district 10 post - AFGE District 10

August 16, 2014
DISTRICT
POST
DISTRICT 1010
NEWS
One Team!!!
Vol. 1 Issue 1
June 2015
Main Office:
2201 South W.S. Young Drive, Suite 101-C
Killeen, Texas 76543-5350
Ph: (210) 735-8900
Fax: (210) 735-0909
 Important Reminders………… 2
 LPTI Training……………………… 4
 The District Corner……………. 6
Annex Office:
6800 Park Ten Boulevard, Suite 230-E
San Antonio, Texas 78213-4204
Ph: (210) 209-9973
Fax: (210) 209-9972
 NextUp Young Summit …….14
 Say No to Fast Track…..…....16
[1]
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
AFGE 2015
NATIONAL CONVENTION
ATTENTION!
TIMELY REPORTING
Please be aware of deadlines for LM
Reports and IRS Form 990 to ensure
timeliness. If training is needed,
contact the District office promptly
for scheduling.
ATTENTION!
The AFGE National 40th Triennial
Convention will be held August 17-21, 2015 at:
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel
1500 Epcot Resorts Blvd
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-227-1500
or online at http://www.swandolphin.com/groupres/afge
Please note Article VI in the National Constitution, Section 1 which states:
SECTION 1. Representation in the AFGE National Convention shall be one vote for each member and shall
be based on the average number of paid members for the 12-month period May 1 through April 30. "Member" is
defined to be one for whom per capita tax shall have been paid to the Federation. In order to be entitled to
representation at the National Convention, a local must pay all per capita tax and all other accounts due to the
Federation, including bargaining councils. No local will be eligible to vote in any district caucus, council convention,
National Convention or on any council, district or national matter unless per capita tax, bargaining council dues and
any other accounts due to the Federation or bargaining councils are paid in full 60 days prior to convening the event.
The bargaining council treasurer will submit information on bargaining council delinquencies to the National
Secretary-Treasurer 120 days prior to such event and include such information in the report to the Committee on
Credentials. Locals and councils will be notified at least 120 days in advance of the Convention of any accounts due.
The requirement pertaining to payment of bargaining council obligations will be applied to all locals and bargaining
councils on tape process and to any bargaining council whose records have been certified as acceptable by the
National Secretary-Treasurer’s office when the bargaining council alleges that an arrearage should disqualify a
constituent local.
Make sure all monies due to the Federation are paid in full sixty (60) days prior to the Convention.
There is NO exception to the rule.
Additionally, pay special attention to Section 8 which states:
SEC. 8. The National Office will furnish official credentials directly to each local, and these credentials shall
be printed on an official AFGE form. All delegates to National Conventions shall be elected by secret ballot in
accordance with the AFGE Rules of Conduct for an Election as provided for in Appendix A of this Constitution by
their respective locals at least 30 days prior to the National Conventions, and the names of such delegates shall be
certified by the proper officers of locals to the NST at least 30 days prior to the opening day of the triennial National
Convention.
If you have not elected delegates, please be certain to do so as soon as possible.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
[2]
From the desk of
The National Vice President
Brothers and Sisters,
After serving as the National Vice President of AFGE District 10 for one full year, I
am proud to say that the District is stronger than it has been in quite some time. Our
locals are receiving assistance in record time now that they are able to contact their
National Reps at a moment’s notice. Furthermore, locals are also receiving valuable
training that is vital to their growth and sustainment. I plan to continue to provide
trainings and/or team up with other District’s trainings in furtherance of providing
essential tools for the benefit of our members.
It is also my intent to continue to strategize and implement beneficial methods in
order to keep District 10 in pursuit of the “Big Enough to Win” initiative. In doing
so, I am soliciting the support and cooperation from the Local Presidents, officers
and members. It takes each and every one of us to successfully reach this goal. Big
Enough to Win is a strategic plan that is critical to the survival and growth of our
union. It’s not just words on a page. It’s an action plan developed by activists
across our union that has to be implemented unless we want to be small enough to
lose.
Thank you for all that you do! Let’s continue to grow our District. Organize,
Organize, Organize!!
Let’s prove District 10 is a leader within the federation. We are “Big Enough to
Win” and we WILL win—we are ONE TEAM!
In solidarity,
Cheryl Eliano
National Vice President
AFGE District 10
[3]
District 10’s First Ever LPTI Training
AFGE District 10 held it “FIRST EVER” (LPTI) Legislative Political Training Institute with Keturah Raabe, AFGE
Educational Specialist at the Crown Plaza Hotel in San Antonio, Texas April 10-13, 2015.
Keturah did an outstanding job! She put together an awesome lesson plan and training schedule. NVP Eliano was
there to meet and greet the LPTI participants and to encourage them to be politically active, establish a working
relationship with their representatives, keep their Local Presidents informed of the work they do, and reach out to
the District should they need assistance.
We reached out to our labor brothers and sisters at the Texas AFL-CIO and the San Antonio Central Labor Council to
provide an opportunity to train our LPTI Participants on phone banking or labor walks and canvassing.
This was an awesome group of participants who worked very hard and got a lot of pertinent information to help
them be successful as Legislative Political Coordinators!! We are confident that these LPTI Participants are able,
willing and ready to move AFGE National Legislative and Political Agenda, not only in their Locals, but in their
communities.
Congratulations are in order to our first group of graduates from the District 10 LPTI:
1. Pierangeli Torres
DOD Texas
2. James Foster
VARO Texas
3. Robert Nettles
VA Louisiana
4. Andrea Henderson AAFES Texas
5. Spring House
VA New Mexico
6. Ellvas Hamlin
VA Texas
7. Rory Thomas
DOD Texas
8. Eddie Jones
VA Texas
9. Tomas Avila
BOP Texas
10. Jean Law
VA Texas
11. Carla Edwards
VA Louisiana
12. Stuart Harris
BP Texas
13. Brandon Vallier
BOP Texas
14. Mashundia Johnson BOP Mississippi
15. Daphne Jackson
VA Texas
[4]
June 1-12
San Antonio Metro
San Antonio, TX
June 30
Advisory Board Meeting
Killeen, TX
July 20-31
Dallas Metro
Dallas, TX
August 17-21
National Convention
Orlando, FL
September 14-18
Houston/ Waco Metro
Houston/Waco/Ft. Hood
October 8-14
President’s Meeting
San Antonio, TX
Oct 26-Nov 6
El Paso/Albuquerque Metro
El Paso/Albuquerque
November 12
Thanksgiving Feast
TBD
December 5
District Christmas Banquet
Killeen, Texas
In unity there is strength; we can move mountains when we're united and
enjoy life --Without unity we are victims. Stay united.
—Bill Bailey
[5]
The District Corner
Help us update your
local’s information!
We are excited about sharing critical
information regarding federal
employees, trainings available to local
officers and members, as well as various
opportunities available to our members.
For updates, please contact
David Delgado at (210) 209-9973 or by
email: [email protected].
District 10 is looking for
volunteers for:
 District Photographer
 Public Affairs Specialist
 Y.O.U.N.G. Coordinator and
Mentor
The District Spotlight
A
F
G
E
Local 0033 was successful in reestablishing all
rights under their negotiated contract (including
the alternate work schedules) as a governing
requirement for DoC employees in Galveston.
LOCAL
0033
Additionally, they have obtained the rights to all
the benefits of the contract for the RPEC
employees in the Galveston District until such
time as the FLRA has rendered a decision on the
petition filed on their behalf. We fully
anticipate that the FLRA will rule the same in
this instance as they did for contracting.
Congratulations brothers and sisters!
[6]
www.afgedistrict10.org
As many of you may have noticed, the District website is up and running! It is
designed with a fresh new look and user-friendly navigation, updated with the latest
happenings in AFGE District 10!
The updated website allows you to find your National Representative, stay abreast of
the events going on in the District and Federation, as well as access to our most
current newsletter and more.
We hope you will enjoy browsing our new site, finding more options and information
each time, and that it will be yet another tool for strengthening your Local and our
District.
To stay informed and up to date with AFGE District 10 events and information, follow AFGE
District 10 on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/afgedistrict10
Be sure to “Like” and “Follow” the page so our posts show up on your news feed. Also, be sure
to “Like” and “Share” our posts regularly or Facebook may stop including it in your news feed
due to lack of interest.
AFGE District 10 Y.O.U.N.G. is also on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/AFGEdistrict10YOUNG
[7]
Membership at a Glance
May 2015
District 10 Trend, Active Members 2014-2015
Let’s continue to ORGANIZE! ORGANIZE! ORGANIZE!
[8]
[9]
[10]
Let’s prove that
District 10
Is Big Enough to Win!
[11]
District Tidbits
Congratulations to all Presidents and
officers who won their Local and
Council elections! We look forward
to working with you to continue the
fight for federal employees in
District 10. We wish you all the best!
Remember…you will be much more
successful, if you are passionate
in what you do!
We are looking for individuals interested in becoming a
District YOUNG representative or coordinator. These
individuals will be responsible for mobilizing young union
members to become leaders and activists for social change
within AFGE and the Labor Movement.
They will also educate members on the importance of AFGE
Y.O.U.N.G. and the young workers movement as a whole.
Let’s get the District 10 Y.O.U.N.G. program on the move!
ONE TEAM!
District 10 will host its Annual Christmas Ball on December 5, 2015 in
Killeen, Texas. It will be held at the Shiloh Inn Suites with social hour
beginning at 6 o’clock pm. There is no charge for Presidents plus one guest.
Additional guests will be $20/each.
There will be food, entertainment, door prizes and more, so you do not want
to miss this fabulous event! RSVP details will be forthcoming.
Mark your calendars today!
[12]
Republicans take aim at union ‘official time’ for federal
employees
House and Senate Republicans have introduced bills to bar federal employees from performing union work on
the government’s dime, a practice that has been allowed since 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act.
The measures, introduced by Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) last week and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) in February,
would prohibit federal employees from participating in collective bargaining or arbitration while on the clock
with the government.
“Official time,” as the practice is known, cost U.S.
taxpayers about $156 million in 2012, the last year of data
available from the Office of Personnel Management. The
amount increased 1.04 percent compared to the previous
year.
Hice said his office found “an astounding amount of
government waste” with the practice during an examination
of 60 federal agencies. “By eliminating the ‘official time’
practice, we will return over a billion dollars to
hardworking American taxpayers and shed this shady,
wasteful practice that only benefits unions,” he said in a
statement this month.
Isakson said in a statement last month that official time has
outlived its original purpose and has gone too far, arguing
that federal workers should conduct union activities during
paid time off.
“While on the taxpayers’ dime, federal employees should not be allowed to spend the entire day, every day,
conducting union-related business and not doing the government job they were hired for,” he said.
Federal-worker unions have defended the practice as a critical tool for the government’s collective bargaining
system.
“Official time gives agencies an easy way to include employee input into any mission-related challenges that the
agencies may face, and it also is used to help resolve conflicts that arise in the workplace without resorting to
more expensive and time-consuming administrative or legal procedures” American Federation of Government
Employees national President J. David Cox said in a statement last week.
The Civil Service Reform Act does not limit official time, instead allowing agencies and unions to negotiate
how much use of the practice is “reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest.” The law does not permit
official time for internal union business or the handling of matters unrelated to employment conditions.
Hicks, Josh (2015, March 31). The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com
[13]
Next Up Young Summit (Chicago, IL)
March 18-22, 2015
Month Day Year
Vol. 1 Issue 1
The AFL-CIO hosted the NEXT UP Young Worker Summit March 19th-22nd in Chicago. This was
a collection of over 1,000 young workers from various unions and organizations from across the
nation to include AFGE. This was the opportunity for young workers to meet with and network with
other young workers and young leaders as well as the leadership of AFL-CIO and other
organizations.
This was an amazing experience and District 10 was there representing in full force along with our
NVP Cheryl Eliano. The speakers included the leadership of AFL-CIO, Keith Ellison, Congressman
from Minnesota, and several panels of young leaders. There was also a thunderous speech by the
legendary Danny Glover who have been an advocate on the front lines of fighting for employee
rights, letting us know the workers’ rights are civil rights.
The week was filled with training breakout sessions to guide young workers through the path of
their future in the labor movement and plenty of activism. AFGE stood on the front lines as we
marched for fast workers who are fighting for a living wage in the city of Chicago. We literally shut
the streets down! Hundreds of young people marching in Unity showed the community the power of
UNION. The roar of “Tell them this is UNION town” could be heard from miles away. I would
suggest that next time this summit comes around that any young worker who wants to catch the fire
for the labor movement and any local leaders who want young workers to catch fire for labor, send
some of their young people next year. The results are worth it.
-Shareef Valentine, AFGE Local 1920 VP/Young Coordinator
[14]
Report: Obscure laws say DOD can close bases
without Congress
of laughter, “because it’s going to require us
to get our act together to stop it.”
U.S. Army Europe closes the final installation in
Heidelberg on Sept. 6, 2013.
The tug of war between the Pentagon and
Congress about base closures might have
gotten a little more interesting.
According to a story published Wednesday in
the online defense magazine Breaking
Defense, largely forgotten laws give the
Defense Department authority to close
facilities without the Base Realignment and
Closure process — without DOD even getting
permission from Congress.
Speaking at the Association of the U.S.
Army’s winter conference in Huntsville, Ala.,
House Armed Services Committee staffer
Vickie Plunkett said Wednesday that buried
in Title 10 — the chapter of the US Code that
governs the Defense Department — is Section
2687, which, she said, “does give the services
authority to do closures, and it only requires
notification to Congress,” Breaking Defense
reported.
If the Pentagon and the White House were
willing to take the political risk, they could
shut down facilities and dare a gridlocked
Congress to undo it.
“It’s notification with time for Congress to
act” before the closure is carried out, the
magazine reported her saying. But, the
veteran staffer went on — emphasizing her
opinions were her own, not committee policy
— “Congress is basically dysfunctional right
now.
“The authorities only require notification.
Take your chances,” she said to an eruption
The Army has recommended to the Office of
the Secretary of Defense and Congress that a
new round of BRAC is needed for 2017. More
than 350 installations have been closed in
five BRAC rounds in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995
and 2005.
No one is suggesting that the Pentagon
should try to slip something past Capitol Hill,
Breaking Defense stressed. As a matter of
constitutional law, any such actions need to
be included in the annual budget, which has
to be passed by Congress. As a matter of
practical politics, the military informs
Congress when it lets go even a handful of
arsenal or depot employees, even people fired
for misconduct, because it just takes one
angry person to call their congressman to
bring all sorts of hell down on the Army’s
head.
The Pentagon is in an even stronger position
when it comes to the Army’s arsenals, the
government-owned manufacturing facilities
for military equipment. Section 4532 of Title
10 — portions of which predate the Civil War
— is the Arsenal Act, which Plunkett pointed
out contains this language:
“The Secretary may abolish any United States
arsenal that he considers unnecessary.”
And that’s not even the Secretary of Defense,
because the Act was written before that job
existed: It’s the Secretary of the Army.
“The Secretary of the Army,” Plunkett
emphasized “has unilateral authority —
standing, statutory, Title 10 authority — to
close arsenals. Unilateral.
“Now the issue is,” she said, “will the services
… take advantage of those statutes?”
[15]Crawford, Dee (2015, February 20). Stars and Stripes
Retrieved from http://www.stripes.com
Fast Track is contrary to democratic principles like transparency, public participation and
accountability in every way:
 Under Fast Track, the U.S. Trade Representative negotiates the terms of trade agreements
with other countries in secretive, behind-closed-door meetings.

While hundreds of corporate lobbyists are granted official trade advisor status, the general
public has no right to see what is being proposed in our names until after negotiations have
concluded, the agreement is signed and the opportunity for changes becomes all but
impossible.

Fast Track also removes Congress’ exclusive constitutional authority to “regulate
Commerce with foreign nations” by circumventing ordinary Congressional review,
amendment and debate procedures.

Because trade agreements take precedent over U.S. laws at the federal, state and
municipal level, Fast Track enables an amazingly wide range of public interest policies to be
rewritten without any of the typical public processes associated with democratic lawmaking.
In concrete terms, Fast Track delegates five major elements of Congress’ constitutional authority to
the executive branch: the power to select trading partners; the power to set the terms of trade
agreements and to actually sign the agreements before Congress votes on them; the power to
write implementing legislation, circumvent Congressional committee review and submit the
legislation directly for a vote; the power to override Congressional leaders’ control of House and
Senate floor schedules; and the power to override normal voting procedures, including a ban on all
amendments and limits on debate. Under Fast Track, Congress does provide a list of “negotiating
objectives” that the U.S. Trade Representative is supposed to try to meet, but these objectives are
not enforceable.
The first time Congress handed its authority over to the White House in this manner was during the
Nixon administration. The last time was during the George W. Bush administration, when at 3:28 in
the morning on July 27, 2002, by just a two-vote majority, the U.S. House of Representatives voted
for a Fast Track delegation they then called “Trade Promotion Authority.” That delegation of Fast
Track expired on June 30, 2007. For new trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP), to be considered under Fast Track rules, Congress would first have to pass new Fast Track
legislation.
[16]
[17]
AFGE District 10 took part in the 19th Annual
Cesar Chavez March for Justice in San Antonio,
TX. Other attendees included Ivy Taylor, Mayor
of San Antonio, William McManus, Chief of
Police, Choco Meza, former Democratic Chair
and Grammy winner Lil’ Joe.
Cynthia Sanders, National Representative (TSA) and Walt Greely Jr., District Legislative Political
Organizer (LPO) met with Local 1050 TSA President, Sheryl Wehrmeyer and her members at a Local
Restaurant for a membership meeting/PAC event.
We are pleased to announce that all 11 TSO's who attended this meeting, joined PAC.
We are building AFGE-PAC in District 10, ONE MEMBER AT A TIME!!!!!!
[18]
Month Day Year
IMPORTANT: Message From Council 100
"TSA SUCKS CAMPAIGN"
Vol. 1 Issue 1
Attention All Local Presidents:
Thanks to our Council 100 Boots on the Hill Initiative, and the great work that Mark Ireland and
Bobby Newsome did with our Political Action Liaison Team, we have caught the ear of House
Representative Mark Meadows. Mark is on the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee. After telling him what a disgrace TSA is, and how TSA Management is doing everything to
block the union, and how overly aggressive their Discipline and Fit for Duty Termination Program is
firing disabled and pregnant officers, he wants to hear it all from you.
Representative Mark Meadows has a new email address just for you at [email protected].
This is a tip line to get the truth out to the House of Representatives. It appears that TSA has been
lying to Congress and telling him that the low morale in TSA has been exaggerated. He said that the
officers are onboard with their decisions, and that they have a great relationship with the union.
It’s time to pay for the sins! The issues that you send to this hotline will be used to question TSA and
the new Administrator. Don’t hold back! Tell Congress just how you feel.
We have a great opportunity to make real changes in TSA and TSA Management.
The time is now to email Mark!
In Solidarity,
TSA Council 100
President Hydrick Thomas
Executive Vice President Alan Jackimowicz
Sec/Treasurer Joe Shuker
Region 1 Stacy Bodtmann
Region4 David Curtis
Region 2 Mac Johnson
Region 5 George Stebbins
Region3 Vaughn Glenn
Region 6 Jerome Coleman
[19]