SEIU Local 517M Endorses Bernero For Governor

Members at North Huron Schools Ratify New Contract

The bargaining team for North Huron Schools (Diana Heidan, Theresa Elliott and Shelley Miller) reached a new 3 year Tentative Agreement in one meeting with management! A ratification election was held on July 29, 2010 and the agreement was ratified by a membership vote of 12 Yes votes out of a membership of 15 members! The new agreement highlights include wage increases, added holiday, and changes in benefits. The bargaining team did a great job and should/will be recognized for their exceptional work for this membership.

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SEIU Local 517M Leadership Embrace Schools Mentoring Program

At their August 18th, Executive Officers’ conference call meeting, there was discussion about establishing an SEIU Local 517M Mentoring Program as our way of addressing issues identified in the recently-published 2010 Persistently Lowest Achieving Schools report. This report listed the 92 lowest performing school in Michigan, in which SEIU Local 517M represents members in seven of these districts. George Heath (Technical bargaining unit) raised the discussion point about SEIU adopting some type of “mentoring” program to help these districts. Andy Johnson (Saginaw City bargaining unit) described the mentoring plan that he and other Local 517M members had established for the Saginaw Schools. SEIU 517M Local President Bill Ruhf (State Scientific & Engineering bargaining unit) asked if Andy and Eric Johnson (Flint Schools bargaining unit) would head up a new sub-committee to help fashion a mentoring program as a special project for our local. A full report will be presented to the Executive Board in October.

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Region 1 Member Elected As Township Trustee

Cheryl Merrill is a Teacher's Aide at Saginaw City Schools and an SEIU Local 517M member. Staff cuts forced her and her co-workers to take on more job responsibilities she became more active at chapter meeting discussions. She worked with her SEIU leadership to explore creative ways to save positions and advocate for other members through member engagement. By fall of last year, she decided to stop being a spectator and run for Vice President of her chapter and a Region 1 board seat. She won handily, and was inspired to run for local elected office as a Buena Vista Township Trustee where SEIU represents workers. Cheryl believed that the past six months have been a real door-opener for her as she learns more and more what it means to be a leader with SEIU.
 
Region 1 member leaders and volunteers knocked on doors with Cheryl advocating her belief that quality public services do matter to working families. They outreached to hundreds of households in the Buena Vista Township community and did not quit until the day after the primary election. Cheryl won her seat with the Buena Vista Board as a Trustee. She is proud to serve the community as a leader who understand the value of being a public employee and the need to build support for the quality services the public wants.

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5% Public Employee Pay Cut Moves to Senate Floor

May 27, 2010

Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) has introduced a constitutional amendment (SJR-U) that would cut pay for all public employees by 5%. This would include all, state, county, municipal, public university, community college, and public school employees. It has cleared the Senate Reforms and Restructuring Committee. The measure would need a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and House by June 3rd to make it unto the August 3rd ballot. Sen. Pappageorge claims a savings of $1 billion dollars. Opponents question how the decrease in income tax revenue will offset this claim.

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