Your Union “Springs” Into Action With New Victories!

By Brenda Shields, Chief Steward, MCS Chapter

The seeds we planted long ago are starting to bloom and grow. No, I’m not talking about all the trees and flowers outside this spring—I’m talking about our union, SEIU Local 205.

Thanks to the leadership of our new union stewards, we’re winning more victories on the job. Just this past month, we’ve won on two issues that you and your co-workers cared about.

The first has to do with the breakfast supplement. The supplement is a paid benefit that Food Service managers get but that assistant managers don’t - even though many assistants have been serving breakfast to students all year. Now, assistant managers will get this benefit and it will be retroactive from the beginning of this school year!

Another issue that we’ve won on is something that Supervisor Building Engineers and Assistant S.B.E.’s will be happy about. After a long wait, we’ve learned that the S.B.E. office has received new computers! Before you know it, our department will be modernized and ready to keep up with all the demands of the job.

There’s been a lot happening over the last month, but let’s not forget to take a look at the future. As you all know, our present contract runs through June 30, 2009. Now is the time to start planning and gathering new information for a new agreement. To do this, we are asking members to come to the monthly meetings. The MCS chapter meetings are held at the Teamster Hall, which is located at 3020 Sandbrook Street. We are not holding a meeting in April because the Local’s executive board will meet in Memphis on April 19, but our next scheduled membership meeting will be on Saturday, May 17 at 11:00 am.

It’s not too early to start planning now and your input is needed!