Grievance & Negotiating Committee Elected
The FIVE Local 340 brothers elected to the Grievance and Negotiating Committee are: Charles McCoy, Mike Hartel, Josh Cleveland, Kendall Groenewold and Ken Moe.
Additionally Gas Workers Local 340 President Ian Brown and Vice-President Dan Justin automatically serve on the Grievance and Negotiating Committee. These seven members will serve a one year term starting January 1, 2012.
Grievance and Negotiating Committee Election Wednesday
| December 21, 2011 |
Musenbrock Local 340 Scholarship Winners Selected
The three $1,000 student winners of the 2011 Gas Workers Local 340 Dick Musenbrock Program were selected at the September 3rd Executive Board Meeting. Those receiving $1,000 scholarship from Gas Workers Local 340 are:
Chelsey Schmidt, the daughter of Local 340 brother Travis Schmidt - Chelsey is a junior at University of Wisconsin, River Falls.
Mark Helgeson, the son of Local 340 brother Dale Helgeson - Mark is a freshman at University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Thomas Schreiber, the son of Local 340 brother Scott Schreiber – Thomas is a freshman at University of Wisconsin, River Falls.
GAS WORKERS LOCAL 340 RATIFY 4 YEAR CONTRACT
The membership of Gas Workers Local 340 voted to ratify a four year contract with the company. The contract will run from April 30, 2011through April 30, 2115. The contract includes a three per cent pay rate increase for all members each year of the four year contract (12% total) and one and one half per cent variable pay bonus each year of the contract based on certain performance requirements .
Local 340 Members Donate Money to Food Shelf
Gas Workers Local 340 members have generously donated over $1,000 to the Minneapolis Labor Community Services Working Partnership food shelf. After each general membership meeting members had the opportunity to give part of their travel expense money to the food shelf, and they have done so with gusto.
New Meeting Start Time Now in Effect – 6:30 p.m.
At the February 16th General Membership Meeting a second reading and vote was taken and passed to change the start time of the General Membership and Executive Board Meetings. The NEW start time effective immediately is 6:30 p.m. for ALL E-Board and General Membership Meetings.
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. Conversely if 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.
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.
Local 340 Votes to Accept Pension Changes
Local 340 members voted at a special general membership meeting on September 3 to accept the changes to our pension proposed by the company. CenterPoint executives from Houston and Minneapolis attended this meeting at the union hall and offered a presentation relating to the why, what, and how of the pension modifications. A vote was taken after the presentation.
Two Proposed Amendments to Bylaws
Two proposed amendments to the Local 340 bylaws will be voted on at the November 19, 2008 general membership meeting. Each amendment will become a part of the bylaws if a simple majority at the November 19th meeting vote in favor of the amendment(s).
- Amendment Change #1: The travel expense paid to those attending the general membership’ or an executive board’ meetings will increase from $10.00 to $20.00. NOTE: THIS AMENDMENT WAS ACCEPTED
- Amendment Change #2: The starting time for the general membership’ and the executive board’ meetings would change from 7:30 p.m. to 6:00 P.m. NOTE: THIS AMENDMENT WAS REJECTED