Updates July 27, 2010

Updates June 25, 2010

LOCAL 334 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

June 11, 2010 Updates

June 8, 2010 Updates

You can locate the EBF Retiree Benefits booklet online at www.cseaebf.org. Click on "Unified Court System" on the left-hand side of the EBF home page and then click on the "UCS Retiree Benefit Booklet" link.

OLD STONE HOUSE DAY
You don't have to drive to Colonial Williamsburg for fun, entertainment and education. Enjoy a day of fun with your family on Saturday, July 10, 2010 at "Stone House Day" in Hurley, NY. Hurley, located near Kingston, has one of the largest collections of old colonial stone houses in the nation. The homes are 200 to 300 years old, still occupied, and are open to the public only one day a year. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., enjoy guided tours, a militia encampment, cooking demonstrations, an organ recital, a Sojourner Truth theatrical presentation, hosts in colonial garb, crafts and demonstrations, all included in one price. Visit www.stonehouseday.org for more information, directions, etc.

Discounted tickets are available through June 26, 2010. CSEA Judiciary Local 334 will be providing one FREE ticket to each member. By sending in your reservations before June 22, 2010, you will also be taking advantage of discounted ticket prices for your family and friends. Reservations and payment must be received by June 22nd. See the attached form for reservation information.

The State will not be shutting down this locally operated event!

Discounted Ticket Information:
One FREE ticket for each CSEA Judiciary Local 334 member
$1.00 - Children 5-12 [children 4 and under attend for free]
$10.00 - Seniors, youth ages 12-18, and full time college students
$12.00 - adults over the age of 18
Click Here - Reservation form for Stone House Days

June 2, 2010 Updates

May 25, 2010 Updates

May 3, 2010 Updates

As things stand now, here is what is happening:

1. The Governor is withholding payment of the 4% pay raise to Executive Branch State employees, but he is NOT doing so to UCS employees. My understanding is that our members in the courts have received the 4%.

2. The Governor is proposing to furlough Executive Branch State employees one day a week as long as there is no budget. He is NOT proposing to do that for UCS employees.

3. UCS is NOT paying its required contributions to the court employee part of the Employee Benefit Fund. The Governor has not proposed any appropriations to cover the EBF contributions for the Executive Branch nor for the Judiciary. We are filing a grievance with UCS about this. Naturally, UCS is dependent on the dollars the Governor has, until a budget is enacted. We are officially complaining to UCS, but it is really the Governor's actions which are causing this problem for court employees.

4. The NY Law Journal reports on cuts to the proposed UCS budget today. Apparently, the doubling of the expense fund for judges is dead, although Judge Pfau wants to take some money from the reduced budget and use it for that.

5. The most dangerous thing right now for CSEA-represented UCS employees is the refusal to pay the Benefit Fund. If nothing is done to stop that, the EBF will run out of money pretty quickly, and it will have to shut down. Our members will be unable to have the Fund pay for anything.

WHAT CAN WE DO???

Please get every one of your members to contact their State Assembly Member and State Senator and urge them to get a budget done, which will include full funding for the EBF. The more voters they hear from, the more likely it is that they will settle this whole mess without hurting us.

INFORMATIONAL DINNER MEETINGS - LEWIS and SCHUYLER COUNTIES
We will be holding an informational dinner meeting on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. at the Steak 'N Brew Restaurant, 4497 State Route 26, Turin, 13473. Vendors have been invited from CSEA Member Benefits, Pearl Carroll Insurance, Employee Benefit Fund, etc. Members from any county are welcome to attend. Reservations are required and must be received by Wednesday, May 12 by responding to don@csealocal334.com. Please bring your questions!

The Schuyler County meeting, which is also open to all Local 334 members, will be held on Wednesday, June 9, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. at the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel, 16 North Franklin Street, Watkins Glen, 14891. Once again, vendors have been invited to attend. While we have not received responses from all of them at this time, most vendors will send information for the display table if they cannot attend. Reservations are required and must be received by Wednesday, June 2 by responding to don@csealocal334.com.

ENCHANTED FOREST WATER SAFARI
Please see the flyer below announcing our Enchanted Forest Water Safari event scheduled on July 24th. Reservations must be received by July 16th. We had a great turnout last year and enjoyed great food and fun rides. We've even upgraded our menu to include grilled chicken breast this year. Members attend for free! Bring your family/friends along and enjoy the day.
Click Here - Enchanted Forest Water Safari Information and Registration

SPECIAL OLYMPICS
We are still looking for volunteers for the 2010 Special Olympics, being held in Utica on June 4th-6th. The volunteers would be scheduled to assist the athletes at the bowling event on Saturday, June 5th, located at Pin-O-Rama, 1724 Genesee Street, Utica. Morning and afternoon shifts are available for signup. The opening ceremonies on Friday evening and closing ceremonies on Saturday (both at 7:30 p.m., Utica College) are open to the public and we are encouraging our members and their family/friends to join us in cheering on the Special Olympics athletes. Thanks to the generosity of our CSEA Region 5 members, we have raised over $17,000 in support of this event. Now let's take a few moments from our time to make a huge difference in the lives of these athletes. Volunteers can use the form on our web site (April 16, 2010 posting under "Links and Locals," "Local 334") or contact Brenda Leone at 315-266-4474 or Sheila Sears at 315-266-6196.

April 16, 2010 Updates

April 16, 2010 Updates

March 29, 2010 Updates

February 11, 2010

February 3, 2010 Updates

January 12, 2010 Updates

December 10, 2009 Updates

November 24, 2009 Updates

November 13, 2009 Updates

November 6, 2009 Updates

October 15, 2009 Updates

Our Local will be holding an informational luncheon meeting in Waterloo, Seneca County on Wednesday, November 18th, 12:00-1:30, in the Grand Jury Room, and another luncheon meeting on Thursday, November 19th, 12-1:30 in Cayuga County, Auburn, 3rd floor courtroom.

We will be in Tompkins County, Ithaca, for a dinner meeting on Wednesday, November 18th, 6:00 p.m., at the Ithaca Holiday Inn. Members will have the option of selecting a Breast of Chicken, Roast Beef or Pasta entrée. Reservations for this dinner meeting must be made by Friday, November 6th, when our menu must be finalized with the Holiday Inn. Please mark your calendar and send in your dinner reservation soon.

As always, any member from any county is welcome to attend any or all of these meetings.

COURT CLOSINGS
Pursuant to Article 9.5 (h)(1) of our contract, the Unified Court System must give notice to our members if the celebration of a holiday in a particular location results in the closing of a court or court-related facility, forcing our members to use their annual leave. As required, to date UCS has notified CSEA of the following court closings: Tioga County Courts, Friday, November 27, 2009; Oneida City Courts, Friday, November 27, 2009; Oneida City Courts, Wednesday, December 23rd, adjusted hours to 8:00-4:00, and Thursday, December 24th, municipal building closed - all day.

August 28, 2009 Updates

July 31, 2009 Updates

July 16, 2009 Updates

July 7, 2009 Updates

Naturally, this is a difficult decision to make, and employees will have little time to decide. CSEA urges members who are faced with the choice to ask UCS for all possible details of how such an offer would affect them if they take it, especially in regard to health insurance coverage and other benefits.

COURT OFFICER VESTS
At the urging of Local 334 Grievance Rep Ian Spencer, Court Officer, your Local contacted the vendor for the bullet proof vests to see if they would consider offering our members without a vest the opportunity to be fitted for and personally pay for a vest at the same rate of payment that the State is offered. The vendor indicated that they are willing to do so. We are working with UCS, Chief Sean McCartney, to attempt to put a program in place where our members who wish to personally purchase a vest will be afforded the opportunity to do so. While we are working on setting up this program, our COs may be contacted regarding whether they do or do not have an interest in purchasing their own vest. Several inquiries have been made as to the purchase price, which will run in the neighborhood of $550 (the State rate), as compared to $800-$900 to purchase the vest otherwise.

If all goes well, we hope to be able to offer this opportunity to our members this fall. We will keep you updated.

EBF DENTAL PLAN ENHANCEMENTS
The CSEA Employee Benefit Fund recently mailed all eligible UCS employees an updated benefits booklet with an increased schedule of allowances to our dental plan. If you use a participating dental provider, you will notice no difference as you most often will have no out-of-pocket expense. If you use a non-participating provider, you may notice an increase in the amount of reimbursement received. These enhancements will also help attract/retain dental providers to our list of participating providers. If you did not receive this mailing, you may need to contact the Employee Benefit Fund to be certain that your current address is on file, 1-800-EBF-CSEA.

WATER SAFARI - ENCHANTED FOREST
A reminder, the deadline to sign up for our Local 334 Water Safari-Enchanted Forest July 25th event is Friday, July 17th. Further information is available on our web site, under the Local 334 link. Hope to see you there!

June 25, 2009 Updates

"This is not an early retirement incentive and CSEA has not yet chosen to participate in the payout offer. As this edition went to press, CSEA was still reviewing the proposal. If CSEA were to adopt the payout offer, offers to employees from the Personnel Office would be generated beginning on July 8. The offers sent from UCS to payout candidates would include instructions on how to accept the offer."

(That is the entirety of information available at this time. Our members will be kept informed -- as soon as I receive more information, you will receive it also.)

HEARING EVERY VOICE
CSEA Region 5 President Colleen Wheaton will be conducting two additional Union Town Hall Meetings, one in Lewis County, one in Franklin County, to hear from you as to what you want our union to be, our goals, objectives, purpose and overall function. This forum will be open to all CSEA members (not just Judiciary). The Franklin County meeting will be held on July 8th at Gallagher's Restaurant, 227 West Main Street, Malone, and the Lewis County meeting will be held on Thursday, July 9th at the Marine Corps League, Rt. 12, both meetings at 5:00 p.m. Reservations must be made, as food will be served. See the attached flyers for more information regarding the meeting. Reservation deadlines are July 1st (Lewis County) and July 2nd (Franklin County).
Franklin Town Hall Meeting Information
Lewis Town Hall Meeting Information

LOCAL 334 SCHOLARSHIPS
(Terri Vecchio, Scholarship Chairperson)
CSEA Judiciary Local 334 recently presented two memorial scholarships and one Financial Assistance Scholarship to graduating high school seniors, children of court employees represented by the union. The two $1,000.00 recipients were Lauren Tebsherany of New Hartford, Brandon Bello of Herkimer, and the $500.00 recipient was Daniel Craft of Elmira. Lauren Tebsherany graduated from New Hartford High School, and is the daughter of Barbara Tebsherany, Secretary to Judge, Oneida County Court. Lauren will be attending Boston College, majoring in Communications and Sociology. Brandon Bello is a graduate of Herkimer Senior High School, and is the son of Pamela Bello, Senior Court Office Assistant, Herkimer County Family Court. Brandon will be attending SUNY Albany, majoring in Accounting and Business. Daniel Craft is a graduate of Southside High School, and is the son of Richard Craft, Court Officer, Chemung County Court. Daniel will be attending Baldwin-Wallace College, majoring in Physical Education and Health.

Other academic achievement scholarships were awarded to the following students:
Margaret Rudy, Chittenango High School, daughter of Anthony Rudy, Senior Court Office Assistant, Oswego County Combined Courts.
Kelsie Belile, Geneva High School, daughter of Kathryn Strodel, Attorney, Mental Hygiene Legal Services, 5th Judicial District.
Kathleen T. Bardsley, Cortland High School, daughter of Margaret Bardsley, Court Attorney, Cortland City Court.
Kathryn Makowiec, Bishop Ludden Jr./Sr. High School, daughter of Ann Makowiec, Senior Court Reporter, Onondaga Supreme Court.
Jessie Briggs, C.W. Baker High School, daughter of Barbara Briggs, Law Librarian, Syracuse Supreme Court Law Library.
Gordon Walsh, Homer High School, son of Donald J. Walsh, Principal Attorney, Mental Hygiene Legal Services, 5th Judicial District.
Brett Fortnam, Westmoreland High School, son of Steven Fortnam, Court Attorney, Oneida County Family Court.
Alex Hipolito, C.W. Baker High School, son of Patricia Hipolito, Court Assistant, Onondaga County Family Court.
Scott C. Sheldon, Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School, son of Henry Sheldon, Court Officer, Otsego County Combined Courts.
Christopher J. Newbury, Tully High School, son of Heide Newbury-Halliday, Secretary to Judge, Onondaga County Family Court.

The Lt. Michael D. Carraway Memorial Scholarship program is named in memory of Retired Judiciary Local 334 President Sharon Carraway’s husband, a Utica Police Lieutenant and union activist who died unexpectedly in 1994.

LOCAL & UNIT ELECTION RESULTS
Following both Local and Unit elections this spring, effective July 1, 2009, your newly elected officers are as follows:
Local 334 - Donald Lynskey, President; Darlene O'Hara, Executive Vice President; Brenda Leone, 1st Vice President; Shari Hillman, 2nd Vice President; Sheila Sears, Treasurer; Terri Vecchio, Secretary; Natalie Spilman, Delegate.
Oswego County Unit - Amy Fox, President; Patricia Cline, Vice President; Corey Millich, Treasurer; Cheryl Blake, Secretary.
Onondaga County Unit - Adriane Marino, President; Melanie Chapman, 1st Vice President; Barbara Tracz, Secretary/Treasurer.
Oneida/Herkimer/Madison Unit - Brenda Leone, President; Elizabeth Holland, Vice President; Sheila Sears, Treasurer; Kelly Kohl, Secretary.
All candidates ran unopposed and were therefore deemed elected.

WATER SAFARI - ENCHANTED FOREST
A reminder, Local 334 will be sponsoring a day at the Water Safari - Enchanted Forest, Old Forge, on Saturday, July 25, 2009. Members attend free of charge and discounted prices are offered for guests. Admission will include a full lunch, and free drinks will be available for the entire day for all attendees. The previously distributed flyer is available on our web site, under the Local 334 link. Registration deadline is July 17th. The event will take place rain or shine, and tickets are non-refundable. We hope to see you there!

CSEA REGION 5 - FINGER LAKES WINE FESTIVAL
CSEA Region 5 Member Services Committee is offering transportation from the Region 5 headquarters in Syracuse and tickets to the July 18th Finger Lakes Wine Festival for a package price of $60. Please see the attached flyer for further information. Reservation deadline is July 15th. If you have questions, please contact Casey at 315-342-3830 or 315-529-9473.
Region 5 Finger Lakes Wine Festival

June 12, 2009 Updates

May 22, 2009 Updates

May 11, 2009 Updates

May 1, 2009 Updates

March 27, 2009 Updates

On the other hand, our fellow CSEA members facing layoffs in other State employment could certainly use our assistance in letting the Governor and our legislators know that we object to the layoffs. For further information, including suggested letters and faxes, etc., please visit the CSEA web site, www.csealocal1000.org, and the CSEA Region 5 link on that web site.

KRONOS

A reminder that every employee must work their entire day's shift. If you swipe in a minute or a couple minutes late in the morning on a rare occasion, your supervisor may overlook that and not deduct that time, but that is entirely discretionary on management's part. At the end of the workday, every member is entitled to swipe out within 15 minutes before the end of the shift...again, every member has that right in every court. If you have been told otherwise, please contact me. However, you must NOT leave the office before the end of your shift. If you leave prior to the end of your shift, you may face counseling and/or disciplinary charges because you have, in actuality, inappropriately been paid for time that you did not work.

March 18, 2009 Updates

"Please remember that other job titles are non-competitive but NOT confidential. Those employees do not have disciplinary or layoff rights for their first five years in non-competitive service, but once they have five years they DO get these rights.

"I know this gets very complicated, but it is important to remember that any 'confidential' employee can be dismissed summarily."
(Source: Jim Hennerty, CSEA Dep. Director of Contract Administration)

SAVE THE DATES - DARIEN LAKE & WATER SAFARI

Your Local is working to set up two different social functions this summer. Please keep the dates in mind.

Darien Lake Theme Park will be having a union weekend on June 13th and June 14th. Our members will be able to purchase advanced tickets for one day or the other (not both) for $17 per person, almost a 50% discount from the normal price.

The second function will be held at Water Safari in Old Forge on Saturday, July 25th. The Local will pay the cost of the CSEA member and offer discounted tickets at about $30 per person for family/friends. Admission tickets will include all day at the Water Safari Park and also include a cookout (hamburger, hot dogs, etc.) and unlimited drinks all day. We will send out further information as plans develop, but please mark your calendars and plan to attend!

CSEA LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM - FIREARMS ENHANCEMENT

As announced in the latest edition of the CSEA newspaper "The Workforce," CSEA has introduced a pilot program to provide legal services to CSEA-represented employees who carry firearms as part of their job. In the event of an occurrence where the member needs legal assistance based on the use of a firearm or other use of force in the line of duty, legal assistance is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our CSEA Region 5 attorney is Edward Dunn, Esq., of Syracuse. See the document below for more information. You may contact the CSEA Legal Department at 1-800-342-4146, extension 1443 for further questions or comments.
CSEA Legal Pilot Program - Firearms

EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT

You've undoubtedly heard of the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed federal legislation that gives workers more freedom to join unions and limits an employer's ability to intimidate workers trying to join a union. If you would like to learn more about this important legislation, go to www.csealocal1000.org to view a video that explains in further detail the background of the legislation.

March 4, 2009 Updates

February 24, 2009 Updates

2009 Scholarships

Updates, February 3, 2009

Updates, December 23, 2008

Updates, December 12, 2008

"March for Main Street" Rally

Better Choices

Updates, December 2, 2008

Updates, November 13, 2008

Updates, November 6, 2008

Updates, October 15, 2008

Updates, September 19, 2008

Updates, September 3, 2008

Updates, August 15, 2008

Updates, July 29, 2008

Updates, July 17, 2008

LOCAL 334 SCHOLARSHIPS

Updates, Thursday, June 26, 2008

Updates, Friday, June 13, 2008

If you did not receive a ballot, there are three possible explanations: (1) You are not a member; you are Agency Shop (non-member). Check your pay stub. If you see an A/S after the union dues, you are Agency Shop. (2) You became a member after 4-30-08, the end of the last pay period before Memorandum of Understanding was executed. Or (3) a processing error.

If you believe you should have received a ballot and did not receive one or if you received a mailing from CSEA without all of the appropriate documentation (missing ballot, for example), please contact Denise Plunkett at the number listed above.

A number of our members have stated their uneasiness at placing the first letter of their first name, complete last name, and the last four digits of their Social Security number. This information is required in order for your ballot to be verified and counted. By itself, this information is useless. Be sure to put only the first letter of your first name on the return address.

For those of you who attended the ratification meetings, I'm certain you found it informative. Unfortunately, a number of our members signed up and failed to attend, which necessitated paying hundreds of your dues dollars for meals that were not consumed. In the future as a matter of courtesy, please notify the Local if you have signed up and cannot attend a dinner meeting. It was great getting around the Local and seeing everyone. Many thanks to Brenda Leone, 1st VP, and Sheila Sears, Treasurer, for all of their help "on the road."

Contract Update

"CSEA Reaches Contract Settlement for 6,000 Court Employees Across New York"

CSEA - New York's Leading Union - has reached a tentative agreement with the New York State Office of Court Administration on a new contract covering more than 6,000 non-judicial employees in the state's Unified Court System.

"CSEA and the Unified Court System have reached a fair and responsible agreement that recognizes the value and importance of the court employees who make the system work every day," said CSEA President Danny Donohue. "These were challenging negotiations and I am extremely proud of the focus and commitment of the CSEA bargaining team."

The four-year agreement retroactive to April 1, 2007 includes salary increases in every year of the agreement, improved downstate and Mid-Hudson Valley location pay, enhancements in longevity bonuses for long-term employees, improved payments to the Employee Benefit Fund and Labor-Management programs and increased funding for body armor for security personnel. There were no significant changes to health insurance provisions.

Across-the-board cost of living adjustments are as follows:
* April 1 2007 - 3 percent or $950, whichever is greater (retroactive);
* April 1, 2008 - 3 percent or $975, whichever is greater (retroactive);
* April 1, 2009 - 3 percent or $1,000, whichever is greater; and
* April 1, 2010 - 4 percent or $1,025, whichever is greater.

CSEA also agreed to a salary increase deferral for employees earning more than $115,000 annually until a judicial pay raise is enacted. Employees at or above that level will have their salaries held harmless but will receive the contract provisions once the judicial pay raise issue is resolved. If it is not resolved by the end of the contract, the employees will receive all of the contract cost of living adjustments retroactively. This issue would affect about 500 individuals out of the bargaining unit's 6,000 members.

CSEA-represented court employees work in a range of non-judicial jobs, from court clerks to clerical and administrative staff to security officers in the court system in every part of New York.

Additional details about the agreement will be posted on the CSEA website www.csealocal1000.org shortly. The agreement will be presented to the CSEA rank and file members for review and ratification in the weeks ahead. It must also be approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor.
[Editor's note: Additional details will also be available here at the CSEA Judiciary web site, www.cseajudiciary.org]

Negotiations Update

CSEA and UCS have made a tentative agreement on a new contract for 2007-2011. The deal includes increases in compensation, location pay, and other benefits. More details will follow once final wording is agreed upon.

UPDATES

If you have questions regarding these changes, please call the New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) at 1-877-7-NYSHIP or the CSEA Health Benefits Department at 1-800-286-5242.

Increments & Longevity Bonuses
UCS has confirmed that the 4/1/08 increments and longevity bonuses will, in fact, be paid to eligible members. Barring any unforeseen problems, it is anticipated that they will be paid in the 4/30/08 paycheck, based on our lag payroll system.

Childcare/Eldercare Reimbursement
Recently, one of our members inquired as to the Childcare/Eldercare Reimbursement program that has been available in the past. Please be advised that this program is not presently active in that there is no funding due to the expiration of our 2003-2007 contract. I would suggest to those who do utilize this program that they save their receipts in the event that there is any "backward reimbursement" once we do have a contract. Again, there is no guarantee there will be a reimbursement of any kind, but in the event that there may be, better to err on the side of caution and have receipts available.

EBF Legal Services Inquiry
Our Employee Benefit Fund Legal Services benefits describes on page 16 of the EBF booklet a reimbursement for "principal residence real estate closing." The benefit provides for up to $300 per calendar year per sale or purchase, with a $600 cap, once the proper documentation is submitted. There is no deadline for applications, but after inquiring of an EBF specialist, we have learned that members who submit proper documentation will be reimbursed up to one year following a principal residence real estate closing.

The EBF Brochure is available by going to our website, www.cseajudiciary.org, click on "Links & Locals," click on the CSEA Employee Benefit Fund link. Once on the EBF site, select Unified Court System. Other departments of CSEA have different negotiated benefits, so it is important that you click on the Unified Court System link located on the lower left-hand side of the EBF web site.

Judiciary Local 334 Vehicle IDs
Please be advised that our Local 334 vehicle IDs that have been distributed over the years do NOT entitle our members to special parking privileges or to park in restricted places. In one of the counties within our Local, complaints have been received that our members have parked at meters without paying and have displayed their Local 334 vehicle ID. You WILL be ticketed if you park illegally. Our IDs do not entitle members to any specific legal privileges; they only identify the vehicle as that of a CSEA-represented court system employee.

E-Mail Confidentiality
A reminder, UCS e-mail is NOT confidential. Every e-mail sent through Groupwise is subject to UCS review. If you feel you need to contact the Union about a confidential matter, please use my union e-mail, dlynskey334@yahoo.com, call the union telephone at 1-800-498-0334, or contact one of our other Local or Unit officers as listed on our web site.

FMLA
The Family and Medical Leave Act was amended in January of this year to include a new leave called "Servicemember Family Leave." The amendment, in substance, provides for the following: "An eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a covered servicemember shall be entitled to a total of 26 workweeks of leave during a 12-month period to care for the servicemember." A more detailed description of the amendment is available. If you would like to receive the complete description, please e-mail me or call the union telephone at 1-800-498-0334 and leave your name and fax number.
Thank you to Bob Riley, CSEA Labor Relations Specialist, for passing along this information.

UPDATES

UPDATES and CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

Updates

Updates

Updates

We have a number of Local 334 members who will be retiring effective the end of this year. Our best to you all -- enjoy yourselves!!
On behalf of the CSEA Judiciary Local 334 Executive Board, we wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

UPDATE - CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

Despite CSEA Executive Branch member's tentative contract agreement with New York State, our negotiations with the Unified Court System for a new contract remain stalled. UCS is finally ready to make our next bargaining session the last date for either side to make new proposals. We are attempting to have that next session sometime in January. We hope the Executive Branch agreement will ease the path for CSEA to reach an agreement. However, UCS seems determined to insist on givebacks and a cap on member salaries (the latter is tied to the lack of a pay raise for judges). It may be a long time before significant progress is made. Please check back periodically for further developments.

November 21, 2007 Update

Local 334 Retirement Benefit

Inspector General Matters

Recently, there have been several inquiries regarding the Unified Court System's Inspector General's office. The following information will help explain your rights and responsibilities if contacted by the Inspector General's office.

If you are the target of an investigation by the IG, most often you will be contacted by your Local President. The IG will rarely directly contact the target of an investigation, but the IG may directly contact a member if they are simply a witness or have some minor involvement in the matter.

If you are a target, you are entitled to union representation, your Local President and/or Labor Relations Specialist (LRS), or you may hire private counsel. In the event you hire private counsel, you would be required to sign a waiver with regard to union representation.

If you are a target, you may request to record the investigatory proceeding, but if you are interviewed as a witness, you will not be allowed to record the proceeding and you are not entitled to representation. As a witness, you may refuse to answer the questions presented by the IG, but in that event you would, in all likelihood, face charges of insubordination. In other words, you must cooperate with the investigation or risk being brought up on charges yourself.

IG investigations are confidential. The investigator will make every effort to complete his investigation through Judge Plumadore's office and local management's office, without unnecessarily involving others.

Once the investigation has been completed, the IG composes a report of his findings, which is submitted to Judge Plumadore's office and the District Administrative Judge's office. Ultimately, Judge Plumadore's office makes a decision as to if/what action will be taken as a result of those findings.

At this time, there is no requirement that a target or witness be notified that the investigation has been completed.

If you have further questions regarding the Inspector General's office, please feel free to contact me.

CSEA/UCS Court Reporter Page Rate Committee

After repeated requests for their proposal following the negotiation session, UCS finally replied that they were not going to send us a final proposal, rather that they were considering tying in court reporter page rate issues with the contract negotiations.

As a member of the both teams, Page Rate and Contract Negotiations, I can tell you that the Page Rate committee members have worked many years....yes, literally years attempting to come to an agreement on page rates. As a member of the contract negotiations team, I know that UCS at this time has not proffered a single proposal regarding court reporter page rates. At our last contract negotiation session, UCS did indicate that they have submitted 75% of their proposals. Possibly we will see a proposal regarding page rates as negotiations continue. I will keep you posted.

Contract Negotiations

Your Union

On that note, on behalf of CSEA Judiciary Local 334, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

October 30, 2007 Update

CSEA & Executive Branch Tentative Contract Agreement

CSEA announced yesterday that a tentative contract agreement has been reached for Executive Branch employees. Details are available on the CSEA website, www.csealocal1000.org. Highlights include salary increases of 3% April 2007, 3% April 2008, 3% April 2009 and 4% April 2010; modest increase in co-pays for certain health benefits, as well as some enhancements in benefits. While this does not directly affect us as employees of the Unified Court System, as I have mentioned in previous Receiver notices the CSEA-UCS contract will follow closely with the Executive Branch salary increases and health insurance benefits.

The CSEA Judiciary negotiating team is tentatively scheduled to meet the last week of November. You will be notified of any progress in our CSEA-UCS contract negotiations.

For those members who do NOT have direct deposit, please be aware that UCS paychecks are mailed using standard US Postal service to deliver checks to your court facility. Therefore, if/when there is a problem and paychecks do not arrive timely, there is no tracking capability, which may even further delay receipt of your paycheck.

Following problems recently in one of our counties, once again I strongly urge everyone who is capable to sign up for direct deposit.

A number of our new union members have inquired as to receipt of a CSEA membership card. New members do, in fact, receive a membership card, though the process of producing and distributing the card takes place after union membership is verified, the Local (my office) is notified, and typically will take 8 to 12 weeks following receipt of the member's application at CSEA Headquarters in Albany.

CSEA Unified Court System employees do NOT need to present their membership card to utilize employee benefits, such as vision and dental. However, be aware that CSEA represents many different agencies besides UCS who have different contractual benefits, so it is important that your benefit provider is aware that you are a CSEA member employed by the Unified Court System.

Please remember to include chambers staff in your distribution of the Local 334 Receiver notices. Oftentimes, our notices are posted near KRONOS machines, which chambers staff do not typically utilize.

A reminder that UCS has announced that a Court Reporter Seminar will be held in Syracuse on Friday, December 28, 2007. Details will be mailed to each court reporter's home address.

October 12, 2007 Update

Please remember to distribute receiver notices to your co-workers either by forwarding this message, posting it on a bulletin board and/or distributing it within your office/courthouse. Unfortunately, I have spoken with members who have "Local 334 Receivers" within their office/courthouse and yet never receive updates or postings. For those who have taken the time to spread the information within their office/courthouse, we thank you for your efforts in getting updates out to everyone. If any member would like to be added to the e-mail list, please let me know.

At this time, we have only one Receiver in Seneca County and would encourage any other Seneca County member to submit their name for the Receiver list.

Also, with the addition of our Court Officers in a number of counties, we encourage them to submit their names to be added to the Receiver list so that all Court Officers are kept informed as to activities within our Local, contract negotiations, etc.

FYI, when a new UCS employee applies for union membership, their application is forwarded to the CSEA Membership Department via mail and/or fax. At that point, CSEA must wait for two to four weeks to begin to process that application, which is the amount of time that UCS Audit & Control takes to submit verification to CSEA of new employee status. Therefore, from the date the application is mailed to the date the member's paycheck stub will indicate their union membership is, on average, eight weeks.

Students over age 19 that are children of CSEA Judiciary members are eligible for EBF benefits if they are enrolled for a minimum of 12 undergraduate or six graduate credit hours and are enrolled in a regionally accredited college or university, working toward a bachelor's degree, master degree or associate's degree. Students must apply annually for benefits by filling out the Student Proof form, which is available from the EBF website, www.cseaebf.com, click on "All EBF Forms," click on "Library" on the left-hand side of the page. This form must be completed by the college/university registrar's office and sent to CSEA EBF, P.O. Box 516, Latham, New York 12210.

We have been conducting informational luncheons over the past few months and have plans to visit more counties through the end of the year. Most of the counties we have visited have new Court Officers, who are new to the Court System and also new to our benefit providers. If we have not been to your county within the last year or so, please be assured, we will be planning more informational luncheons and will be in your county as soon as possible. Of course, when contract negotiations begin to progress, we may have to hold off for a while on scheduling more luncheons. Meanwhile, November luncheons are planned for Schuyler County, November 7th; Tompkins County, November 15th. December luncheons are scheduled for Chemung County, December 4th; Seneca County, December 5th, and Cayuga County, December 13th. Announcements will be sent to Receivers in those counties within two weeks of the luncheon date.

CSEA Judiciary still awaits word on the Executive Branch negotiations, which will set the rate for percent increases and health insurance issues. Executive Branch negotiations updates are available on the CSEA website, www.csealocal1000.org, click on "State Contract Update." This link is updated every week to ten days.

Our CSEA Judiciary-UCS negotiations are tentatively scheduled to continue the last week of November.

I have received a number of inquiries regarding upcoming CSEA elections, nominating petitions and related inquires. There are three elections taking place after the 1st of the year: (1) Statewide Officers, (2) Region Officers (we are Region 5 of CSEA), and (3) Board of Directors, which the Judiciary holds two seats.

The Statewide officers are self-explanatory. These are the officers who are elected to represent the entire CSEA membership (Judiciary and otherwise) and whose offices are at CSEA headquarters in Albany.

Region 5 of CSEA is headquartered in Syracuse and is comprised of 20 counties of CSEA employees (Judiciary and otherwise). Geographically, our Local is comprised of court employees within the same 20 counties of Region 5 -- which is why we represent members within four different judicial districts. Sheila Sears, our Local 334 Treasurer and Unit 4 Treasurer, is the 2nd Vice President of Region 5.

The CSEA Statewide Board of Directors is comprised of representatives from all departments/divisions of CSEA. The Judiciary has held one seat on this board for many years, currently held by Bob Lorenc, Judiciary Local 332 President. The number of representatives on this board is based on membership numbers. The Judiciary during this election process for the first time will be electing two Board Representatives based on the increased CSEA Judiciary membership.

Nominating petitions are forms that contain signatures of CSEA members who are in actuality "allowing" a candidate to place their name on a ballot. The person who signs the nominating petition is NOT voting for the potential candidate but is simply helping the candidate gather the required number of valid signatures to put their name out to the membership as a candidate for office. I was amazed (and quite surprised) at the number of inquiries received regarding these petitions. No, you do not have to personally know the candidate; No, you do not have to intend to vote for the candidate. If your Local or Unit officer brings a petition to you for signature, please feel free to affix your name, knowing that you are simply allowing a candidate to run for office, with no obligation on your part to vote for the him/her in the future.

I will be changing my e-mail address from the dreamscape address to dlynskey334@yahoo.com over the next week. Please update your address book.

CSEA'S CONTRACT PROPOSAL SUMMARY - 2007

(Kathy Guild, Contract Adminstration Specialist, CSEA Headquarters)

CSEA published a summary of the Unified Court System's contract proposals after we received them. Following is a summary of some of CSEA's proposals to the Unified Court System.

SICK LEAVE

LOCATION PAY

ON-CALL PAY

UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT ALLOWANCE

HOLIDAYS

REIMBURSEMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL LICENSE

VACATION BUY-BACK

CSEA EMPLOYEE BENEFIT FUND

CHILD/ELDER CARE REIMBURSEMENT

WORKING CONDITIONS

INSPECTOR GENERAL

GRIEVANCE AND ARBITRATION PROCEDURES

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Contract Negotiations Update, August 14, 2007

(James Hennerty, Dep. Director of Contract Administration)

PAY
--cap salaries at $115,000
--sunset (allow to expire) increments and longevity bonuses until a new contract is ratified
--reduce longevity bonus

SICK LEAVE
--cut maximum amount of sick leave bank grants from 229 days to 130 days
--employees on sick leave are confined to their homes or must be reachable by telephone at all times
--reduce benefits for line-of-duty injuries

WORKWEEK
--increase to 40 hours a week

OVERTIME
--no time and a half pay until the employee WORKS 40 hours in a week (paid leave would not count as time worked)

QTP MONEY
(used for employee education vouchers and payment to defray health insurance costs)
--eliminate altogether

CSEA EMPLOYEE BENEFIT FUND
--no increases in contributions (which means cuts in current benefits)
--remove retirees from the EBF
--sunset EBF contributions at the end of a contract (that is, no benefits at all until a new contract is reached)

CHILD CARE/ELDER CARE
--no funding for this any longer

WORKING CONDITIONS
--eliminate provision closing courts when temperatures are too hot or too cold

EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION LEAVE
--significantly reduce amount of EOL available
--prevent CSEA representatives on EOL from accruing vacation and sick leave

UCS further indicated that this was about 75% of its proposals. We expect more demands which would cut our members' benefits even more. Take particular notice of an increased work week, the elimination of child care and elder care payments, and the severe reductions in contributions to the CSEA Employee Benefit Fund. EBF benefits would have to be reduced, and UCS wants retired employees completely removed from the program!

Needless to say, the CSEA Negotiating Team sees a long, hard slog in negotiations until we get to a point where we can agree with UCS on a new contract. The CSEA Team has no intention of making an agreement which would slash our members' benefits.

LOCAL 334 AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS

(June 24, 2007, Terri Vecchio, Scholarship Chairperson)

CSEA Judiciary Local 334 recently presented eight memorial scholarships to graduating high school seniors, children of court employees represented by the union. The two $1,000.00 scholarships were awarded to Brittany Szucs, Boonville and Nathan J. Rockefeller, Delhi. Four $500.00 scholarships were awarded to Pamela A. Kennard, Clinton, Joseph C. Barry. Utica, Megan Barner, Syracuse, and Ryan C. Strader, Cicero. Two $250.00 scholarships were awarded to Allison M. Tebsherany, New Hartford and Christina M. Alibrandi , Fayetteville.

Brittany Szucs is a graduate of Adirondack Central School and she is the daughter of Jeanne Szucs, Court Assistant, Oneida County Family Court. Brittany will be attending Union College in the Fall majoring in Pre-Medical Studies.

Nathan J. Rockefeller is a graduate of Delaware Academy High School and he is the son of Barbara Rockefeller, Senior Court Office Assistant, Delaware County Family Court. Nathan will be attending Hartwick College in the Fall majoring in Liberal Studies.

Pamela A. Kennard is a graduate of Clinton High School and she is the daughter of Barbara Kennard, Court Assistant, Oneida County Court. Pamela will be attending SUNY Brockport in the Fall majoring in Business Administration.

Joseph C. Barry is a graduate of Proctor High School and he is the son of Christine M. Barry, Support Magistrate, Oneida County Family Court. Joseph will be attending Syracuse University in the Fall majoring in Physical Therapy/Chiropractic.

Megan Barner is a graduate of West Genesee High School and she is the daughter of Beth Barner, Court Clerk, Onondaga County Combined Courts. Megan will be attending Marist College in the Fall majoring in Social Work.

Ryan C. Strader is a graduate of Cicero-North Syracuse High School and is the son of Shelley Strader, Senior Court Reporter, Onondaga County Combined Courts. Ryan will be attending SUNY Cortland in the Fall majoring in Physical Education.

Allison M. Tebsherany is a graduate of New Hartford High School and she is the daughter of Barbara Tebsherany, Secretary to Judge, Oneida County Court. Allison will be attending St. John Fisher College in the Fall, majoring in Elementary/Special Education.

Christina M. Alibrandi is a graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High School and is the daughter of Maria Alibrandi, Senior Court Office Assistant, Onondaga County Surrogate's Court. Christina will be attending Fashion Institute of Technology in the Fall majoring in Production Management/International Trade & Marketing.

The Lt. Michael D. Carraway Memorial Scholarship program is named in memory of Retired Local President Sharon Carraway's husband, a Utica Police Lieutenant and union activist who died unexpectedly in 1994.

Negotiations Update, June 6, 2007

(James Hennerty, Dep. Director of Contract Administration)

CSEA and UCS were scheduled to meet for another session of contract negotiations in mid-June. UCS informed CSEA that it did not expect to have its negotiating proposals ready by that time. Both CSEA and UCS have tentatively agreed to meet again in early August. The UCS proposals will seek concessions and reductions in a number of benefits, UCS has told us. CSEA has been preparing for these negotiations since last summer. The CSEA Negotiating Team has presented numerous written proposals to management and attempted to have some real bargaining on the contract. Apparently UCS is not yet impressed with the hard work the CSEA Team has done.

CSEA is deeply disappointed in the continuing pattern of UCS delay regarding negotiations for a new contract. The old contract expired March 31, and CSEA has energetically pushed for an agreement, only to be met by procrastination on the part of management.

UCS has come perilously close to committing an improper employer practice-bargaining in bad faith-by its actions thus far. CSEA is fully prepared, if necessary, to take appropriate legal action to force UCS to cease its dilly-dallying and get down to work on a new contract. Let's hope the August session takes place and is productive.

Negotiations Update

(May 17, 2007)

The CSEA Negotiations Team met on May 15, 16, and 17, 2007 for our second round of negotiations with the Unified Court System management.

CSEA submitted additional proposals (adding to our initial proposals in March). Regrettably, UCS did not submit any proposals and indicated that they were still, even at this late date, working on them. We discussed our proposals with UCS, and during that dialogue, UCS indicated that they are looking to cut back in many areas beneficial to our members.

Tentative dates are scheduled for mid June.

Salary Increases

CSEA has been notified by the Office of the State Comptroller that the addition of $800 to basic annual salaries will be effective April 5th for UCS employees. Because of the lag pay, the raise will be reflected in May 2nd, 2007 paychecks.

Updates

CSEA Judiciary Local 334 will be welcoming new transfer-of-function Court Officers in Cortland County and Chenango County on May 17th. There will be an informational meeting for the eligible officers on Thursday, April 12th, 2 p.m., at the Cortland County Courthouse.

A reminder, the $800 payable on March 31, 2007 will be added to the base salary. It is not a lump sum payout.

The CSEA-UCS contract will expire on March 31st, 2007. However, UCS has indicated that increments and longevity bonuses will, in fact, be paid out to eligible members.

An Explanation in response to a recent inquiry:
The Maximum and Longevity steps of the salary schedules are located within our contract, at the very end of the booklet. There are four years between Maximum and 1st Longevity, another four years between 1st Longevity and 2nd Longevity.
Longevity bonuses (as differentiated from 1st and 2nd Longevity steps of the salary schedule) are typically paid within the month of April, possibly the beginning of May, considering we are on a lag payroll and the 1st of the month falls on varying days of the week.

Negotiations

The Court Employee Negotiating Team of CSEA began negotiations with the NYS Unified Court System for a new contract on March 20 and 21. The meetings took place in the Albany area. The CSEA Team had already sent UCS its initial proposals some weeks ago. UCS said it had not yet completed its analysis of CSEA’s proposals, but did engage in some discussion of the issues we presented.

UCS offered no proposals to CSEA yet, although the management representatives indicated they would do so no later than the next bargaining session, which will probably be in mid-May.

Negotiations

Your CSEA Negotiations team met in December 2005 and January 2006 to review member questionnaires and formulate proposals in preparation for meeting with the UCS Negotiations team in March.

Our first negotiations session with both CSEA and UCS present has now been scheduled for March 20th and 21st, 2007. All indications point to a rather lengthy period of negotiations. We will update you with news as it becomes available.

Transfer-of-Function Court Officers

According to UCS, Local 334 Court Officers who transferred into the courts in November of 2006 will not be entitled to salary increments in April of 2007. A grievance has been filed in behalf of these Court Officers, who are located in Onondaga County, Tioga County and Norwich City Court.

Step 1 of the grievance has been denied and the matter has now progressed to Step 2 of the grievance process. We are awaiting a Step 2 hearing date from the UCS Labor Relations Department.

Retirement System Inquiry

Recently, an inquiry was made regarding what, if anything, will ever be done for members who paid into the retirement system over the now-required ten-year period. Will those members ever see a benefit in consideration of their payments beyond ten years? Will this be brought up in contract negotiations?

This topic is actually a prohibited subject of bargaining and cannot be addressed at contract negotiations. Only the Legislature can address this matter and it is unlikely that will ever be done. For those who paid in over the ten-year period, your reward (and mine) is that we no longer have to pay into the retirement system.

Congratulations, Sharon!

Effective January 26th, 2007, Local 334 President Sharon Carraway retired after almost 32 years in her position in the Unified Court System and as President of Judiciary Local 334. We wish Sharon well in her retirement and appreciate the 14 years of dedicated service representing our members throughout the 20 counties of our Local. As your new Local President, I will be corresponding by mail in the next few weeks with all of our membership.

A reminder that physician and drug co-pay reimbursements must be submitted to the CSEA Employee Benefit Fund by March 31st, 2007. Physician co-pays are reimbursed up to $125 per calendar year. (This does not include emergency room, dental, X-ray or radiographic co-pays.) Drug Co-pays are reimbursable up to $100 per calendar year. Forms are available on our web site, www.cseajudiciary.org under the "Forms and Member Services" link. If you would like to review the guidelines for submitting co-pay reimbursements, visit www.cseaebf.com and click on the Unified Court System link. The entire EBF fund booklet is available online at the EBF web site.

All new Court Officers who have transferred into the courts should be aware that the six-month waiting period for EBF benefits has been waived, with the exception of the maternity benefit, which has a nine-month waiting period. New Court Officers who apply for the co-pay benefit as described above are eligible for reimbursement of physician and drug co-pays incurred only after transferring into the court system.

Attention "Receivers"

Email Local 334