MCGEO Files Grievance Over Ride On Bus Fires

Local Link
A Communication of UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO
Spring 2012 • Vol. 9 No. 1
MCGEO Files
Grievance Over
Ride On Bus Fires
Union Demands County Remove
Models From the Fleet
“The County has ignored our requests to
remove the buses from the fleet, and that puts
all of us, bus operators and the riding public
at risk. We’re fed up.”
— Local 1994 Recorder and Ride On bus
operator Nelvin Ransome
In This Issue
United Food & Commercial Workers
Local 1994
Municipal & County Government
Employees Organization
Vol. 9 No. 1 • Local Link • Spring 2012
President
Gino Renne
Secretary-Treasurer
Yvette Cuffie
Recorder
Nelvin Ransome
What Have We Done for You Lately?
Renne Report…………………………………………… 2
Vice Presidents
Frank Beckham
Jerry Bonaparte
Marjorie Brown
Denise Bruskin-Gambrell
Sean Collins
Steve Dutky
Paulette Kee-Dudley
Robert Lehman
Terry Miller
Ja Rowe
Tony Thomas
Sedearia Wilson-Jackson
Arbitrator Sides With Union on
Negotiability Issues… ………………………………… 5
Staff
Bob Stewart, Executive Director
Michelle Weis, Executive Assistant
to the President
Amy Millar, Growth and Strategic
Planning Coordinator
Doug Menapace, Field Services
Coordinator
Josh Ardison, Field Rep./Organizer
Dave Blackwell, Field Rep./ Organizer
Carlos Mellott, Field Rep./Organizer
Alan Nuccio, Field Rep./Organizer
Nelvin Ransome, Field Rep./Organizer
Erin Yeagley, Field Rep./Organizer
Shae Wilson, Membership Services
Alicia Valentin, Field Services
Administrative Assistant
Shaconda Monk, Receptionist
An Arab Spring in Maryland… ……………………… 10
Editorial Board
Gino Renne
Yvette Cuffie
Bob Stewart
Amy Millar
Doug Menapace
Josh Ardison
Editorial/Design
Kenefick Communications
Arbitrator Rules for Union on Comp Leave… ……… 4
Montgomery County Secures Contract… …………… 4
Sheriffs Begin Bargaining… ………………………… 6
PGCMLS Secures Full Staffing
for New South Bowie Branch… ……………………… 6
M-NCPPC Arbitrating
Health Care Increases… ……………………………… 6
2012 Legislative Round Up… ………………………… 8
Meet New Executive Board Members………………… 9
Progressive Revenue Measures… …………………… 11
How Does the Union Use My Dues?… ……………… 12
Government Workers Under Siege…………………… 13
Get Help………………………………………………… 14
Occupy CPAC Draws Huge Crowd…………………… 15
Local 1994 Demands
Removal of Unsafe Buses……………………………… 16
Health Care Survey Raffle Winners
Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in the survey
and congratulation to the winners. The health care survey raffle winners
were:
$50 Winners
$100 Winners
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Larry Barnes
Emilie Crown
•
Eric Moore
Sean Thomas
Tiger Ziang
Kirk Dean
Amy Gumula
Karen Crist,
Rebecca Boone
$200 Winner
$300 Winner
•Robert Taylor
What Have We Done for You Lately?
What Have You Done for Yourself?
O
n a chilly Monday afternoon in early March
about 60 of your co-workers and staff
members from Local 1994 skipped dinner
with their families to get on a bus in Gaithersburg and take
the ride to Annapolis.
Gino Renne, President,
UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO
Photo right: Nelvin Ransome, Local
1994 recorder, and his team encounter
Montgomery County Del. Ben Kramer
(Dem, D-19). Pictured (left to right) Del.
Kramer, Mary Kay Canarte, William
Curry, Aaron Crawford and Nelvin
Ransome.
At around 5 p.m., the entire group sat
around a big table for a briefing, then
they broke up into teams to plan where
they would go and who they would see
in the General Assembly. Their mission
was to secure pledges from members of
the Maryland House of Delegates and the
State Senate to vote against an ill-advised
plan to shift the cost of teacher pensions
from the state to individual counties.
For more than two and one-half hours,
those teams of volunteers stalked the
halls of legislative offices, buttonholing
members, talking earnestly about the
problems they see in the state’s budget
and how those problems might be fixed
2
The Local Link • Spring 2012
without saddling working people with the
expense of the solutions.
That same night, there were small
groups, pairs of two or three, well-dressed
corporate lobbyists who were whispering
to elected lawmakers about keeping taxes
low for corporations and making sure that
Maryland is “business friendly.” I was
proud that we outnumbered the business
lobbyists. I’m sure they are going to
outspend us in Annapolis, but they’ll never
outclass us.
You might ask why folks from
Prince George’s County Memorial
continued next page
Doug Menapace, Terri Miller, Erin Yeagley and John
Smoak meet with Dist. 16 Del. Ariana Kelly (Dem.),
lobbying her to take a position against the pension shift.
The team gets a briefing before beginning their meetings. Pictured: Tony
Thomas, Mark Myrick, Denise Bruskin-Gambrell, Amy Millar and David
Dean.
David Dean, Mark Myrick, June Fitzmeyer, and Amy Millar meet with
Del. Tom Hucker (Dem., D-20).
Library System, or Montgomery County
Corrections, HHS, Libraries and other
departments, M-NCPPC, and HOC
would even care about who pays for
teacher pensions. The better question is:
Do you? The volunteers who turned out
for our lobby night did a fabulous job
and the results of their work are reported
elsewhere.
I’m using this experience as just one
example of the things your union and our
corps of dedicated volunteers, officers,
stewards, rank and file members and staff
are doing for you to illustrate the point
that we are making a difference. We could
make an even bigger difference if we
doubled the numbers of folks who turn out
when we issue the call.
In recent weeks, we’ve had a steady
stream of good news for a change.
Your union wrapped up the noneconomic portion of our collective
bargaining agreement with Montgomery
County by taking a new and different
approach for at least part of the agreement
under what is called interest-based
bargaining.
Dist. 14 Del. Eric Luedtke listens to Local 1994’s lobbying
team. Pictured: Mark Myrick, Bob Stewart, Allen Nuccio
and Del. Luedtke.
We also made significant progress
in improving the quality of your health
care coverage by refining the work of a
labor-management task force so that we
can eventually move toward wellness
programs as a way to contain costs, rather
than just allowing the County to shift
the rising cost of coverage on your back.
Thank you very much to the volunteers
who served on the negotiating team and
helped set us on that path.
We registered two important legal
victories in January: the first when the
County’s Labor Relations Administrator
ruled in our favor forcing the County to
negotiate over eight contract proposals that
they tried to dodge in 2011; the second
an arbitration ordering the County to
make some of its longest serving workers
whole for a malicious decision that took
away some 60 hours of leave for longterm workers. The arbitrator ruled that
the County unilaterally and unlawfully
took away 60 hours of leave, which was
explicitly written into a memorandum of
agreement that the County had signed. The
leave should have been credited to those
employees in the interest of equity because
they had been ineligible for longevity pay
that less senior employees had secured.
The past few months have been highly
charged and exciting times, the beginning
of what we hope will be a turnaround from
the tough times we’ve endured over the
past three or four years.
As I have told management in every
bargaining unit we represent, and elected
officials at every level: We will be
bulldogs when it comes to safeguarding
the rights of our members and their claim
to fair wages, decent working conditions
and respect. We’ve been through the hard
times and, as our economy begins to right
itself, we expect to begin to recover what
we lost in those hard times. We invite each
of you to join your sisters and brothers and
see for yourself that it’s fun, rewarding
and invigorating to stand up with your
union and fight for justice.
The Local Link • Spring 2012
3
Arbitrator Rules Montgomery County Violated the
Contract by Rescinding Comp Leave for Senior Workers
Arbitrator Herbert Fishgold has ordered
Montgomery County to restore 60 hours
of compensatory leave to 80 long-term
employees that the County claimed had
been credited with the leave in “error.”
In his January 18, 2012, decision,
Fishgold ruled that the County had reneged
on a legitimate agreement negotiated with
UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO to make up
for austerity measures imposed on the
workforce in a 2009 negotiated agreement.
“The contract language was
clear. There were no exceptions
to qualifying for the leave. The
County’s order to rescind the
“The contract language was
clear. There were no exceptions
to qualifying for the leave. The
County’s order to rescind the
leave for this group of long-term
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leave for this group of long-term
employees was not just wrong, it
was petty and vengeful,” declared Local 1994 President Gino
Renne.
A compromise wage provision between
the union and the County in 2009 was
reinforced with a memorandum of
agreement clearly stating that employees
who were ineligible for longevity pay
increases because they were at the top of
their pay grade should be accorded the
compensatory time. During negotiations,
the union asserted that the compensatory
time was a matter of equity for the
employees.
Even though the County agreed to
the provision at the bargaining table, the
County’s chief negotiator went back later
and directed the payroll office to rescind
the credit. The union filed a grievance and
proceeded to arbitration in December 2010
to get the time restored.
Montgomery County Government
Employees Ratify Contract
$2,000 Bonus, Longevity Pay
Highlights of Multi-Year Agreement
U
FCW Local 1994 MCGEO has reached an agreement with Montgomery
County on a three-year contract covering 7,000 of the County’s general
government workers. The pact provides:
•
A bonus of $2,000 paid after the first full pay period following July 1, 2012for all
full-time merit employees (pro-rated for part-timers);
•
3% longevity increases;
•
Establishes a path toward health care cost containment and sustainability;
•
Creates a process for consideration of “hybrid” pensions to blend the stability of
Defined Benefits and the cost predictability of Defined Contribution plans.
Negotiated under a modified interest-based bargaining process with assistance from
the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, the agreement includes a wage re-opener
provision in November of this year, and annually after that. All bonuses and longevity
increases will be paid on the first full pay period following July 1, 2012.
“We’re proud of the package. We are moving toward the goal of recovering the
losses our members have endured over the past few years. The contract represents a
turnaround in the negative pattern of the past several years and a win-win for the union,
management and taxpayers,” said UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO President Gino Renne.
The contract was ratified by 92.5 percent.
4
The Local Link • Spring 2012
Montgomery County Ordered to Negotiate With Local 1994;
Arbitration Decision Chides Management’s
‘Old Normal’ Approach to Labor Relations
M
ontgomery County Labor Relations Administrator Jerome T. Barrett
has ruled that Montgomery County violated its own collective
bargaining law by refusing to bargain on eight topics that Local 1994
MCGEO brought to the bargaining table in negotiations last year.
“The impact of this decision is more
important than just the order to negotiate,”
declared Local 1994 MCGEO President
Gino Renne. “We’re going to be bulldogs
about safeguarding our bargaining rights
and they better soon learn that they can
either work with us or spend all their time
and waste a lot of taxpayer money fixing
their own mistakes.”
Local 1994 filed the challenge in March
2011 shortly after the dust settled in last
year’s negotiations.
In addition to claiming nonnegotiability, County management
cynically waited until just four days before
the law’s impasse procedure would shut
down bargaining before declaring the
topics to be off limits at the table, invoking
“management rights” to avoid dealing with
the subjects the union wanted discussed.
In the January 24 decision, Barrett
pointed out that the law clearly permits the
union to address any topic that “touches
on employee concerns” and each of the
eight proposals in question did exactly
that, he said as he ordered the County
to return to the table. Moreover, he said
the County’s obligation extends beyond
merely claiming those topics off limits.
“An assertion is not proof,” he said.
The language of Barrett’s decision
represents a significant moral victory for
the union and its efforts to forge more
cooperative relations with management.
Commenting that collective bargaining
has changed in recent years to embrace
more cooperative approaches, Barrett
chided County negotiators. He noted
that Local 1994 has adapted its approach
to be “much more compatible with
the ‘new normal’ in today’s collective
bargaining.” By contrast, Barrett said,
the County’s tactics are “more akin to the
‘old normal’ collective bargaining marked
by adversarial bargaining and lawyerdriven definitions” and generally a more
confrontational process.
“Hearing from employees in a formal
way through collective bargaining can
be beneficial to the County if properly
utilized,” he concluded.
Issues in dispute
In last year’s negotiations, MCGEO
had proposed negotiating on eight
specific topics that management refused
to talk about, including: hours of work
and scheduling procedures; allowing
workers two consecutive days off
“whenever possible”; appropriate uses
of the Health Benefit Fund and Reserve;
appeals of transfers; safety and health as
it relates to public access in work areas;
employee evaluations of supervisors;
disparate treatment and double standards
in penalties handed out to supervisors
and employees for ethical violations; and
layoff and recall procedures.
“These are all things that affect our
members lives, deeply and personally.
We’re appalled at management’s arrogance
in attempting to dodge meaningful
discussions on these topics,” Renne said.
Barrett also found that the County
violated its duty to bargain when it waited
until four days before impasse procedures
would be triggered to claim that the eight
issues in question were “non-negotiable.”
In Barrett’s words, the “County’s delay
did place the union in the unfair position
of not having the needed information until
direct bargaining had virtually ended.”
The Local Link • Spring 2012
5
Montgomery County Sheriffs Begin Bargaining
Members in the Montgomery County
Sheriffs Department are in the beginning
stages of bargaining with the Office. The
union is urging management to accept the
offer to use a modified form of interestbased bargaining in these negotiations.
“If the Office chooses not to use
interest-based bargaining, we expect
management to take a confrontational
tone,” said Doug Menapace,field services.
coordinator “And in the past, it’s just been
PGCMLS Presses
Baker on Staffing New
South Bowie Branch
Local 1994 members working at the
Prince George’s County Memorial Library
System were successful in lobbying
County Executive Rushern Baker for
staffing at the new South Bowie Branch
Library.
A number of Local 1994 members,
including Martin Seeboth, attended
meetings with the County Executive to
stress the problems with staffing the new
library.
“We saw many members step up to the
plate on this issue,” said Josh Ardison,
Local 1994’s field representative/organizer
for the library system. “Martin especially
pointed out how short staffed the libraries
already are and the County Executive’s
budget clearly reflects that he heard our
pleas.”
Kathleen Teaze, director of PGCMLS,
sent an email to the union after the County
Executive released his budget. “Thanks
to MCGEO for helping this along,” wrote
Teaze. “We are able to fund positions
at South Bowie without reducing staff
elsewhere.”
The County Executive increased the
budget for the library system, while he
merely maintained or even cut other parts
of the County budget. PGCMLS will
now be able to staff the new South Bowie
Branch without pulling staff from other
libraries in the system.
6
The Local Link • Spring 2012
horrible. We’re working toward a more
cooperative approach.”
The Sheriffs office has employed a high
priced attorney to lead their bargaining
team in the past. The union feels that using
the interest-based approach will allow the
Office to use the money saved to improve
working conditions for their deputies,
providing better equipment and improving
deputy morale.
The bargaining team includes:
•Gino Renne
•Doug Menapace
•Bob Lehman
•Robert Bass
•Mike Trigiani
•Shane Scott
•Frank Pruitt
•Jose Rodriguez
M-NCPPC Contract Negotiations
M-NCPPC is still in negotiations on the
new contract in weekly meetings with the
Commission. The bargaining team is still
dealing with working conditions in our
bargaining sessions. The Commission’s
Executive Director Patricia Barney has
made it clear that she will be asking for
major economic concessions when the
economic portion of the negotiations
begin.
“We have our work cut out for us,”
said bargaining team member and newly
appointed member of Local 1994’s
Executive Board Marjorie Brown. “We’re
hopeful we will get you the best deal
possible.”
The bargaining team includes
Brown along with Bobby Walker, Aaron
Crawford, Jamele McLaurin, Brian
Souters, Patrick Moran, Patricia Steck,
Darryl Washington, and Stephen Harrell.
Union Going to Arbitration With M-NCPPC
Failing to Stabilize Health Benefit Rate Increases
Local 1994 is going to arbitration
against the Maryland-National Capital
Park and Planning Commission for
violating the negotiated agreement that
requires them to use the health benefits
trust fund to stabilize health benefit rate
increases.
“The Commission could have
addressed these issues in bargaining
but instead they manufactured a crisis
to impose rate increases,” said Josh
Ardison, the field representative/organizer
representing the M-NCPPC membership.
“They’ve been completely unresponsive
to us.”
The Commission had approached the
Union in September, claiming that the
$30 million fund had a DEFICIT of $7.5
million and that the union must accept
premium increases. When Local 1994
pushed back, demanding explanation,
the Commission met behind closed doors
and imposed an average 44 percent
premium increase on its employees.
Correspondence between the Union and
Commission brought no relief to the
membership and escalated to the union
asking for legislative help from Annapolis.
Commission Executive Director
Patricia Barney, in a letter to President
Renne, claimed that “at no time has
the Commission’s health benefits fund
been in a deficit position, nor is there
any projected deficit in the future. Our
health benefits fund has been in a surplus
position for many years.”
The Union is seeking to return health
care premiums to the previous rates as
relief in the arbitration.
M-NCPPC Battle for Health Cost Fairness Continues
Local 1994 Members working for
the Maryland-National Capital Park
and Planning Commission joined the
President of FOP Lodge 30 M-NCPPC
Mike Young in a meeting with Del.
Guy Guzzone (Dem, D-13, Howard
County) and Sen. James Rosapepe (Dem,
D-21, Prince George and Anne Arundel
Counties). The meeting was to urge
Rosapepe and Guzzone to launch an audit
of M-NCPPC’s health care trust fund.
Rosapepe and Guzzone are co-chairs of
the Joint Audit Committee (JAC).
the Commission had claimed it was
experiencing when it approached the
union about changing the health care cost
sharing.
Del. Tom Hucker (Dem, D-20, Mont.
Co.) wrote to the committee urging them
to launch an audit of the fund on behalf of
Local 1994 and the FOP, which represents
the police working for the Commission.
“We sat at the bargaining table in July
and negotiated with the Commission in
good faith,” said Walker. “And then they
came back at us in September and wanted
to raise our premiums, which they did –
by an average of 44 percent! That wasn’t
good faith bargaining.”
The meeting with Guzzone and
Rosapepe focused on why the unions
wanted the audit.
“We want an impartial outside agency
to look over the Commission’s fund,”
said Local 1994 President Gino Renne,
at the meeting. “Right now, we have no
confidence that they are adhering to good
accounting standards.”
Executive Director of the Office of
Legislative Audit Bruce Myers who also
attended the meeting, wouldn’t say that
the Commission had violated “standards
of good accounting” by not reconciling
the fund monthly. He said that there was
no “rulebook” on how often a fund of that
size should be reconciled. Until recently,
the Commission didn’t even reconcile
its health care trust fund quarterly. The
standard should be monthly.
Myers later pointed out that the
Commission had asked for an extension
of time to file their annual outside audit.
Their annual audit had been due at the end
of the year. The Commission filed it one
month late.
Guzzone asked Myers: “How does that
happen?” The Commission’s audit report
attributes the loss to a decline in revenue
combined with an increase in claims, but
Local 1994 member Bobby Walker, who
attended the meeting pointed out that the
Commission hadn’t brought up any of
these problems at bargaining six weeks
prior.
“In the eyes of the employees, the
Commission has zero credibility,” Walker
added.
M-NCPPC members Patricia Steck and
Marjorie Brown (also an executive board
member) also attended the meeting.
After the meeting, the JAC sent a
request to M-NCPPC Director Barney
requesting “financial summaries for
the five-year period from July 1, 2006
to June 30, 2011” including revenue
sources, expenditure categories and
any significant adjustments or transfers
involving other funds. The JAC also asked
the Commission to explain any significant
fluctuations, pointing especially to the $7
million decrease in 2011.
“We feel the JAC’s request is a
positive step to hold the Commission
responsible for what could be financial
mismanagement,” said President Renne.
“Let’s see how it goes.”
Members of Local
1994 from M-NCPPC
urged the chairs of the
state legislature’s Joint
Audit Committee to
order an audit of the
Commission’s Health
Care Trust Fund.
Pictured: Bobby Walker,
Marjorie Brown, Patricia
Steck and Executive
Director of the Office of
Legislative Audit Bruce
Myers.
Local 1994 President Gino Renne
and Executive Director Bob
Stewart sit with Montgomery
County Del. Ben Kramer (Dem,
D-19) and Del. Tom Hucker
(Dem., D-20) during the meeting
with JAC co-chairs Sen. James
Rosapepe (Dem., D-21) and Del.
Guy Guzzone (Dem., D-13).
Del. Guzzone and Sen. Rosapepe
repeatedly asked for clarification on
the issue of the $7.5 million deficit
The Local Link • Spring 2012
7
Legislative Round Up
Pension Shift Could Still Happen Despite Best Efforts to Stop It
D
espite the efforts of county and local
leaders throughout the state and the
organizations and unions representing
them, the state legislature could still
pass legislation that will push the
teacher pension liabilities onto the local
jurisdictions. The liabilities will be phased
in over a four-year period.
Local 1994 members showed up
in force at a Council briefing on the
state legislature’s proposal to shift
teacher pension fund liabilities to local
jurisdictions. Local 1994 President Gino
Renne testified to the Council about the
devastating effects the proposal would
have on local public services.
“Right now, the public workers
in this county are holding the system
together with Band-Aids,” said President
Renne. “There’s no room in the budget
for infrastructure repairs, let alone
improvements. Maintenance workers
struggle to merely maintain our crumbling
buildings, while the workforce within
those buildings struggles to provide
critical public services with fewer staff
than ever. Our mass transit system is
rapidly deteriorating, exhausted bus
operators work mandatory overtime,
driving poorly maintained, downright
dangerous busses. Caseworkers are
overburdened with larger than ever
caseloads. The library worker, the transit
worker, the correctional officer, the county
sheriff, and every public service worker in
our county are facing similar challenges:
shrinking budgets and growing needs.”
“They’ve dealt with these
challenges with remarkable poise and
professionalism. But, if the state goes
through with its plan, what will happen?”
The legislature left the session without
resolving the pension issue, but could call
a special session.
The Lend Local Act Passes
Local 1994 Assisted Efforts
to Pass the Legislation
The Maryland General Assembly
passed the Lend Local Act (H.B. 571, S.B.
792), a bill that compels the state treasurer
to invest state revenues into banks that
promise to provide loans to Maryland
small businesses.
The Act designates a $50 million linked
deposit pool that banks can use to make
small business loans, creating jobs and
strengthening local economies.
“The General Assembly went beyond
the rhetoric and chose small business over
the big banks,” said Jason Judd, founder
of Maryland Business, Maryland’s small
business advocacy organization.
“Maryland is moving in the right
direction, at last putting more of the state’s
public deposits to work in Maryland’s
economy. Maryland needs more economic
policy like Lend Local that really works
for Maryland businesses, not just big
business.”
Senator Rob Garagolia
(D-Montgomery) sponsored the
Senate bill and Delegate Bill Frick
(D-Montgomery) sponsored the House
version.
Local 1994 collaborated with Judd in
his efforts to get the bill passed.
8
The Local Link • Spring 2012
Local 1994 President Gino Renne testifies to the Montgomery County Council on the
devastating effects of the teacher pension shift.
State Legislature Fails to Pass Budget
Ignores Revenue Enhancement Proposals
“The Budget Reconciliation and
Financing Act for FY 2013 that was
proposed by the House would have
been an unmitigated disaster for County
public services,” said Local 1994
political director Bob Stewart. “Our
state leaders, Senate President Busch
and House Speaker Miller were bullying
legislators into accepting a bill that would
just pass responsibility for state budget
mismanagement onto local jurisdictions.”
The legislature could call a special session
to work on the unfinished issues. They
have until June 30 to call the special
session.
There was a $209 million gap between
what the Senate and House versions of the
budget would generate for the state. The
House version excluded the Millionaire’s
Tax and Combined Reporting.
The state did force tighter Maintenance
of Effort restrictions onto counties’
shoulders. The tightened MOE will force
Counties to increase education spending
no matter how tight their budgets or
the state will “garnish” or hold back its
income tax revenue and give it directly to
the local board of education.
When it came time to reconcile the two
bills, neither group would compromise.
Thus the session ended without agreement.
If the legislature fails to fix the budget,
a so-called “doomsday” budget would
go into effect, forcing cuts totaling $500
million. Montgomery County would take
a $41 million hit in state aid, and Prince
George’s County would have to absorb a
$65 million shortfall.
New Executive Board Members
Steve Dutky
Steve Dutky
is a strong union
supporter and
activist living in
Takoma Park. He’s
excited to take a
bigger leadership
role in the union as
a member of the executive board, jokingly
exclaiming, “I’ve wanted to be a union
executive since I was a young pup!”
For the past six years, Dutky has
helped run the IT operations for
PGCMLS.
“He’ll be amazing as a member of the
executive board,” said outgoing Executive
Board Member Sue Smithers. “He’s
quite the young Turk. He’s committed
to helping when called on without
hesitation.”
Dutky echoed Smithers sentiment,
noting, “All UCFW members have special
skills and 2012 will be a year for the
record books. We can’t sit by and watch it
happen. We need to make some news of
our own.”
Ja Rowe
Ja Rowe is a
resident supervisor
with the department
of corrections at
Pre-release and
Services. He’s been
with PRS for eight
years.
“I joined the union to help address
issues in my department that needed
immediate attention. I felt I had a strong
enough voice to speak for those who,
for whatever reason, couldn’t speak for
themselves.”
“The union is important because we
help ensure the rights and good working
conditions of its members trying to make
a living.”
Newly-installed Executive Board members, along with their outgoing counterparts,
were feted at the Local 1994 Holiday Party on December 21st. From left: Outgoing VP
Craig Longcore, UFCW Regional Director Al Vincent, UFCW International Secretary
Treasurer Marc Perrone, VP Marjorie Brown, Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Cuffie, VPs
Sedearia Wilson, Nelvin Ransome, Jerry Bonaparte, Local President Gino Renne, VPs
Bob Lehman, Sean Collins, Frank Beckham, Paulette Kee-Dudley, Denise Bruskin
Gambrell, Ja Rowe and outgoing VP Greg Goebel. Newly-elected VP Steve Dutky and
outgoing VP Susan Smithers were unavailable for the photo.
Denise Bruskin-Gambrell
Denise BruskinGambrell is a social
worker within the
Montgomery County
Adult Protective
Services. She works
as an investigator in
Aging and Disability
Services, DHHS.
“Local 1994 empowers us,” said
Bruskin-Gambrell. “We can deal with
difficult situations in our workplaces better
because of the union.”
“I first stepped up to lead because I
fundamentally believed in unions and
wanted to do my part to help strengthen
them. Now as a member of the executive
board I can work to strengthen Local 1994
even more. The Union, and my association
with it, makes my work life better each
and every day.”
Marjorie Brown
Marjorie Brown
is a Principal
Administrative
Assistant with
the MarylandNational Capital
Park and Planning
Commission. She’s been with the
Commission for nine years.
“I am glad to be a part of the Executive
Board because number one it helps me
to understand what and how ‘we’ as a
union family can come together to assist
one another, our communities and elected
officials for our counties,” Brown said.
“So far it’s been a great education for
me. The union means to me straight and
simple—fairness. Sometimes we have to
make compromises in life but let’s be fair
to everyone!”
Brown points to the recent problems at
the M-NCPPC as evidence of the need for
unions in today’s workplaces.
“I’ve seen management at the
Commission act as though they don’t
understand the concerns and worries of
their employees. I try to stay as positive as
I can.”
“I hope that management tries to
understand that the union only wants what
management would want for themselves.
No more, no less. Fair wages, safe and
decent working environments, fair
management practices and with that there
should be no reason we couldn’t work
together for the common good of the
Commission.”
The Local Link • Spring 2012
9
An Arab Spring for Maryland?
Once again the General Assembly
adjourned without passing the
Millionaire’s Tax or addressing the issue
of requiring corporations to shoulder
their share through Combined Reporting
legislation. When you consider that Texas
and Alaska—two of America’s most
traditionally conservative states—have
enacted Combined Reporting Maryland’s
failure to do so is shameful. The budget
snafu and the likelihood of a special
session may open the door to redemption.
The outcome of the regular session is a
big disappointment to the four courageous
Senators (Paul Pinsky, Jim Rosapepe,
Joanne Benson and Karen Montgomery)
who leveraged President Mike Miller to
include the Millionaire Tax in the Senate
Budget bill. Their efforts stand in sharp
contrast to the sheep-like performance
of most of the General Assembly in this
session. Those of us who have been
grappling too long with Maryland’s
strange politics were not surprised.
Night after night the Ed Show contrasts
the income rise of America’s economic
elite against the flat blue line for America’s
99% with its colorful “Vulture Chart”—a
graphic reminder as to why Democratic
principles of equity are important. People
cast ballots for representatives who they
believe will accept the responsibility of
leadership and leadership does not mean
scrapping fundamental party principles. In
fact, it should mean the quite the opposite.
Leading means staying true to principles
even when it means going against
conventional wisdom (and the biggest
political donors).
In addition to the missed opportunity
to pass a Millionaire’s Tax and Combined
Corporate Reporting, this session
offered our representatives in the State
House other chances to begin correcting
the devastating income disparity that
afflicts the middle class and assert their
principles. They could have rejected the
plan to load teacher pension costs on the
backs of county governments (the Shift),
or moderated the effects of the state’s
Maintenance of Effort Law to protect the
ability of counties to deliver vital services.
To their credit, the General Assembly did
enact the Lend Local Act to encourage the
state to do its business with community
banks.
10
The Local Link • Spring 2012
It’s no wonder voters are cynical.
Candidates say: “elect me, and I’ll solve
your problems.” (Mitt Romney says he’s
running for office because “I like to help
people.” Right!) Except, once elected,
too often, those individuals just become
part of the flock. I call it the politics of
personal irresponsibility.
At the national level, a candidate says
he’ll “fix Medicare.” Then, he writes a
plan to send the load to the states and
thinks “not my problem anymore.”
At the state level, paying for teacher
pensions annoys the leadership of the
General Assembly. Then in an “ahah!”
moment comes the solution from Senate
President Mike Miller: “Send it down to
the counties.”
At the national level, the Republicans
want to make sure that Wall Street,
corporate America and the bankers stand
at the front of the line for government
assistance—ahead of seniors, children,
working families, women and the poor.
But, as the line forms for regulation and
government scrutiny, it’s just the reverse.
“We don’t want government intruding on
our freedom to bilk, defraud and exploit
consumers. Government ought to be out
there telling women what to do, making
sure people don’t cheat on welfare and
keeping those pesky unions in line.”
Some say that the answer for Maryland
is more Republicans and a stronger
Republican Party. Not, so. What we
need are lawmakers who don’t wait for
permission from the General Assembly
leadership to act, representatives who
are not too timid to assert their right
and responsibility to represent their
constituents.
We were terribly disappointed that
the delegations from Montgomery and
Prince George’s did not rise up and
rebel when House Speaker Mike Busch
issued his assurance to Maryland’s “1%”
they could rest easy knowing that the
Millionaire’s tax wouldn’t be enacted this
year. He didn’t want to discourage more
millionaires from choosing Maryland as a
domicile.
The national election that looms before
us could very well determine the fate of
the American middle class forever. Yet
we have elected
leaders at the state
and county level
spouting rationales
for not requiring
Maryland’s
Bob Stewart
economic elite to
pay their fair share…
the very same excuses that national
Republicans use. That’s what I call the
politics of personal irresponsibility.
For instance, one of Montgomery
County’s up and coming delegation
leaders didn’t see it as inconsistent to
defend the House budget that didn’t
include the Millionaire’s tax, although she
agreed that “Marylanders making $50,000
need to have some skin in the game like
everyone else by paying more in taxes” as
they will under the House-adopted budget.
Sister, nobody’s got more “skin” in the
game than the $50,000 a year worker.
Or, take the example of Ike Leggett
who proved himself to be more of an
old fashioned ward healing mayor
than a leader of a progressive county
when he expressed “concern” that the
Millionaire’s tax would prove a hardship
because it might prod Montgomery
County’s millionaire clique—the largest
concentration of millionaires in the
nation—to pick up stakes and move
to Virginia. But, Leggett has been a
cheerleader for the economic elite
practically since he was elected. Just
to prove it, he recently sent a package
of corporate welfare giveaways to the
County Council—including a request for
$900,000 in tax forgiveness to Lockheed
Martin—the biggest defense contractor in
the nation.
Every once in a while a movement
grows out of the seeds of discontent and
captures the public’s imagination to move
mankind ahead. That’s what happened last
Spring in the Middle East when disgust
with brutal dictatorships evolved into the
beautiful flower that became known as
the Arab Spring. Here in the USA we got
a taste of it with the Occupy Movement,
which is still ongoing and will hopefully
rise to the level that the Arab Spring did.
Here in Maryland, we need our own state
version of an Arab Spring. Let’s get to it.
Coalition Pushes for Progressive Revenue Bills
A coalition of progressive groups
is pushing for state lawmakers to
pass a series of progressive revenue
enhancements in this session of the
legislature. The revenue measures sought
include:
Close ALL corporate tax loopholes
Level the playing and the paying fields
for Maryland businesses by making large
multistate and multinational corporations
pay their fair share of Maryland income
taxes and limit their deductions. This
initiative includes Combined Reporting
legislation put forward by Del. Justin
Ross (Dem., D-22), which 23 other states
have already adopted (including the
Bill
extremely conservative states of Texas and
Alabama).
whether it is more efficient to bring them
in-house.
Reassess all tax credits
Extend sales tax to non-essential
services
Each year Maryland gives away
millions of taxpayer dollars to developers
and businesses who promise to bring
jobs to the state. Years later, we are still
subsidizing profitable businesses even as
we make cuts to our social safety net. At
minimum, these credits should go through
the same scrutiny process as the rest of the
budget.
Review existing service contracts
with the state
Audit all state service contracts to see if
they are still the best value for the State, or
What it does
Our economy has changed; so too must
our tax policies. The bulk of purchasing
is for services not subject to the sales tax.
Extending the sales tax to cover nonessential services would provide revenue
to restore Maryland’s safety net.
The group is also supporting the
Governor’s proposed measures that
would eliminate Maryland’s millionaires
tax exemptions, expand the tobacco tax,
expand the sales tax to include Internet
sales and close telecommunications tax
loopholes.
Sponsor
Combined
Requiring specified corporations to compute Maryland taxable
Sen. Paul Pinsky (Dem. D-22)
Reporting SB269, income using a combined reporting method; requiring, subject
Del. Justin Ross (Dem., D-22)
HB941
to specified regulations, specified groups of corporations to file a
NO ACTION
combined income tax return reflecting the aggregate income tax
liability of all the members of the group; requiring the Comptroller to
adopt specified regulations; requiring the regulations to be consistent
with regulations adopted by the Multistate Tax Commission;
applying the Act to tax years beginning after 2012; etc.
Sen. Rich Madaleno (Dem., D-18)
Tax Credits
SB739, HB764
Establishing a legislative review and evaluation process for specified
tax credits allowed against specified taxes; establishing dates for
review and other legislative action with regard to specified tax
credits; providing for termination of specified tax credits under
specified circumstances; providing for the repeal of specified and
obsolete tax credits; providing for a specified construction of the
repeal of those tax credits; etc.
Sales and Use
Tax – nonessential services
HB-1051
Del. Sheila Hixson (Dem., D-20)
Imposing a surcharge on retail sales or use of tangible personal
property if the taxable price of specified items exceeds specified
Del. James Gilchrist (Dem., D- 17)
amounts; exempting specified sales from the surcharge; providing for
NO ACTION
the amount of the surcharge based on the taxable price of specified
items; providing that specified exemptions under the sales and use
tax do not apply to the surcharge; etc.
Millionaires tax
SB249, HB784
Increasing the State income tax rate for an individual to 6.25% of
Maryland taxable income in excess of $1,000,000; requiring the
Comptroller to waive specified interest and penalties for the 2012
calendar year; and applying the Act to taxable years beginning after
December 31, 2011.
Del. Bill Frick (Dem., D-16)
Sen. Verna Jones-Rodwell (Dem., D-44)
Sen. Paul Pinsky (Dem. D-22)
Del. Jolene Ivey (Dem., D-47)
NO ACTION
The Local Link • Spring 2012
11
Field Services Report
By Doug Menapace, Field Services Coordinator
How Does the Union Use the Dues I Pay?
Often, union bashing in the
workplace takes the form of the
question, “Why are they taking
money out of my paycheck every
week? Where does that money go?”
So what are the dues used for?
Representation is the simple answer.
The long answer follows.
We have to negotiate contracts.
Doug Menapace
That requires research and
preparation. For example, our health care cost consultant
is researching ways to control healthcare costs for us in
Montgomery County and the M-NCPPC. We have a financial
auditor who examined Montgomery County’s budget as well
as M-NCPPC’s, HOC’s and Cumberland City’s budgets. Our
negotiators, our union reps and field staff organize meetings,
actions and press events to help contract negotiations go more
smoothly.
Dues money also goes to defending members and enforcing
contracts. It’s our responsibility to defend you and our contracts;
we take that responsibility very seriously. We also have to pay
expenses for grievances and arbitrations.
We often have to prepare testimony for legislation as well as
potential research costs, etc.
Dues also go to new member organizing within the workplace
or outside the workplace so our own wages and benefits are not
eroded or contracted-out.
Dues also go to:
•Occupational safety and health programs.
•Education and publications for union programs of all kinds,
including the Local Link, our frequent email blasts, letters,
media campaigns, public relations, and surveys.
•Office rent, travel, supplies, and administration.
•Support for programs on civil and human rights, equal
opportunity, and organizing.
•Membership in the UFCW International as well as our
membership in the Metro-Washington Labor Council and other
local organizations that support labor issues.
The Executive Board is our financial watchdog. They oversee
and approve spending. Financial statements are published
regularly showing where every cent of income has been spent.
The statements are also presented and reviewed at our quarterly
general membership meetings.
What are some of the top reasons we have unions:
Wages, benefits,
working conditions
Wages
Raises
Discipline
Promotions
Vacations, shifts,
layoffs
Problems on the job
Voice in the political
arena
Union
Protected by legal contract
No union
At the whim of management.
Spelled out in the contract.
Bargained for everyone. Workers vote on the
contract agreements.
The union will defend you.
Awarded fairly, according to the negotiated
agreement.
Based on the negotiated agreement.
Negotiated in secret, individually by management.
Favoritism for individual. “Good Ole Boy” system.
Union will work to solve them.
Unions will work for laws that protect
working people and their families.
Their way or the highway.
Corporations and politicians work to take away or
weaken laws that protect working families.
Lots of luck. You’re on your own. At-will employee.
Favoritism, romance, blackmail, you name it.
See above.
(Adapted from SEIU’s stewards’ handbook)
12
The Local Link • Spring 2012
Organizing
By Amy Millar, Growth and Strategic Planning Coordinator
Update
Government Workers Under Siege
“Silence never won rights.
They are not handed down
from above; they are
forced by pressures from
below.”
Roger Baldwin,
former executive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union
Government workers across this
country are under siege. Maryland is no
exception. We are still seeing movements
throughout the state that seek to erode
our collective bargaining rights. Our
brothers and sisters in the Fraternal
Order of Police Lodge 35 lost their
effects bargaining rights last year, and
while they’ve successfully submitted
enough signatures to place a referendum
on the ballot to restore those rights,
The Montgomery County Council and
Executive are fighting the validity of
signatures previously certified by the
County’s own Board of Elections. Whose
integrity efficiency and professionalism
has be recognized as beyond reproach.
There will be wider efforts to attack
our collective bargaining rights in the
future. Conservative, anti-public service
forces are working behind the scenes to
find ways to shrink unions and destroy
the voice of working people.
We can’t be silent.
Our stewards are our frontline
representatives in our worksites. They are
your voice in the workplace. This past
year, we’ve focused efforts on making
their voices louder.
A steward’s chief responsibility is to
build a united, organized, and involved
membership in the workplace. Without
this involvement and solidarity, no union
in the world can protect and serve its
members.
To that end, we have conducted a
number of workshops and trainings for
stewards, teaching them how and when
to speak up to protect you and your
rights. A large, well-attended multi-unit
workshop for stewards in January dealt
with safe workplaces, union activism, and
Who are you gonna call?
Got an organizing lead? Someone you know—a neighbor,
friend or relative—stuck in a rut on a non-union job?
Call Local 1994 Organizing Coordinator Amy Millar (301)
977-2447, or e-mail: [email protected]. Give us the
particulars and we’ll follow up.
Call Local 1994 today! 1-800-948-0654
grievances.
Attendees
heard a
presentation by a
UFCW workplace
Amy Millar
safety expert on
OSHA. That same workshop focused
on activism outside the workplace and
briefed stewards on our recent wins
against the county.
We are unrolling a series of in-depth
trainings for small groups, delving into
more issues of particular interest for
stewards.
We’re also engaging our stewards in
actively lobbying Annapolis on issues
important to Local 1994 members. Every
Monday night in February and March,
we brought our executive board together
with stewards and other Local 1994
members to visit with legislators.
Stewards who weren’t previously
involved in political advocacy are
gaining invaluable insight into the inner
workings of Annapolis – meeting their
representatives and making their voices
heard.
Through these advocacy efforts, we
are creating the strongest grassroots
political voice possible to benefit you
and your families. By involving you and
your stewards in these lobbying nights,
Local 1994 is in a stronger position to
demand that politicians put working
people first so we can achieve the pay and
benefits we need to support our families
and deliver high quality services to our
customers at the same time.
We’ve had wonderful turnout. Your
stewards are truly involved.
The Local Link • Spring 2012
13
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
Get Help
S
By Yvette Cuffie
ometimes it seems
as if there’s bad
news everywhere.
Open your newspaper,
or watch television news
on any given night and
your sensibilities are
overwhelmed with human
tragedy of all kinds. Fatal
car accidents, kids shooting
kids in school, vicious
tornadoes snuffing out lives,
crime, violence, war, disease,
drought, starvation, conflict
in the middle east.
The vast majority of people can take
in all that negative information without
being overwhelmed by it. Most of us can
empathize with victims, say a prayer,
volunteer at a homeless shelter or a blood
bank, maybe write a check to a charity or
participate in a church group that reaches
out and eases suffering for people in need,
and then we go about our business.
There are times in all our lives when
our own world, and its problems, gets
bundled with the dark clouds of the
outside world and we find ourselves tied
up in knots. All that pressure can knock
us off center and get us doing things we
would not ordinarily consider. It might
make an ordinarily even-tempered person
moody and gruff; get us drinking to
excess, or experimenting with drugs; pick
fights with a spouse. Perhaps our problem
is really not our problem at all, but it’s up
to us to deal with it. Maybe a parent needs
medical care, or a child is experiencing
psychological difficulties. In times like
those it’s great to have a trusted resource
to turn to for help. As a union member,
that help is readily available.
We often talk about the union
advantage in economic terms: better pay,
health care and benefits. But, we union
members also have an equally important
but perhaps less tangible benefit, and that
is our negotiated Employee Assistance
Programs (EAP). You may never
personally need the services of an EAP
plan to help out with a family crisis to
provide confidential counseling if you’re
14
The Local Link • Spring 2012
mired down with a substance abuse
problem. But, it’s very reassuring to know
that such services are available to help
yourself or a co-worker.
Over the years, we’ve come to
associate EAP programs most with
individual worker problems with
substance abuse. But, our EAP is much
more than that. It’s designed to help
people with concerns about balancing their
work and home life, or just juggling their
time to give more quality to each; with
concerns over wellness, how to manage
stress, how to find child care, locating
facilities for elder care, legal and financial
concerns, grief counseling and much
more.
The key to effective assistance
programs is confidentiality. When a
worker is struggling with any type
of stress or tension—with family or
personal problems—he or she needs to
feel that they can confide their concerns
without fear of retribution and without
undermining their relationships on the job.
We’re particularly blessed in Local
1994 because we have one of the leading
EAP programs in the country. It’s a
negotiated benefit and part of our health
care package, managed and staffed by
professionals through Business Health
Services. Montgomery County employees
who are members of UFCW Local 1994
MCGEO can contact BHS at (800)
327-2251 or visit their website: www.
bhsonline.com.
“Occupy CPAC” Draws Huge Crowd
A number of Local 1994 members
and staff joined hundreds of other union
members and Occupy DC participants in
“Occupy CPAC” in front of the Marriott
Wardman hotel in Woodley Park. The
group was protesting the Conservative
Political Action Conference, attended by
Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott
Walker and other conservative activists.
Protesters waved signs decrying
corporate tax dodging and chanted “We
are the 99 percent.”
The protest featured a giant inflatable
“corporate fat cat,” and four protesters
were dressed in blue and white baseball
uniforms (resembling those of the
Los Angeles Dodgers) that read “Tax
Dodgers,” a reference to presidential
candidate Mitt Romney.
Local 1994 members carried the golden
toilet to the event. In response to the
protesters, the CPAC attendees lamely
countered by shouting “USA, USA,
USA!” at the group.
from the hotel by the Secret Service,
Mellott and his group quickly exited the
hotel after their mic check.
Local 1994 Field Representative/
Organizer Carlos Mellott attended the
protest and he and four others slipped into
the hotel to use the restroom. One member
of their group quickly organized a “mic
check” which is a method of speaking
their messages and having them repeated
by their audience that was
developed at Occupy Wall
Street after police banned
the group from using any
microphones during their
protest.
Heidi Cioffi, a Local 1994 shop steward
with the police services division, had a
great time at her first major protest. “It
was invigorating,” she said. “Very exciting
to be a part of such a powerful event.”
“We don’t agree with
the racist message by the
CPAC,” shouted Mellott and
his group. Fearing that they
would be ejected forcefully
Local 1994 members joined hundreds of other protestors at the Conservative
Political Action Conference to protest their anti-worker, pro-corporate
agenda. (photo credit: Chris Garlock, Metro Washington Labor Council)
The Local Link • Spring 2012
15
Local 1994 Demands Montgomery County
Remove 66 Unsafe Ride On Buses Immediately
Grievance Cites Threat to Public & Drivers
“The County has been going
cheap on equipment, buying vehicles that are way beyond their
useful life and putting them on
the road,”
—Frank Beckham, Local 1994
Vice President and
Ride On mechanic
The Union grievance charges that the
County has failed “to enforce the safety
and health obligation under the Collective
Bargaining Agreement and ensure the
safety of all employees and the public. The
continued operation of buses that catch
fire is a known and foreseeable danger that
unnecessarily exposes employees and the
public to known and unacceptable risks.”
L
ocal 1994 filed a grievance
against Montgomery County’s
Department of Transportation
requesting that the County remove
66 Champion Buses from service
immediately to protect the public and
County drivers.
A recent series of Ride On bus fires
prompted the union to file the grievance.
“We told the Dept. that the buses
were unsafe junk when they were first
introduced into the fleet,” said Local
1994 Recorder Nelvin Ransome, whose
been a Ride On bus operator for 24 years.
“The County has ignored our requests to
remove the buses from the fleet, and that
puts all of us, bus operators and the riding
public at risk. We’re fed up.”
Mechanics at the Ride On repair
facility complained to the County last
year about the its decision to purchase the
16
The Local Link • Spring 2012
used chassis that had been refitted to carry
passengers.
“The County has been going cheap
on equipment, buying vehicles that are
way beyond their useful life and putting
them on the road,” said Local 1994 Vice
President Frank Beckham, a Ride On
mechanic.
Beckham explained that the mechanics
do all they can to keep buses safely on the
road, “but these old vehicles just were not
built for passenger service and they can’t
take it,” he said. The mechanics had made
their concerns known to supervisors, but
to no avail.
Champion has issued a recall of
some models of its buses for unspecified
“technical problems” and indications
are that the experience of Montgomery
County is not an isolated one.
There have been six fires in the past
three years aboard the Champion Buses
and the County has said they plan to take
the buses out of service in the next 18
months, but the Union contends that’s not
fast enough.
“Our role is to protect our members
from harm,” said Ransome. “If we’ve
seen six fires in the past three years, how
many could we see in the next 18 months?
We don’t like the odds.” In addition to
the grievance, Local 1994 launched an
aggressive media campaign to keep this
public safety issue alive among Ride
On’s public ridership. Also, the union
is working with the National Highway
Transportation Safety Administration,
specifically inspector Richard Willard,
to gather additional facts surrounding
the faulty buses in hopes that the
federal government can help pressure
Montgomery County to take these buses
off the roads.
HOC Begins Bargaining Economic Issues
Local 1994 has begun bargaining the economic portion of its contract with the
Housing Opportunities Commission. HOC’s new Executive Director Stacey Spann
hasn’t been involved in bargaining with Local 1994 before, said Field Services
Coordinator Doug Menapace. “He’s an unknown. We’re not sure how he’ll approach
bargaining with us.”
Coming Thru
A Door Near You
Last year’s wage reopener proposals are also on the table because the Commission
and the Union never came to an agreement. Members of the bargaining team are:
Alethia Cooper, Sal Dangamuwa, Paulette Dudley, Lorenzo Rivero, Chris Smith, Lecia
Stein, Silvia Zaldivar, Carlos Mellott and Doug Menapace
Remarks for Good and Welfare
In Memoriam
The members, officers and staff of
UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO extend our
sympathies to the family and friends of
Gregory V. Hamilton, 62, Local 1994
MCGEO member and shop steward who
passed away Saturday, March 10, 2012
from complications from cancer. Greg
was a true social justice activist who
will be sorely missed. An advocate for
veteran’s rights, Hamilton was a member
of the Vietnam Veterans of America,
Chapter 641 in Montgomery County and
a member of the County’s Commission
UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO
600 South Frederick Avenue
Suite 200
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
on Veterans Affairs. As well as his work
on behalf of Veterans, Greg also played
an instrumental role in getting legislators
in Maryland to designate the day after
Thanksgiving as Native American
Heritage Day.
It’s a Girl
CarriAnn Kay Drury was born to proud
parents Dave and Katina Drury, February
14, 2012 at 6:45 pm weighing in at 6
lbs/15 oz and is 19 inches long. Dave is a
Lead Steward for Department of General
Services in Montgomery County.
We welcome baby CarriAnn with much
joy into our union family.
The Cumberland City Police have
joined forces with the Maryland
State Police, the Allegheny County
Sheriff’s Office, the Frostburg City
Police and the Frostburg University
Police on a drug task force. Local
1994 shop steward _____ designed
a t-shirt for the task force that lists
locations of the group’s 2011 raids
with the tagline “Coming thru a door
near you.”
Two Local 1994 members,
Detectives Jeremy Hedrick and John
Lee serve on the task force.
Prstd Standard
U.S. Postage
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Washington, DC
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