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| September 2014 | Vol 2, Issue 3 |
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| Greetings! | |
We in Wisconsin take a lot of pride in our state. We have great people, exciting sports teams, amazing natural beauty. We're second to none, right! Well, actually, our neighbors to the west are kicking our butts when it comes to the economy. More on that below.
In this issue we discuss how a trio of judges have reinstated the noxious Voter ID bill for this November! We also have news on the grievances filed against CMFG regarding how reviews have been conducted. Finally, there are announcements regarding dues and the next Membership meeting.
 I hope the turn from summer to fall has got you thinking about enjoying the last of the good weather and rooting for the Badgers, but also thinking about how your voice can best be heard in the Badger state. Plenty of links below to get you thinking about the next season: election!
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| Voter ID to be required THIS election! |
 | | via Photopin |
The Republicans' "Voter ID" law will be reinstated for this election! In what was described as a " stunningly fast decision" three Republican judges of the Seventh Circuit court were in such a hurry to reinstate this horrible and horribly partisan law that they didn't even take the time to issue a full opinion. The Walker administration also wasted no time in declaring their intent to have the law in place for an election only SIX weeks away. Do YOU have a proper ID to vote in Wisconsin? As soon as they can, the Government accountability board should have the information here. If you have the proper ID, do your elderly parents? If they don't drive, likely not. Do your college-age children? Most school IDs, even though they have photos, are NOT considered proper ID for elections.
We are a nation of laws, and that means even the bad, partisan, discriminatory ones. In order to change these bad laws we have to change who is in power in the State House. Get your ID, help family and friends get theirs and go vote on November 4th. |
| How do we compare? A look at the Midwest Economy | |
When people go to vote, they may have one issue they feel strongly about, or a host of issues helping them determine in which direction to cast their vote: health care, student debt, environment, belonging to the "correct" party. One issue of particular interest to Unions is the employment and the question of what is the best approach to nurture a growing economy. This question has created some pretty divergent answers.
Which of the two parties has shown that they have the best answers when it comes to growing the economy? Right here in the Midwest we can come as close as anyone to an apples-to-apples comparison. Minnesota and Wisconsin followed very different paths in 2010, with Minnesota electing Democrats to top state offices while in Wisconsin we elected Scott Walker and the Republicans. How does the economy in these neighbor states -- both with similar economies, people from similar backgrounds, and both dealing with our famous Midwest weather -- compare four years later?
Minnesota elected Mark Dayton governor and sent Democrats to fill a majority of seats in the state house. "Minnesota raised taxes by $2.1 billion, the largest increase in recent state history. Democrats introduced the fourth highest income tax bracket in the country and targeted the top 1 percent of earners to pay 62 percent of the new taxes, according to the Department of Revenue." *
We, in Wisconsin, elected Scott Walker (twice). He imposed an austerity budget that promised to fix economic problems by cutting state services and laying people off. He turned down free Federal money for high speed rail and Medicaid expansion, and took money out of the hands of teachers, nurses, and other government workers to follow a "pro-business" economic model.
Which approach has worked to get people back to work after one of the worst economic downturns in our nation's history? Wisconsin is 34th in job creation while Minnesota has the fifth fastest growing economy. Forbes ranks Minnesota as the "the eighth best state for business" but "Wisconsin continues to rank in the bottom half." *
The chart below allows a direct comparison of employment growth between Minnesota and Wisconsin. It shows how Wisconsin lags behind the US over all. For further comparison, California has a Democratically controlled state government and has the highest rates of employment growth during this period, while Kansas has put in place some of the most extreme conservative policies in the country and is doing as badly as Wisconsin. Wisconsin lags behind a majority of the country in job creation and almost all of the Midwest in economic performance. Walker's policies have been shown not to work.
Governor Walker pushed to implement his economic policies as part of a "pro-business" agenda. We've all seen the "Wisconsin: Open for Business" bumper stickers and billboards. But "pro-business" has too often meant "anti-worker" as we've seen with his rush to cripple state employee unions. In addition, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation was set up by Gov. Walker as a way to promote business interests. Where has much of that money gone? To companies that receive our tax dollars and then outsource jobs.
Starting with Act 10, Governor Walker and the Republicans in the state house slashed wages -- of teachers, prison guards, custodial staff, nurses, and the many other groups that serve all of us by working in our state government -- all in the name of "budget repair." If those policies had worked to improve the Wisconsin economy, that would be one thing. But "the relentless budget-cutting [these policies] require leave crucial state services, particularly education, gasping for breath. That's a formula for long-term decline, not growth."
Thousands of Union workers lost pay and their ability to have a voice on the job, and for what? To be beaten by Minnesota in the real "big game," the one race to the top that affects us all: economic growth. |
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Update on the Reviews Grievance filed against CMFG
|  There has been significant movement on the grievances filed against CMFG. To remind everyone of the issues: the Union was informed by many Members of surprising and unfair reviews after the end of 2013. The Union spent considerable time and effort comparing every review from 2012 to 2013, removing those that showed no change and those that demonstrated that the lower rating in 2013 had been warranted. That still left a significant number of Members who had been unfairly graded on their work performance.
The Union brought these concerns to the Company, asking that they take another look at the reviews. The Company did, working with managers to revise many of the questionable 2013 reviews to be more fair and accurate. We also got assurances that practices like "forced ranking" is not a policy at CUNA Mutual. They have sent another memo out to managers restating this fact.
Ok, but what about next year? Many members feel that performance reviews are a waste of time. Nothing we say or do will change a manager's pre-determined outcome. They feel that no matter how much time or effort we spend writing down our accomplishments, the best reviews immediately go down the memory hole and the bad reviews can never be forgotten.
The outcome of this grievance has taught us that the review process will ONLY work for Members if we don't treat the whole thing as something that happens to us. The Company has promised us that the reviews are to be between the manager and the employee, not the manager's manager, a conference of managers, or someone in HR. Forced ranking is not the policy, so the review that gets filed should be a consensus opinion between the worker and the manager, not something dictated by management to us.
Reviews are about OUR performance and no one knows how hard we work better than we do. EACH OF US have to be our own best advocates, and that means using every tool. - Check in, regularly, with your direct manager on your work performance. If you're in one of those areas that don't have regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings, schedule them yourself. Every month spend 15 minutes asking your manager one simple question: "How am I doing?" Point out your accomplishments, listen to what you hear about where you may be falling short, bring up those things that are making it hard for you to be your best. Repeat, monthly.
- After the meeting, send an email to your manager stating: "Here is what I heard" with the "let me know if you disagree" at the end. Keep the dialog going. One best practice is to copy your home email address.
 - Use the rebuttal field on the review forms. Ideally, those two fields at the bottom of the review is a consensus, a conversation. By the time you and your manager are done talking any distance between you is worked out. If the review is actually between you and your manager (and the Company has assured us that it is supposed to be just that) then you can have a discussion with your manager and reach a consensus. You may not agree with everything that your manager tells you, but honest people can appreciate opposing views.
- If you haven't made full use of the rebuttal part of the review in the past, it isn't too late. Wisconsin state law allows employees to request a printed copy of their employee file up to twice a year. Ask for it. Read it. And if you think something in there misrepresents how hard you work for the company, write a rebuttal then and there and send it to HR. The law states that they have to include it in your file.
The Company, under pressure from our Union, got managers to make changes to some of the unfair 2013 reviews. If each of us keeps the pressure going, we can turn around this review process from something that is a waste of time at best to something that allows us to do our best while moving the Company forward together. |
| Dues Increase beginning October | |
Everybody's costs for pretty much everything continue to go up, including the cost of the struggle for representation in the workplace. Which is why, beginning October, monthly dues will increase by $1.50. (NOTE: this is per month, not per paycheck) This increase was decided at the 2013 OPEIU International Convention.
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| Upcoming Membership Meetings | 
Membership meetings are held the third Wednesday of the second month of the quarter, at 5:30 PM at the Local office. What does that actually mean?
November 19th, 2014
February 18th, 2015
May 20th, 2015
August 19th, 2015
This is your Union. Your participation gives us the tools we need to face the continued opposition of both companies and politicians. We strive to make the meetings relevant and to the point. Please stop by and participate in the democracy that is your Union.
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In Wisconsin during the last four years, it has become quite obvious which political party has the best interests in mind of those who work for a living. The economic policies being followed in Wisconsin have proven to be inferior to those of Minnesota, California, and others, and the biggest determining factor is which party is in control. Those are the cold, hard, facts.
But perhaps the economy isn't the main thing that guides who you vote for. What is? Tell us on our Facebook page. In Solidarity, OPEIU Local 39 |
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Copyright OPEIU Local 39. Content written and/or edited by David O. Engelstad
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