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FEDERATION OF FRANKLIN COUNTY CHILDREN SERVICES

Local 3143

October 2008

Fellow Union Members:

     By the time most of you read this, you will have received your retro-pay and pay increases.  I’m sure, that like myself, many of you may be unaware that historically whenever we have received a pay increase our union dues have increased by the same percentage.

   The AFT recently increased their dues by $0.65 per month and as a local affiliate of the AFT we are required to pass that increase on to our members. However, your Local’s elected leadership has voted to not pass either of these increases on to our members, and instead have decreased the amount of dues kept by our Local. We made a promise to our members when we changed unions that we would not increase dues for the first year, and we intend to stand by our promise. 

     Your elected leaders will need to look at the structure of our union dues next year. Our current dues structure is different than the OFT/AFT’s.  Our structure is based on job classification while their structure is based on salary. At some point we will need to make the conversion to their system, but at this point the good news is no increases.

     If you ever have any questions as to where your dues go or how they are used, just ask. We want everyone to have access to any information they need regarding our local and how your hard earned money is spent.  We continue to work very hard to spend as little money as possible so as to keep your dues as low as possible.

     Our treasurer, Paula Kulzelka, will be submitting articles for future newsletters so we are all informed about our finances.  Please read on for her first article in this month’s newsletter. 

In Solidarity,

Beth Earl

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Levy Information

     Franklin County Children Services is supported by local, state and federal tax dollars. This funding helps to provide services for abused, neglected and dependent children. These tax dollars also go to support our pay and benefits.

     Continuations of these levies are crucial to the financial stability of Children Services and the families we serve.

     Franklin County Children Services employees have always played a major role in the success of passing our levy and your continued participation is needed.

     Please find a way to support our levy. There are after-hours socials, rallies, and delivering literature door-to-door to name a few. To learn more about what you can help, please visit the following website: www.committee4children.com

Submitted by:

Judy Sweazy

COME CELEBRATE WITH US…

the ratification of our contract and enjoy some fun with your

union brothers and sisters

November 7^th

5:30 - ??

The Buckeye Hall of Fame Café

1421 Olentangy River Road

Happy hour prices until

7:00 pm, which is ½ off appetizers

and beverages.

Feel free to bring a friend.

FROM THE TREASURER’S DESK/PAULA KUZELKA

    Many of you probably wonder what and where all the money that you pay for dues each month actually is used for.  Our Union collects a little less than $18,000 a month in dues from the 490 + employees that we represent.  YES, I know that sounds like a lot of money.  I write 2 checks every month.  One to the OFT/AFT- This is for our National and State affiliation per capita and also includes occupational liability insurance for each member.  The next check is to the Central Ohio Labor Council. The breakdown is as follows, which is based on 498 members:

          AFT - $6011.51

          OFT -  6215.04

          COLC -  224.10  

    This totals $12450.65, which leaves about $5500.00 a month for our Local’s treasury.  Our Local’s expenses include the Treasurer’s per diem of $100.00 per month and office supplies and incidentals as needed.  Because of the great work that our union stewards have been doing, we HAVE NOT had to use any of our Local’s money to represent any employee in an arbitration.  We will continue to add to our local money and the funds will be there if we have to defend any of our members in the future. 

    If anyone has any questions in the future about the finances of the union feel free to contact me.

CHECK OUT NEW LOGO

We wish to thank everyone who entered our logo contest and we hope you like what you see.  Our new logo is located at the top of the front page of this newsletter.   While this was intended to be a contest, the winning design was submitted by one of our vice-presidents but enhanced by other members of Council, so it was a team effort. We believe the logo represents strength, unity, and partnership, not just for our members but for our affiliates as well.  Special thanks goes out to Kim Luther of the OFT for formalizing our design.  

MEMBERS’ VOICE

We want to hear from you. If you have a question, concern, idea for the newsletter or website, please feel free to let us know. We will dedicate a section of the newsletter to information that is of interest to you. Please contact Katy Bruner, 275-2766 if you have something you want addressed in this newsletter.

CHECK US OUT ON THE WEB

oh.aft.org/094840

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VOTE – VOTE – VOTE – VOTE

Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, November 4^th.  You can go to Vet’s Memorial, 300 W. Broad Street for early voting until 11/3 if you are already a registered voter.

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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Kristina Green

Miranda Huey

Yusuf Kodar

Rada Lehmer

Brigid Ratcliffe

Jennifer Rohrer

Robert Sowell

Christine Vana

Brittany Westbrook

Additional Resources