Member Meeting Notes:
On August 4th, SHARE held a member meeting for dues paying SHARE members to vote on two issues.
The first issue was expanding the Childcare and Education Fund to include educational field trips, school uniforms, books, college scholarships and application fees for educational institutions. While all the details would still need to be worked out through the SHARE contract negotiations, this was the first step.
The second vote that was decided by SHARE members, was to appoint a proxy delegate for the AFSCME national convention. A proxy delegate means this person, from our sister union at UMass Memorial, would be allowed to cast a vote on our behalf at the convention, so we still have a vote.
SHARE members votes “yes” on both.
We look forward to sharing more information on both of these topics at our future member meetings.
Negotiations Update
UMass Chan Management and the SHARE negotiating team began to discuss money related issues. We met on August 11th and will meet again on August 25th. This can be a long process, and we appreciate our members staying connected to what is happening.
As many of you know, SHARE is working hard to stress the importance of keeping up with the rising cost of living in the Central Massachusetts area. We continue to push for a step raise system. A pay system like this will help to ensure predictable financial growth for SHARE members for years to come.
We hope to connect with all of you during negotiations and answer any questions we can. Feel free to reach out to your SHARE organizer any time.
In Solidarity, the SHARE staff