Dick Musenbrock Local 340 Scholarship Application
Applications must be received by August 27. Three $1,000 scholarships will be awarded from Gas Workers Local 340. Please click on the link to open the application form in PDF format.
Click here for 2010 Scholarship Application
General Membership Meetings Cancelled For Summer
At the May general membership meeting a motion was made and carried to cancel the June, July, and August Local 340 General Membership Meetings. The next general membership meeting will be held Wednesday, September 15th at 7:30 p.m at the union hall.
Local 340 Executuve Board meetings will continue be held the first Wednesday of the month during the summer. If you have a union concern please either contact your steward, attend the next Executive Board meeting, and/or call the union office at 612-379-3241 and leave a message. A Local 340 representative will get back to you in a timely fashion. Have a GREAT summer!
GasWorkers Local 340 Election Results
PRESIDENT: Ian Brown
VICE-PRESIDENT: Dan Justin
RECORDING SECRETERY: Ken Moe
FINANCIAL SECRETERY: Mark Overman
TREASURER: Lowell Nelson
GUARDS: John Hennessy, Paul Carnahan
GRIEVANCE & NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE: Ken Moe, Charles McCoy, Mike Hartel, Bruce Heminger, and Mike Everetts
(Note: 340 President Ian Brown and Vice-President Dan Justin are also automatically on this committee).
FINANCIAL COMMITTEE: Paul Bakke
These elected officials will serve two to three year terms which will include the period of contract negotiations with the company commencing in early 2011.
Did You Know? – A Little Gas Company History
1. In our company’s early years, 45 men were employed to light gas lamps in Minneapolis at night fall and to extinguish them in the morning. They were housed overnight on call, in dorms, because if the moon became visible to illuminate the city they were required to put out the gas lights to save on fuel. Converselyif clouds appeared and cover the moon they had to re-light these gas lamps.
2. A Minneapolis ordinance was approved in 1871 to prohibit people from hitching their horses to the gas company’s gas light posts. Too many horses, when frightened, were damaging the gas lamps atop the posts showering glass fragments down the street. The ordinance was generally ignored.
3. Busiest day of the year for gas company employees in the 1920′s? It was Thanksgiving Day. Gas lighting had gone by the wayside replaced by electic lights and home heating by gas had not yet taken hold. The company’s Gas Works would be manufacturing gas at maximum capacity to supply all the homes preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Additionally company servicemen were on call to repair gas ranges that broke down while preparing the meal.
4. On November 12,1931, ground was broken for the Linden Service Center at Linden and Lyndale Avenue, next to the garage built a year earlier, and the storage gas holder that had been there for many years.
5. A very common method of suicide in the first half of the 20th century was by putting one’s head in a gas oven. This concerned the gas company greatly with records kept of suicides by gas in Minneapolis and proposals made to resolve this horrible problem. How was this suicide method possible? Manufactured gas (our main source of gas supply through the mid 1950s) contained amounts of carbon monoxide that could kill a person if inhaled in large amounts. Pipeline natural gas, which replaced manufactured gas, does not contain carbon monoxide, and thus eliminated this source of suicide.
Attend a 340 Membership Meeting – You Could Win a $100 Gift Card
Local 340 is again giving away TEN $100 Cub Gift Certificates at each general membership meeting though May of 2010. You are permitted to win only ONE $100 certificate per meeting, but if you are so fortunate, may win the $100 Cub certificate at each meeting from November through May. So attend our membership meetings the third Wednesday of each month, receive a $20 travel reimbursement, keep abreast of union news, and perhaps return home with a $100 Cub gift certificate.
Sam Herron Honored for Many Years of 340 Service
Sam Herron at left with plaque and Local 340 President Ian Brown at right
At the May Executive Board meeting retiree Sam Herron was presented with a plaque in appreciation for his many years of service with Gas Workers Local 340. Mr. Herron served in various capacities over his long tenure at 340, including steward, union guard, and the grievance and negotiating committee. Local 340 President Ian Brown presented Sam with the plaque at the meeting. In addition Local Vice-President Charles McCoy recounted a few stories concerning Sam’s years at the union and expressed his deep appreciation for all he had done for Local 340.
A Glance at 340′s Past
At the general membership meeting of our union on April 21, 1943, a motion was made and carried to allow the relatively unknown labor candidate Humphries, running for Minneapolis Mayor, to speak before our union. Apparently Humphries was well received as the union meeting minutes note that “Humphries was highly applauded by the members after the conclusion of his inspiring speech.” He lost the election in 1943 for mayor, but returned to speak before our union in 1945 and this time he was successful becoming the mayor of Minneapolis. Humphries was actually Hubert H. Humphrey – he later moved on to be U.S. Representative, then a U.S. Senator representing Minnesota, and finally Vice-President of the United States under President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
LOCAL 340 VOTES TO ACCEPT CONTRACT
Members of Local 340 voted to ACCEPT the two year contract that was negotiated between the negotiating committee of Local 340 and company representatives. The approved contract will be in effect through April 30, 2011. The 340 negotiating committee had recommended accepting this contract offer which included raises of 3.00% and 3.25% respectively over the two years of the contract.
It’s Important to Know Your Rights!
Called into a possible investigative review with management? You have the right to have union representation at that meeting and may decline participation in the meeting until your union representative is present. This is covered under what is known as “Weingarten Rights”. Local 340 strongly encourages you to always have a union representative present at a meeting with management that may result in discipline. These representatives can assist you in clearing up the problem with management, call for more assistance if needed, and possibly diminish the penalty you receive or even save your job!
So if called into a meeting with management read the following statement to them: if this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative, officer or steward be present at this meeting. Without representation I choose not to participate in this discussion.