AFSCME Local 4041
                  AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY,  AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 4041

Upcoming Annual Convention

The Annual Convention will be held on Friday April 18th and Saturday April 19th, 2008 at the Gold Dust West in Carson City, Nevada.

History will once again be made as the members of this union Nominate and Elect our Unions State Board.  The following positions will be available to run for:

· * President

· * Vice President

· * Recording-Secretary

· * Secretary-Treasurer

· * Trustees (4) Regional

We recently mailed you our new Constitution & By-Laws (C&B).  Please refer to it for the definition of  duties and responsibilities these positions have.

Once this Board is elected and they take their Oath of Office, and our local union will be released from  Administratorship soon after.

What is the Delegates Role?  For over fifty years, we have had annual General Councils to address the needs and concerns of the membership.  These Councils, now  referred to as annual Conventions are where your statewide officers are elected by the delegates in attendance.  At these conventions, you also consider a number of resolutions to amend state regulations, to provide for pay increases for state employees as well as other topics of interest. 

All chapter officers and delegates to the convention are elected by you, the members prior to the convention.  Delegate counts are based on the number of members as of March of each year and each delegate represents 50 members.  The AFSCME Local 4041 Convention is an opportunity for all members to participate in.   If you are interested in running for a *State Board position, contact your Local 4041 office.

STATE PERSONNEL PULLS PROPOSED REGULATION CHANGE AT LAST WEEKS LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION HEARING

Several months ago State Personnel introduced a proposed regulation change pertaining to Catastrophic Leave.  The proposed change would have placed an employee on Absent without Leave if that employee was unable to solicit leave donations.   Currently, an employee who is not receiving leave donations while on Catastrophic Leave is placed on Leave without Pay.  We feel State Personnel’s intent was to create a system that made it easier for Personnel Directors to terminate an employee while on Catastrophic Leave.  State Personnel conducted a workshop on September 20^th, 2007.  The purpose of the workshop was to give Personnel Officers and Employee Unions an opportunity to voice their concerns on several proposed regulation changes.  There were three regulation changes that we opposed at the workshop.  As a result, two of the three proposed changes were removed; however, the change on Catastrophic Leave survived the workshop.  The next step for us was to go before the Personnel Commission.  To prepare for the Personnel Commission, we held our own workshop in Carson City on November 17^th, 2007 and in Las Vegas on December 1^st, 2007.  Approximately 25 State Employees attended both the Las Vegas and Carson City meetings, and prepared our testimony for the Personnel Commission meeting.  On December 14^th, 2007 the Personnel Commission met.  Several of our members gave testimony; however, the Personnel Commission passed the proposed regulation change unanimously.  The Personnel Commission made it very clear by their actions that they are no friend to State Employees.  Our next and final step was to go before the Legislative Commission.  The Legislative Commission is made up of 12 Legislators.  Six of them our Republicans and 6 of them are Democrats.  A letter was sent to all the members of this Commission.  Emails and phone calls were also made by several members urging the Commission to vote against this proposed regulation change.  The letter, emails and phone calls were well received by all members of the Commission.  Several key members including Dina Titus and Barbara Buckley urged State Personnel to pull the proposed regulation change off the agenda.  On January 29^th, 2007, the day before the scheduled Legislative Commission meeting, we received a phone call advising us that in fact, the proposed regulation change had been withdrawn.  I can’t stress enough what an enormous victory this is for State Employees.  The proposed change on Catastrophic Leave was both immoral and barbaric.  It goes to show that we can achieve anything when State Employees fight for one common cause.