We recently mailed a postcard to all dues-paying SHARE members, giving notice of special Member Meetings on Tuesday, August 4. There will be four 30-minute meetings, starting at noon, 12:30PM, 1:00PM and 1:30PM. You must be a dues-paying member to participate. If you have not yet signed a membership card, here is the link: https://www.shareumms.org/join-share.
The meeting link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87547000999?pwd=axH0Z5BOYfUSxq0rwigoDRSbsxttmR.1
Meeting ID: 875 4700 0999
Passcode: 4000
There are two issues to vote on:
The first issue is the Childcare and Education Fund
As you may remember from last year’s contract negotiations, SHARE has a negotiated childcare fund to partially subsidize the cost of childcare and afterschool for SHARE members. Demand for the funds have decreased over the last few years. Therefore, we are interested in expanding the educational uses the fund could reimburse, so that more SHARE members can benefit from the fund.
We have been advised by our lawyer that the fund could be expanded as long as:
It is expanding it in ways that are in the same spirit as the original plan.
SHARE members support the idea.
We would like to increase the number of ways the fund supports education for SHARE members and their dependents. It would sitll subsidize childcare, afterschool, summer camps, adoption, and academic enrichment. In addition we would add subsidies for educational field trips, school uniforms, books, college scholarships and application fees for educational institutions.
To change the fund, we first need to negotiate with management (since they provide the funds) and then work with lawyers to edit the childcare fund’s plan document. Before we do all that, we want to make sure that there is support from SHARE members for this change. We have heard support in meetings, and we are asking for a formal vote on the question, to authorize the negotiating team to move forward on these changes.
The second issue is appointing a proxy delegate for the AFSCME convention
Every two years, our parent union AFSCME has its convention. This year our SHARE union in the Medical School does not have an officer who can go to the convention. AFSCME allows a union that cannot send a delegate to choose someone from another local union to carry their votes as a proxy delegate. The person chosen has to be someone from the same region, who is already an elected delegate for a different local union.
Our sister SHARE union in the Hospital is sending their officers as delegates to the convention, and we asked one of them if they would be willing to be our proxy delegate. A proxy delegate means they would be allowed to cast a vote on our behalf, so we still have a vote. They are willing, we just need to vote to appoint them.
There would actually be two questions to vote on for this issue. The first is whether to ask someone from another local to be our proxy delegate. If the answer to the first question is yes, then the follow-up would be to vote for the specific person.
If you have questions before the meeting, call 508-929-4020 or email share.umms@theshareunion.org.