S e r v i c e E m p l o y e e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l U n i o n

Local 521 News In and Around Kern CountyLocal 521 News In and Around Kern CountyLocal 521 News In and Around Kern CountyLocal 521 News In and Around Kern County

February 2013

W e don’t yet have flying cars, but 2013 has brought the rollout of a new calendar to the

SEIU Local 521 website. Located on the Kern County Chapter page, the new calendar will allow any member to get an overview of the events that impact 521 in Kern County and will help unite the membership by breaking down the barriers to free communication.

Kern County Chapter President Regina Kane is looking forward to seeing the new projects in the pipeline. "I'm very excited about the new tools that SEIU is rolling out for us. The more ways we can get information and communicate, the stronger we are."

For now, the calendar focuses on board meetings of the agencies with represented members, but in the future we hope to use this as a tool to organize for political and social good as well. If you don’t see your meetings or events listed, please let your IO know and we’ll add them as soon as possible.

New calendar to help unite Kern County

Fulfill your academic goals with SEIU scholarships

C ollege goals can be expensive. To help Local 521 members fulfill these educational goals SEIU

International awards scholarships through scholarship programs, and Local 521 awards scholarships through two other scholarship programs. These scholarships enable members and their children to pursue their educational goals at accredited colleges, universities, and technical schools. SEIU also congratulates the winners of the 2012 scholarships: Mishele Alexanndrea Salazar; Jynessa Rose Mendoza; Giovanni Paolo Murillo; Paige Mackenzie Smith; Ashley Katherine Heitmann; Danielle Yvonne Perez; Colin Joseph Schaefer; James Kimpo; and Nichole Lynn Bloch. SEIU's scholarships are open to SEIU members or their children. The Bonnie Ladin Scholarship is also open to local union staff. To be eligible to apply for any SEIU scholarship, membership must be for three continuous years as of September 1, 2013. All awards

must be for the academic year(s) awarded. Scholarships will be awarded without regard to the sex, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, or disability of any applicant. Scholarship awards are limited to one per household.

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Along with the new calendar, SEIU has also started using QR codes (above) which can be read by smartphones.

Calendar posted on the Kern County Chapter Page

More information is online at: www.seiu521.org/ members/benefits/scholarships/

Visit www.seiu521.org/cokern today

2 The Voice

M embers have elected a new Executive Board to lead SEIU Local 521 over the next three years, with the top seat - Chief Elected Officer - going to Luisa Blue, a longtime member-leader of SEIU and currently 521’s

chief of staff.

Luisa Blue is SEIU 521’s second CEO, following the retirement of Kristy Sermersheim, effective March 2013.

More than 2,000 members participated in the election of the 521 Executive Board. Votes were counted Wednesday, January 23.

Our newly elected board is charged with representing the interests of every member of the union as we stand together for fairness and justice in the workplace and our communities. Over the next three years, these member-leaders will help lead our fight for social justice, workplace improvements, affordable and accessible healthcare for working families and retirement security for all. Members from SEIU 521′s six regions voted for local-wide Officers, Executive Delegates, and Trustees, and to amend the Local 521 Bylaws. Amendments to the bylaws were approved by voters.

For a complete list of Delegates and Trustees and amended bylaws, visit www.seiu521.org/2013/new-eboard.

Chief Elected Officer: Luisa Blue

"I want to recognize all of the candidates that ran for office and I look forward to working with all of you to build our great union. Thank you for entrusting me to serve as your Chief Elected Officer of our mighty union, SEIU Local 521. The next few years promise to be full of opportunities for us to fight for workers' rights, retirement security, and affordable healthcare for all. Together, we must build on the successes of leaders who came before us and continue to win for all workers in 521, in California, and in our nation. I am proud and honored to be a part of that and I look forward to meeting our challenges together."

President: Gwyndolyn Harshaw

"I'm very excited to be part of the new leadership team. We've done a lot of great things up until this point, and things are just going to get better from here."

First Vice President: John Gutierrez

"Thanks to all union members who took part in this election by running for office and by voting. Your activism is what makes us strong. The debate and discussion of issues invigorates our Local. Now we continue the struggle of winning for members and the people we serve. The attacks on workers and on public services continue. What we won in November and through the past three years has given us hope of change. Now again our Local is part of that hope. Let's get working and thank you for your confidence in me as one of your leaders."

SEIU members are talented and have all sorts of amazing abilities. Members who want to tell the SEIU story and have talents in drawing, photography, writing or helping with short videos either on or off camera should contact the SEIU office at 661-321-4163 about creative opportunities to tell our story.

FEBRUARY 2013 3

KMC urges all members to get vaccinated Kern Medical Center (KMC) has reached an almost 70 percent compliance rate in flu shots but more has to be done to reach a 100 percent goal. The joint SEIU 521-KMC flu education team continues to conduct educational meetings on the urgency and importance of having everyone get the vaccine to protect themselves and the community.

“I encourage everyone who can to get a flu shot. Influenza can be a very dangerous disease. This year's strain is especially virulent and fast moving,” said Paul Hensler, KMC chief executive officer.

“Fortunately, this year's vaccine is well matched to the outbreak. It is late in the season to get a flu shot and the flu outbreak, pandemic in many regions of the country, is peaking early. However, the Central Valley has not yet reached the intense stage being experienced in most parts of the country,” Hensler added.

He stressed: “There may still be time for a flu shot to be effective. If you have not received a flu shot, please get one now.”

KMC offers vaccines every weekday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring your medical card and ID with you. No appointment necessary.

F-Step victory in County This past holiday season, SEIU Local 521

member Melissa Callison got an extra gi%.

Melissa, a Human Services Technician III in

Mojave, received nearly $5,000 in back pay

thanks to the work of SEIU members and

their “F-Step” campaign.

F-Step flyers posted at worksites had

caught workers’ a2en3on and Melissa

started looking at her own paychecks. She

soon realized that one of her increments

had been missed.

As a trained shop steward, Melissa started

to inves3gate and ask ques3ons. Melissa

found county staff was switched during

this 3me period and the triple checks for

electronic payroll repor3ng missed a step

causing her increment to be delayed.

“My life at that 3me was very busy and I

just missed this,” said Melissa.

When Melissa started calcula3ng the

numbers, she realized it had been 125

weeks (almost two-and-a-half years) since

she was supposed to receive the

increment. The increase to her base pay

would have been about $.98/hr, or

$4,925.87, not including over3me.

“Had it not been for SEIU members and

our campaign to publicize the F-Step, I may

have never even no3ced,” said Melisa.

“You may want to check to make sure that

you are being paid the correct amount.”

County erred in assessing union dues Due to a county programming error, certain employees in the County of Kern have been paying incorrect dues amounts to SEIU Local 521.

Employees who were not working full-time were being assessed the same dues level as full-time employees.

When this matter came to the attention of SEIU Local 521, the union quickly alerted the county and urged the county to fix the programming glitch. Since the county was in the process of upgrading its entire computer system, county officials held off on fixing the dues error until approximately August 2012.

SEIU 521 ultimately stepped in to help the county pay for the upgrade to the system so that members’ dues assessments could be accurate and based on the hours worked.

We are in the process of calculating who is due a refund and what the amount is and will contact affected workers.

We deeply regret any inconvenience this county error has caused our members and are diligently working to resolve it and to ensure it will not happen in the future.

Melissa Callison is a

Human Services Techni-

cian III working for the

Department of Human

Services. She is also an

SEIU 521 Shop Steward.

The Voice

February

2013

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