Attn: SEIU 925 Parks Members!
Due to the Aug 27th Marymoor concert, we’re not going to hold our division membership meeting this month. That’s right; this week’s SEIU member meeting is cancelled.
It’s important that we get together to discuss recent news items and announcements about the Parks Division budget, but it doesn’t make sense to schedule that meeting on a date that would prevent many of our members from attending.
Instead, please mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 16th, at 6:30, for our next member meeting at the Renton Shop. (We’ve found that holding meetings during holiday or furlough weeks makes it harder for members to attend; the 3rd week of September is the first one that doesn’t include either a furlough day or a holiday).
In the meantime, if anyone is interested in helping to coordinate our efforts to minimize job loss and protect our wages & benefits, please contact SEIU Local 925 at 206 322 3010. Debbie Foley is our union organizer at extension 318; you can share with her your thoughts and ideas, and she can let you know how each of us can make a difference in the pending budget decisions that have direct impact on our Parks jobs.
Vote YES!
Our members are depending on it...
Join SEIU members at the Union Office to help make phon
e calls to SEIU members throughout King County, urging them to support the August 21 Parks Levy. We'll be calling from the union office on Stone Way in Seattle on:
- Tuesday, July 31
- Wednesday, August 1
- Thursday, August 2
For more information, or to sign up to help us, please contact political director Tricia Schroeder at 206 322 3010 ext 25.
The Votes are in!
By a margin of nearly 3 to 1, our 925 Parks membership has sent the County a strong message: we reject your proposal to mandate all of our retirees' sick leave cash out be placed into a VEBA account. Reasons for rejecting the proposal ranged from objections to the "all or nothing" plan (that individuals could not 'opt out' of participating) to a general mistrust of the IRS & of the HRA/VEBA program & of King County's motivation for aggressively promoting the program.
Through December of 2009, our members will continue the current practice of receiving 35% (after taxes) of their unused accrued sick leave cashed out upon retirement. Thanks to all who voted.
last updated September 29, 2006
VEBA Vote Scheduled!
King County Parks members of SEIU 925 will be voting on whether or not they want to change our contract to include a VEBA plan for those that retire in 2007, 2008, and 2009. All members in good standing are eligible to vote. Information about the VEBA plan was made available at our last membership meeting, in the August issue of Health Matters, and online at www.metrokc.gov/employees/benefits/hraveba.
Parks Division votes will be held at the Renton Shop only on Wednesday, September 27th:
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7 AM to 9 AM
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11 AM to 1 PM
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4 PM to 6 PM
Ballots will be counted after the last voting period ends. A simple majority will decide whether or not retirees will have 35% of their unused accrued sick leave cashed out or put into a VEBA account to be used tax-free to cover medical or health-related costs. We will post the voting results on this webpage.
For members retiring after December 31, 2009, we will most likely hold a vote sometime in 2009 to determine if they will have their sick leave cash-out put into a VEBA account (tax-free) or distributed (after taxes) to members upon retirement.
SEIU Local 925 members working in the Parks Department ratified the current contract during the second half of 2005. Contracts have been distributed. If you've not yet received one, talk to a steward or call the SEIU Local 925 office to arrange to get one.
COLA (cost of living adjustment). According to Section 9.3.B of our new contract, "Effective January 1, 2006, all rates of pay in effect on December 31, 2005, will be increased by a percentage equal to ninety percent (90%) of the increase in the CPI-W, All Cities Index , September 2004 - September 2005...". In late October, 2005, King County Human Resources announced that, largely due to rising energy costs, the increase effective January 2006 is 4.66% !!