American Postal Workers Union

Austin Area Local 299

General Membership Meeting Minutes

7/18/09

President Larry Roberts called the meeting to order at 12:09 pm at the AFL-CIO Bldg. Brother Monte Lane led the Pledge of Allegiance. There was a roll call of the officers by Secretary Cory L. Purifoy. There was a quorum.

Excused Absent: George Roman, Raymond Thompson, Cathy Robbins,

Joe Aaron, and Jesse Benavides

Unexcused Absent: none

 1. The General Membership Minutes from May 16, 2009 were provided to the members for review and questions. A motion was made by Brother Al Garcia to accept the minutes from May. (Motion passed)
 
2. The Financial Report from May was provided to the members for review and questions. A motion was made by Brother Al Garcia to accept the Financial Report from May. (Motion passed)
 
3. The Financial Report from June was also provided to the members for review and questions. A motion was made by Brother Ben Soliz to accept the Financial Report from June. (Motion passed)
 
4. A motion was made to suspend regular order of business for guest speaker Bob Bishop representative from the NALC branch #181. (Motion passed)
 
5. Mr. Bishop spoke about the NALC 1st Annual Volleyball Tournament and Benefit on August 1, 2009. This festive event will be sponsored by the NALC branch #181 benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
 
6. A motion was made to change order of business so that the Executive Board could reconvene to discuss participation. (Motion passed)
 
7. (See Executive Board Minutes) A motion was made by Brother Al Garcia that the local sponsor up to 3 teams to participate in the NALC 1st Annual Volleyball Tournament and Benefit. (Motion passed)
 
8. A motion was made to return back to the local’s regular order of business for the General Membership meeting. (Motion passed)
 
9. The Executive Board is bringing forth a request before the General Membership that the spend $215.00 for a ¼ page ad for the AFL-CIO Labor Day booklet. (Motion passed)
 
10. The Executive Board is bringing forth a request before the General Membership that the spend up to $1500.00 per person to send up to 10 people to the APWU - All Craft Conference September 30 – October 3, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. Local President would have full discretion over the selection process. (Motion passed)
 

11. The Executive Board is bringing forth a request before the General Membership that the spend up to 6hrs of Union LWOP for Legislative Director John Castillo to assist with the AFL-CIO Annual “Fish Fry” September 4, 2009. (Motion passed)

12. The Executive Board is bringing forth a request before the General Membership that the purchase 20 tickets to distribute to members wanting to attend the AFL-CIO Annual “Fish Fry” event. (Motion passed)

13. There a discussion about members receiving information about supplemental insurance coverage in the mail from American General Life.

14. There was a discussion about an upcoming “Town Hall” meeting organized by Plant Manager Manny Trevino. This meeting will be held on the clock.

15. There was a discussion about the Postal Service’s desire to compress window service operations. Also, there was a discussion about the Postal Service’s desire to obtain permission to close East Austin and Town North facilities.

16. President Roberts spoke about Postal Management’s desire to change work hours of employees within the General Mail Facility.

17. Brother Ben Soliz briefly spoke about a Postal initiative titled “Standby Time.”

18. There was a discussion about the Excessing of 17 employees from the Houston area to El Paso, Texas. Of the 17 employees 14 were Limited Duty employees. Contractually, excessing is done by juniority.

19. President Roberts spoke about the importance of members making contributions to COPA.

20. There was a discussion about Postal employees leaving Postal premises while on the clock. President Roberts says “Don’t Risk Your Job!”

21. President Roberts encouraged employees to write statements about the abusive behavior of supervisors and managers in the work environment.

Announcements:

Door Prize Amount $125

Door Prize Winner: None

Door Prize Amount Increases to $150

COPA Funds raised totals $ 506

COPA Drawing Winners:

$35 Winner – Al Garcia

$25 Winner – Stephanie Titsworth

T-Shirt Winner – Russell White

TPWU Bag Winner – Cory L. Purifoy

COPA Auction Bid Item: Large Multi-purpose Cooler

Auction Bid Winner – Chris Thomas

A motion was made to adjourn.

Meeting adjourned at 1:40 pm.

United As ONE,
 
Cory L. Purifoy