Photo President Mike Cottone and Director Bob Purcell
San Francisco - UPEC Local 792 President Mike Cottone awarded an Appreciation Plaque to LIUNA Public Employee Director Bob Purcell for his service and support on behalf of the UPEC Executive Board, Staff and Members.
photo Assessor-Recorder Leslie Morgan and UPEC Business Manager Chris Darker
REDDING - The political season has arrived for 2010 and several events are planned. Assessor-Recorder Leslie Morgan kicked off her re-election campaign last night at UPEC Headquarters in Redding. UPEC supported and endorsed Morgan in 2006 and has endorsed her again for her 2010 campaign. Morgan was a former member of UPEC Local 792 working in the Assessors office when she decided to run for office. “Leslie has brought professionalism, education, experience and built a well run and efficient department to the Shasta County Assessors Office”, said UPEC Business Manager Chris Darker. Over 100 supporters attended the kick off with many signing up to actively support her campaign.
REDDING - On Tuesday, February 16th, the Redding City Council made several changes to address another financial shortfall in the City Budget. This time the fix did not include the June 2010 advisory ballot measures that would have had citizens making decisions for the City Council on employee pensions and retiree healthcare. City and County Labor unions have been hammering at the Council since October 2009 when the idea of an advisory ballot measure was first announced by then Mayor Rick Bosetti. The Labor Councils pushed back when the City proposed what unions saw as their concession money, to be used in a useless ballot initiative. “Our labor Unions have been making concessions to help with the City budget”, stated Chris Darker, Vice President of the Five Counties Central Labor Council. In exchange, the City Council is asking City unions to begin paying the employee share of their CalPERS Retirement to help with a $2.3 million shortfall. The council voted 3-2 on this demand with Dickerson and Stegall voting against the strict guideline. Stegall said, “If unions make another concession equal to $2.3 million, I don’t want to say no”. The Ballot measures could come back for the November 2010 ballot if the City doesn’t get the concessions it needs. Redding has already cut $16 million from the general fund since 2007.
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Your Pension Matters. The United Public Employees of California (UPEC) Local 792 and Local 777 along with the Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA) are standing strong with other California Labor Unions to protect your pension and get the truth out to Californians about CalPERS. The media along with some political figures are spreading misinformation about public employee pensions. The UPEC Executive Boards and LIUNA have donated to the Californians for Health Care and Retirement Security (CHCRS) last year to help promote the facts to members and the public. Every worker should have a secure and fair pension and all of us should be fighting for that and not fighting to take earned pensions away from those who have one. I encourage you to watch this 5 minute video featuring these fine labor leaders.
We have discovered that our Redding Office phones are out of commission at this time. We are unable to receive or make calls. A service call has been placed and a repair representative from AT&T will be here to fix the phones between 8am-8pm tomorrow, Wednesday, February 17th. In the meantime, please use staff cell phones as a means to contact UPEC Staff. Phones back on line as of 3:00 pm
Presidio San Francisco - Former LIUNA Local 1141 President Michael Crahan was honored for his Union Leadership and service to the members at the Presidio Golf Club on Thursday evening. The event coordinated by UPEC Local 792 was to honor all those involved in the Blood Borne Pathogen case. Crahan recently retired from Federal Service with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) but continued working with Local 792 on several important issues. Crahan started the grievance process for the recently settled case on the blood borne pathogen that affected over 140 employees in the GGNRA in 2001. LIUNA Public Employee DIrector Bob Purcell presented an award to Crahan for his investigation of the case and his persistence along with a check for $15,000.00 for his work on the case. Bob Purcell won the case in 2005 but the final calculations were still up in the air. The GGNRA members were transfered to Local 792 in July 2007 and Representative Dave Ritchie took on the case. Dave did a phenominal job putting the final elements together, finding and preparing witensses and testimony and arguments for compensation. The case was brought to closure when the Federal government offered a settlement of about 1 million dollars to the union. Business Manager Chris Darker thanked everyone who had been involved. “When our members have the courage to stand up against an employer who ignores and violates the law and we work together that is good for the members, our union and our nation. America needs organized labor”. Darker awarded Michael Crahan the 2009 Union Leadership Award. “Michael brought Justice, Honor and Strength to these members”.