| Union Officer Opportunities
June 13, 2006
At the regular May meeting of the APFPA bi-law changes were adopted that expands our executive board from the
current 3 positions (President, Vice-President and Secretary/Treasurer) to 5 (we added two additional Vice-Presidents).
These changes will not cost the members any additional money as we adjusted the executive board salaries to absorb the
new positions. The objective of this notification is to solicit expressions of interest in running for the two new
positions. Below I will describe the general expectations of the persons who are elected into these offices. The
Vice-Presidents' salary will be $367 per month after July 1, 2006. If you are interested in pursuing either of these
positions, you need to be nominated at the next regular meeting of the APFPA which will be at 0800 HRS at station #3
on July 12, 2006. There are three ways to be nominated; 1) contact Vice-President Robert Beer and advise which position
you wish to seek, 2) have someone attend the meeting and nominate you for the desired position or 3) show up yourself at
the July meeting.
LEGAL ISSUES VICE-PRESIDENT
The Vice-President in charge of legal issues will be charged with becoming well versed in all the legal areas we
become engaged. A thorough understanding of the county rules and regulations is essential in order to be able to
assist members through grievances or employment questions. The person in this position will serve as our liaison
to the law firm of Woodley and McGillivary (our labor law counsel) which we keep on retainer as well as our workers'
compensation attorneys Burgess, Kernbach and Perigard esq. There will be a considerable learning curve involved with
this position and I expect to spend a significant amount of time with the individual that assumes this position. I do
not expect anyone to be able to assume this position without a lot of assistance. Local 2800 members should come to
know the Vice-President of Legal Issues as the person to go to for; legal opinions, filing grievances, workers'
compensation concerns, disciplinary action concerns or any other issue of a legal nature. Over time, the Legal Issues
Vice-President will develop the ability to assist members through many of these situations without seeking the assistance
of the attorneys. However, we will always have retained attorneys if we need them.
LEGISLATIVE AND POLITICAL ACTION VICE-PRESIDENT
Political action is the heart and sole of our ability to be affective as an organization. There is more work to be
done in the political arena than we could ever achieve. Expanding our executive board is largely about freeing up more
time for me, as the President, to commit to political action. This Vice-President further expands our ability to work
in the area that has and will result in our greatest accomplishments. The Political Action Vice-President will be
involved in all areas of political action. Meeting with elected officials, working on political campaigns and (probably
most importantly) educating our members about legislative issues that affect them are the primary focuses of this
Vice-President. In my fifteen years serving as Local 2800 President nothing has become more apparent than the need to
let our members understand who their legislators are and how their votes affect our pay, pension, benefits and working
conditions. I expect to spend a considerable amount of time working directly with the individual that assumes this
position.
The brief descriptions above only address the primary function of the new Vice-President positions. All executive
board members are expected to be available to assist members with a variety of issues. Understanding the needs of the
members and where to direct them with a problem is essential. Attending functions and participating in some political
activities are also inevitable. All union positions require a considerable commitment of personal time. Obviously,
the salary does not compensate you adequately for your time commitment. If you are thinking about pursuing one of these
positions only for the money, you would probably be better off working overtime or getting a part time job.
Union officers simply have to be motivated by the prospect of making things better for everyone. If you think you can
commit the time, and you want to be part of making real improvements for all of our members, please submit your name for
one of the open Vice-President positions.
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