- President’s Report:
I have been busy working on the office staff issues; OPEIU filed a grievance on the termination of Jennifer’s employment. Originally we had protested Jennifer’s unemployment claim but a settlement offer was made by OPEIU and we were able to settle the grievance and unemployment claims.
I am currently working on negotiations in my home local of Chickasha and have helped the new executive board there write several grievances. The City and Margaret Love are slow playing us and we will have discussions on invoking the process sometime in the next 30-45 days. Several grievances stacked up and Local is working through to see which will be arbitrated, some have already been settled. One member placed on admin leave due to off duty activity, will see what the City does with this issue.
I attended the Spring State and Provincial meeting April 25th – 28th, once again a full agenda with several educational opportunities. Had a couple presentations on financial investing that may be beneficial to our members, will be exploring more in the coming months. IAFF District 11 Vice President Sandy McGhee was in attendance along with Texas President John Riddle and gave a presentation on the “Texas Triple Play”. If this is something we are interested in we could call it the “Oklahoma Triple Option” in reference to the OU wishbone era.
Finished going through all the applicants for the open office position and passed them onto the hiring committee for review and to narrow down to a handful for interviews. The hiring committee conducted interviews on May 3rd and will present a recommendation under unfinished business. We did bring in a temporary worker through Express personnel services in an effort to help Meredith while the Legislative session was going on but after one week decided that she was not assisting in the way we needed and was not asked to return.
Still working with IAFF VP McGhee and John Archer with Nationwide retirement to come up with a presentation for retirees and current members on the job to discuss options for the Pension Plan B accounts. The first meeting is scheduled for May 17th for the Tulsa area and is being held at the Hard Rock in Catoosa, the second presentation will be held May 30th in the Oklahoma City area with a location to be determined. Local 157 has offered to allow us to use the Union hall but we will decide on that after the Tulsa presentation and we have a better idea on how many participants we might have.
Working to clean up the office and going through our pile of boxes, Secretary/Treasurer Maloy has someone willing to come in and assist with the process of going through the boxes and then shredding unneeded documents.
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