our poor captive woman is made to say. It seems to be hit and miss for a warning “tone” that the control center is going to speak. Most times the volume level is also a surprise. If you want to make a “Public Service Announcement” (PSA), more buttons, “Please move to the rear of the bus”, etc.
The most fun is to stay on the “fare screen”, remember after the system reports a shortage it must be manu-ally cleared or it will charge the next card, more buttons to push. Do you know the shortcut to change the fare for one person? The $ within the circle with a line through it, kind of looks like the head of a regular screw.
Oh no, you changed screens for something and now you try to record a non payment of fare and hit the PRTT, great now the control center will be mad at you, answer with route/run and the ever popular “disregard”.
Road relief is a little different, naturally. Won-derful Wanda, my name for the radio, asks with a tone and screen change, “Did relief occur?” When you push the button to say yes it then asks you to log on, give password, push-ing a lot of buttons and normally trying to drive at the same time.
Don’t forget to push the button to say which trip you are doing, unfor-tunately you are unable to do this anywhere but THE place that Wonder-ful Wanda wants you to. Tone, screen change and stress all in one little button push. your set fare is tied into having the current trip, at least for ORCA, don’t forget to push those buttons on the fare box or your money will be wrong.
This system knows exACTLy where you are. There is the little readout telling you where the next stop is (thanks wanda for reminding me), how late you are running, the clock, which never seems to match the announcements from the control center, route/run and what seems like a bazillion icons along the side.
So riddle me this, why can’t the bloody thing change to the right sign when I leave the termi-nal? Bus driver is now “Button Pusher,” who’d of ever thunk?
Who’d of Ever Thunk?Submitted by Dee Wakenight,
South Base Shop Steward and Operator
December 2012
12
Comfort Stations have become few and far between for many drivers. We often depend on
the business community to provide access to us so we may use facilities. yet many businesses have stopped allowing drivers to walk in and out without purchase, or have banned our use all together. I have often wondered why until I looked at the restrooms from an owner’s point of view. Would I allow drivers into my facilities? The answer was a resound-ing NO.
The few among us who abuse such a needed privilege have destroyed the ability for all in certain loca-tions. We have become complacent in respect to the kindnesses we are shown. Graffiti, flushing items that plug, not using waste cans, leaving
water running after we leave, and making more work for the staff have caused some of the issues. Business owners don’t appreciate these types of expense.
I understand not every ounce of damage has been caused by drivers. The great majority use facilities and leave them without causing prob-lems. But there is resounding evi-dence that the few drivers who have yet to mature are making life harder for the rest. Within 24 hours of the new Central/Atlantic Base opening someone scratched their mark into a bathroom stall wall. I have person-ally seen drivers leaving restrooms placing markers into a pocket. As I go into the same area I find fresh, wet marker on the walls. Paper towels left on the floors or swirling around
a toilet bowl after a driver walks out. And more than one occasion we have to report something broken to staff at these businesses. If you were the business owner in these situations would you want Metro in there?
you and I need these facilities. With the horrible “recovery times” and distances we travel to even get to a place we need to start fresh in attitude. Remember that many of these facilities are not owned by King County. If you are angry with Metro trust me, I understand where you are coming from in this respect. But don’t ruin my body to prove your point. My coworkers and I all follow you. If we continue to abuse the business we will lose them all and Metro cannot replace all our stops.
Please respect the room. Take 10
Respect the Roomseconds to look around before you walk out. Did my towel land in the garbage can? Is the toilet flushed properly? Is the faucet dripping? Is there some damage that would prevent another driver or customer from using the same restroom? If so, report the issue in a respectful manner. Don’t barge in between customers and loudly announce the toilet is plugged. Be discreet.
This may seem like common sense to 99% of us. But please keep in mind that the 1% can ruin your day just as fast as anyone else. And to that 1% I would ask one thing from you. The next time you finally get to use a facility after holding it in for several hours, ask yourself how you would feel if that restroom wasn’t available anymore.
I was disappointed that Andy did not have a retirement party. I have known Andy for a few
decades. Andy started at Metro shortly after I was hired; he used to help me hitch up the horses to the trolleys for service on swing shift.
I had been reminded of what I thought was a humorous story from
long ago. Later in the ‘80’s (1980’s), we were walking the picket line in support of Greyhound drivers on strike. Tempers had erupted as scabs were now driving the Grey-hound coaches, all the news agen-cies and police were in attendance. Now, Andy was not always the quiet, shy and reserved fellow that
you know today. On this occasion, he became quite animated swing-ing his arms about (which was not unusual); however, he had a large 7-Eleven giant super tanker plastic coke cup in his hand. And as he put the exclamation point on his argument that cup was launched like a missile into the air. There
had been some egg throwing and scuffles earlier, and the undercover police were ready to arrest anyone that they could. The giant cup went flying away from the Greyhound terminal (which is why he was not arrested) and landed at the feet of the KOMO news team. The shocked look on their faces indicated that they thought they were under attack!
We were all frozen in time and Andy thoroughly embarrassed, of-fered his apology to Kathi Goertzen, Dan Lewis, Steve Pool and others. Thereafter, Andy was not allowed to drink anything while on the picket line.
Andy is the first person I ever heard use the term “Brain Fart” which occurred during a Union board meeting.
When he was an Executive Board officer, we were discussing the pur-chase price of new Union pins...the price per pin per 5,000 and then per 10,000 and you know that as you order more the price goes down. So, Andy suggested that we order so many pins that they would be FREE!
I really enjoyed working with Mr. Gilmore as a board officer and as your V.P. because of his experience, excellent memory, and (you can take it or leave it) honesty and common sense. As an executive Board offi-cer for Maintenance he worked all the shake ups (without an error) as well as making policy and positive contract changes during his terms of office. Many of these contract items you still enjoy today, like vacation in hour increments.
He is one of the few people who really understood what was needed to do Union business with Metro. His retirement from Metro and the Union will be a big loss for all. We would like to wish him a long, well deserved and happy retirement! And, we would imagine he will look 10 years younger after leaving Metro the next time we see him again, which we hope will be soon!
Happy retirement and our best wishes to Andy Gilmore! (Journeyman Mechanic 1st class)
By Don Mac Adam
Submitted by Tracey Davis, Atlantic Base Operator and Shop Steward
ATTENTION ALL RETIREES WHETHER YOU STAYED IN THE UNION OR NOT
If you retired and were a Local 587 member at one time, you are invited to our Retiree’s
Christmas Luncheon. Many of our retirees did not pick up the option for many different reasons, often times through no fault of their own, or if they went into management they think they don’t qualify to attend this happy occasion. That is wrong. you only have to be a retiree. The person who is actually a retiree is asked to donate $5.00 at the door. Only the retiree makes the donation. If the guest is also a retiree, then both make the donation. This token amount helps us with Chapter incidentals. Those who are still
in the Local can also just make the $5.00 donation at the door.
When I retired I attended a meet-ing to prepare us for retirement and when they adjourned they had said nothing about staying in the Union. I questioned that and he then explained the small fee for staying in Local 587. Most of those that had been present had already left. We have many retirees that were never informed of the option and after one year you cannot pick it up. I tried to get the International to open a short term window but they refused due to death benefit restrictions. Now when you retire the Local educates you on staying in the Union for only $4 dollars and
change per month which keeps your death benefit, the “In Transit” publication and the monthly “News Review” mailed to you. you have up to one year after retirement to pick up the option. So, to my fellow Retiree Brothers and Sisters, on be-half of the A.T.U. Local 587 Retiree’s Chapter, I am asking you to be our guests and enjoy the company of those you spent a great portion of your career working with.
In solidarity,Al Ramey, Presi-dent, A.T.U. Local 587 Retiree’s Chapter
And for Dave Carter, Secretary Treasurer
Please call Dave Carter or Al Ramey at the numbers below to check space availability:
Dave Carter Al Ramey 425-377-2019 or 206-910-8311 206-243-8504opeiu8aflcio
