Steering Council

Bargaining Team

Legislative Team. This team is working closely with SEIU lobbyist and staff in Olympia to make sure legislators are doing the right thing for Family Child Care providers.

Sandra VanDoren
Marie Keller
Linda Ramuta
Kathy Yasi
Bobbi Easley
Debbie Thurber
Sue Winn

Early Learning Advisory Council

Sue Winn is your SEIU Local 925 representative (and co-chair) on the Early Learning Council.

Sue’s contact information is:
Phone:  360-466-3077 (home)
360-391-1244 (cell)
Email: swinn@fidalgo.net
Address: PO Box  312
Laconner,  WA   98257

There are three main components to this position:

Administrative: The OSS provides data entry, database, filing, travel support, and other clerical support to the organizing team.

Communications and Technical: Write and edit communications pieces, including flyers, brochures and booklets that are intended both for our members and the public. The OSS moves campaign message via design and layout of in house field materials such as flyers, brochures, petitions, social media tools etc. The OSS will be responsible for creating and updating the Organizing Department’s web page on a regular basis as well as utilizing social media tools as a way to supplement our organizing campaigns. During events, the OSS will be responsible for technical support for a/v presentations.

Event Coordination: The OSS will perform event and meeting planning and support for organizing department events and large meetings. This includes all aspects of meeting logistics and preparation such as scheduling, venue planning and relations, catering, a/v, travel, materials production and staff support for the event.

Qualifications:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, attention to detail, strong proficiency with editing and proofreading.
• Ability to: plan, organize and coordinate work; analyze and solve problems, make sound, logical decisions; meet established deadlines; communicate effectively; maintain a filing system; and to work well under pressure.
• Able to work with a variety of people in a professional manner, including: potential members, vendors, and other members of the team and staff
• Proficiency in the following software: Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Photoshop and Reader, Microsoft Publisher, and web publishing tools
• Experience using social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.) in the context of campaigns
• Experience in design and production of flyers, brochures, and other materials.

The ideal candidate will be reliable, dependable, and able to work independently and exercise good judgment. This person will be resourceful and able to juggle many tasks at the same time under pressure and frequent interruptions.

This position requires the ability to work in an often changing, fast paced environment. This position is based in Seattle, but may require some travel.

Compensation: Competitive pay, great benefits, exciting work. Salary and benefits are set by collective bargaining agreement. Starting pay depends on experience. Benefits include fully employer-paid family health, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, a generous leave package, car allowance, fully employer-paid pension (defined benefit plan), and other benefits outlined in the policies of SEIU Local 925 and the staff union contract.

To apply: Send Resume, Three Employment References, and Cover Letter to:

Michael Laslett
SEIU Local 925
1914 North 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
mlaslett@seiu925.org

Deadline to apply: Open until filled

“The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, has said that the low-income parents should be required to work in order to receive the federal benefits that are intended to prevent them from falling through the cracks into poverty,” said McDermott. “But many of these parents can’t work because they can’t get help in paying for the child care they need due to budget shortfalls, and there are long waiting lists in many states for child care assistance. My legislation creates an entitlement program that requires states to provide child care assistance to all eligible low-income families. This will ensure that millions of low-income parents can work to establish a better life for their children by working and/or getting the education needed to move up the economic ladder.”

Research shows that child care assistance helps low-income parents attain reliable child care they need to get and keep a job. Today, only 1 out of 6 children eligible for child care assistance receive it due to federal and state budget cuts. Twenty-two states have waiting lists for their child care assistance program.

McDermott’s bill, the “Ensuring Child Care for Working Families Act” (H.R. 5188), would guarantee that states provide subsidized child care for all low-income families whose incomes don’t exceed 200% of the federal poverty line. Child care assistance would also be contingent on the parent working or participating in an education or training program.

“My primary concern is ensuring that low-income parents have access to quality child care so they can join the workforce and create better opportunities and life circumstances for their families. In Washington state, there are more than 46,000 children that receive child care assistance, which allows their parents to work and/or go to school while knowing that their children are being properly taken care of,” McDermott explained. “My bill would ensure that child care funding is no longer subject to possible reductions because of budgetary shortfalls, and guarantee that no eligible low-income working parent is denied access to child care programs.”

McDermott has been a longtime advocate for child-welfare issues and been successful in authoring laws to help children and jobless low-income Americans. He introduced the legislation with Representatives George Miller (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA), John Lewis (D-GA) and Gwen Moore (D-WI).

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• Preserves bargaining at the local level; maintains our current pooling structure; does not change the dollars in our pools

• Sets equity goals for districts to achieve through bargaining: all employees shall pay something for their insurance; the ratio of premium dollars paid between full-time workers should be no more than 3:1 from the highest to the lowest premium; but does not include extra dollars to achieve those goals

• Mandates new insurance offerings: districts must offer health savings accounts, and at least one high deductible, low premium plan

• Addresses transparency by mandating enormous amount of data collection on our costs and use of insurance, and competitive bidding by insurance companies

• Holds districts, unions, and insurance carriers accountable by involving the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) and the Joint Legislative Accountability and Review Committee (JLARC) in ongoing data analysis and oversight.

• Allows time for further study, evaluation of progress and revision of goals – with annual reports by the OIC to the Legislature and a full report and recommendations by the Health Care Authority (HCA) due June 1, 2015.

Questions and Answers

1. Will this cause my health insurance costs to change?

Possibly, but not immediately. This law has a multiple provisions designed to help with the equity and affordability of health care costs. Some of these provisions are goals and some of these provisions are requirements, however, all provisions are designed to be reevaluated in 2015 to see if they are appropriate and/or will actually lower the costs of healthcare for K-12 workers.

The long-term goals are to lower the costs overall, without losing benefits, and to make premiums more equal among single users and families, classified and certificated, and school employees and state employees. In an effort to meet these goals, the legislation demands that every user pay something in premiums and that people that choose the more expensive premiums pay more. The legislation also includes the long-term goal of family premiums being no more than three times the premium costs of individual users and directs school districts and workers to make progress towards this goal. All of these provisions, whether they are immediate requirements or long-term goals, must be addressed in bargaining, not unilaterally implemented by the state or the school district. As a union we will all need to work at the bargaining table to lower costs for our families without pushing the costs onto our individual members.

2. Does this take away our right to bargain over health care costs?

No. Though some versions of this legislation would have created a state board to decide our benefits and eliminated our rights to bargain over health insurance, we refused to let this happen. Through the work of many members’ lobbying efforts, this law fully retains our right to bargain locally over our health benefits. However, the legislature has the right to reevaluate this in 2015 if school districts do not make progress towards the legislation’s goals.

3. Does this mean that we will have to re-open or renegotiate our current contracts?

No. Though there were attempts to mandate changes that would have caused us to reopen our contracts, we fought back and changed most of these “mandates” to “goals.” Many bargaining groups may need to address health care affordability in the next round of bargaining, but this law will not force us to go back to the bargaining table early.

4. The bill says that everyone who chooses to take the school district health care has to now pay a “minimum charge,” what does this mean and how much will the charge be for me?

As mentioned above, the law will require that every employee using health insurance must pay some minimum charge in premiums. However, the legislation intentionally does not lay-out what that minimum must be: that is a decision for the bargaining table. The legislation requires more data collection on what coverage is being used and by whom, which we can use to make informed proposals in bargaining.

5. Will this change the health insurance plans that my school district will offer me and other workers?

Possibly, in the future. The legislation requires competitive and open bidding on health plans, progress towards more “innovative” health plans and other goals that, when all brought together, could possibly change the plans offered by your employer. Additionally, the legislation requires that all districts offer a high-deductible plan that includes a health savings account as well as a plan with premium amounts similar to that offered to state employees.

6. When will these changes take effect?

Most of the changes affecting workers will come about gradually through bargaining. Only the provisions around data collection from the insurance companies and school districts will take effect immediately.

7. What data will be collected? Will it be about me?

Beginning 2012 or 2013, the school districts and insurance companies will need to present data about health insurance cost and use to the state. We will be able to use this data at the bargaining table when deciding if and how to implement the various equity goals. The legislature will review the data in 2015, and may at that time, update or outright change this law, if it no longer makes sense or is feasible.

The data will include information about health care use, so it may show the costs of premiums, plans and claims for a district as well as certain demographic data. However, under federal law, information that identifies anyone cannot be released, so all of the data will be shown as a large summary of use and costs.

For more information: contact SEIU Local 925 Legislative Coordinator Lani Todd (ltodd@seiu925.org)

We have already reported on important policy victories. But the most important win of this special session: a budget which does not make any cuts to education or early learning.

Here are some additional highlights:

• The budget included sufficient funding to restore Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) program parent eligibility from 175% to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. This will open over 1,000 childcare slots to working parents who need subsidized childcare while working or looking for employment.
• Passed a jobs package that will create more than 20,000 jobs in the state
• Closed the tax loopholes on out of state banks

Take a moment now to share these highlights with your fellow members.

The original budget passed by the conservative Senators some weeks ago and the list of reforms demanded by these same legislators were devastating for working families. They came at us with a lot, but through our advocacy together we held firm and won for working families.

One of the key “reform” bills holding up this budget was a bill that would impact our k-12 members’ health insurance. The bill that passed protected most of our bargaining rights and will provide lots of data to guide our future work toward affordable care.

Conservatives also focused on “reforming” retirement security. Though we would have prefered to have seen this pension bill fail, we were able to maintain the integrity of our retirement funds for those of our members who have pension.

We will update you in the coming weeks with more details about session and how we’ll thank those who stood with us and hold accountable those who turned their backs on our families. Stay tuned and let’s take a moment to celebrate the victories of this session.

Let’s make sure to spread the word about these important wins for working families. Share this message with your friends, colleagues and fellow members.

http://925.seiu.org/2012sessionshare

In solidarity,

Karen Hart
President, SEIU 925

Applicants should have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a field such as economics, business, public policy or a social science, and have experience in strategic/corporate campaigns in support of union organizing or bargaining.

Summary of Duties and Responsibilities: The Researcher performs a wide range of duties, including:

1)    Researching, developing, and assisting in implementing corporate, legal, regulatory, and legislative strategies and tactics to advance to the goals of the Local’s organizing campaigns.

2)    Conducting research to generate organizing leads and new organizing models, including analyzing union density and power analysis in target industries.

3)    Researching the internal structure and financials of corporations or non-profit organizations.

4)    Researching and analyzing the backgrounds of board members, corporate officers and other key decision-makers.

5)    Researching and tracking public funding as it pertains to private services and industries.

6)    Assisting in the building of worker lists for the purposes of organizing.

Qualifications:

• High level of leadership, judgment and ability to support multi-faceted campaigns and sensitive political situations.
• A demonstrated commitment to social and economic justice.
• Strong technical research skills with the ability to apply research to the development of campaign strategy.
• Excellent writing ability; experience with a variety of computer-based research methods and tools; and, social media.
• Quantitative analytical skills, including familiarity with basic financial concepts and financial analysis.
• Ability to work well under tight deadlines and in a team environment.

Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

Compensation: Competitive pay, great benefits, exciting work. Salary and benefits are set by collective bargaining agreement. Starting pay depends on experience. Benefits include fully employer-paid family health, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, a generous leave package, car allowance, fully employer-paid pension (defined benefit plan), and other benefits outlined in the policies of SEIU Local 925 and the staff union contract.

To apply: Send Resume, Three Employment References, and Cover Letter to:

Michael Laslett
SEIU Local 925
1914 North 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
mlaslett@seiu925.org

Deadline to apply: Open until filled

Applicants should have run or led several external union organizing campaigns, ideally in diverse settings. This position often involves long and irregular hours and some travel.

Summary of Duties and Responsibilities: The Organizer performs a wide range of duties, including:

1) Working with the Organizing Director to design and manage organizing campaigns involving medium to large groups of workers, either external or internal, including key campaign elements such as GOTV or literature for large campaigns, or state-wide multi-unit projects.
2) Identifying and developing leaders, moving and assessing workers and recruiting and training Organizing Committee members.
3) Directing negotiations on bargaining unit determinations and election procedures; work with NLRB and similar state agencies.
4) Identifying, assessing, and recommending organizing targets.
5) Coordinating, directing and training staff.

Qualifications:

1) Ability to inspire and motivate workers, Member Organizers and staff.
2) Ability to work independently.
3) Effective oral and written communication skills.
4) Ability to exercise high level of judgment.
5) Ability to work well with diverse people.
6) Ability to supervise, train and evaluate other staff.
7) Organizational leadership experience preferred.
8) Computer literacy preferred.
9) Ability to speak language(s) in addition to English preferred.

Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

Compensation: Competitive pay, great benefits, exciting work. Salary and benefits are set by collective bargaining agreement. Starting pay depends on experience. A Lead differential of 5% will be added to the salary while performing Lead duties. Benefits include fully employer-paid family health, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, a generous leave package, car allowance, fully employer-paid pension (defined benefit plan), and other benefits outlined in the policies of SEIU Local 925 and the staff union contract.

To apply: Send Resume, Three Employment References, and Cover Letter to:
Michael Laslett
SEIU Local 925
1914 North 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
mlaslett@seiu925.org

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• Had over 300 signatures on a petition to the Governor and Bette Hyde requesting translation of the WACs;
• Successfully repealed one the WAC that requires a platform outside the window;
• Gathered together at regional meetings to learn about the new WACs;
• Sent dozens of emails to the Governor asking for her to push DEL to create a hotline and an FAQ on the WACs

In addition, SEIU childcare providers are working together in groups across the state on updating our policy handbooks.  Contact our member resource center if you would like to be connected to other providers in your area.

We still have a ways to go on ensuring consistent and clear WACs. However, we are getting notice for our efforts and we need to continue to advocate to ensure quality, safe, accessible care for families.

12 Month Authorization

After over three years of work by our members, the Governor has signed the 12 month Working Connections authorizations into law! We led on this legislation with many providers testifying, writing letters and working with key legislators to achieve nearly unanimous passage of this bill. This will help stabilize care for families and provide more predictability for us.

Child Support Filing

Providers also advocated in Olympia with our union for the removal of the child support filing requirement for Working Connections applications. The requirement had become a huge hurdle for many families desperately in need of child care assistance. This bill also passed and was signed by the Governor. This is another important policy change that will ensure that families will have access to the care they need.

Take Back the TANF Box

We’re excited that this important bill passed the Legislature unanimously and has now been signed by the Governor. This moves the Working Connections and other TANF programs’ budget appropriation power back to the Legislature. This is a critical step in gaining some more control and transparency around the funding of Working Connections.

The Legislature is still in special session. We hope to have news of a budget, including details about funding of Working Connections, soon.