| May 2025 |
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AFGE, Local 3937 - Local Membership Meeting May 14, 2025 Conference Call Present were: John Pfannenstein, Laura Novakoski, Adam Neff, Tonya Boren, Ross Tewksbury, Katrina Ivanoff, Michael Welcher and Joseph Otterbine. The meeting was held via Zoom conference call with dial-in information posted to the Members section of our Local website. The meeting was called to order at 5:33pm, chaired by John Pfannenstein, Local President. Agenda:
Jackie was not available at tonight’s meeting, but reported to the Executive Board today that we have $102,943 in checking and $177,409 in savings. Detailed Treasurer’s information is available on request. Old Business: None. New Business: Our Local Secretary retired from the Agency last month, and will continue to serve on the Executive Board through the end of her term in December. Our Local pays a small monthly salary or stipend to two Executive Board officer positions: Treasurer and Secretary, because of some work they have to complete outside of paid hours. The Local’s Policies and Procedures contain precedents for salary differences between employee officers (who can complete much of their work on time paid by SSA) and retiree officers (who do not have access to paid Official Time). Laura recused herself from tonight’s call for the discussion and vote. John made a motion that the Secretary’s usual $150/month salary should be increased to $500/month in retirement, because they are not being otherwise reimbursed for their time working for the Local; Adam chaired the vote and Tonya seconded. After discussion, the motion passed. We have a new appointed Commissioner: Frank Bisignano. The Union is somewhat hesitant to have a positive outlook at this point, and AFGE Council 220 has requested a meeting with him. From his previous corporate history and published remarks, he believed the best motivation for employee performance is to keep them in constant terror of losing their job, and he was known as Slash-and-Burn. We are not confident that he will collaborate, communicate and cooperate with AFGE as our previous Commissioner, Martin O’Malley did. Today our DCO sent everyone a rather threatening and frankly disrespectful email about RSI timeliness, and the timing is likely not a coincidence. We have no additional staff (from a 50-year low) and limited overtime, so mathematically we will be unable to achieve the stated 10% increase in timely adjudication. This may be leading to an excuse to replace federal employees with contractors, AI, or other means. John made a motion that we donate $100 to the WA Fair Trade Coalition. Adam chaired the vote and Laura seconded. We discussed that their goals and membership are similar to our own, and we have supported them annually in this way for years. They collaborate with unions, and they want workers to be paid a fair wage for their labor output. After a vote, the motion passed. Reports: None. Open Floor / Miscellaneous: We offered a Q&A session on issues that members brought up during open discussion. We discussed layoffs and RIFs, and systems outages. Seattle no longer has a Regional Office, and most staff were either terminated or reassigned. Many IT offices have been dissolved or restructured. Those who moved to front-facing roles have to re-do training, which is estimated to take 80-100+ days. Central Office has seen about 50% reduction in staff from “voluntary” reassignment or resignation, but we have not seen information about RIFs being implemented there yet. Field Offices *may* be somewhat insulated from RIFs, as losing staff who process constituents’ claims is bad press for those in Congress (Democrat or Republican). John reminded us of all of some guidelines for employees and members about how to engage in civic discussion with your legislators and the media, without violating the Hatch Act or endangering your job. At work, there has been a revision from OGC that you may still discuss current issues informally with coworkers, and MAY wear items from partisan election campaigns from 2024 and prior (e.g., a Harris/Walz shirt, or a MAGA hat). To the press or your elected representative, Union reps on Official Time have more leeway (contact us about volunteering!). Employees on duty time in a government space MAY NOT contact Congress, the press, or make any other public advocacy for a certain position. You may do so on personal time, on personal devices, or on your social media when identifying your opinion as your own and not an official SSA position. We advise that you do not identify your employer on your profile or on public sites. Minutes Review: Katrina made a motion that we accept the minutes as written and read; Adam seconded. Motion passed. You can stay informed about topics like these and much more by going to www.afge.org to sign up for Action Alerts to be sent via text or email so that you are informed of current legislative and political events – please do so on your personal computer or phone, not on duty time or on Agency equipment. Adam moved to adjourn; Joseph seconded. Motion passed. The meeting ended at 6:35pm. Minutes written and submitted by Laura Novakoski. |
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