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Whenever Possible, Pay Expenses for Travel and Lodging Directly to the Carrier or Hotel
Local officers and activists who travel in connection with our union's activities often use airlines and other modes of transportation in getting to and from those activities. Those activities are usually held in hotels and motels where the officers and activists lodge. To make reporting of those expenses easier, payments for travel and lodging should be made directly to the carrier or hotel. That's because of the way the Department of Labor and I.R.S. require payments to officers be reported on annual filings.
If the payments are made to the service providers, they are reported differently than if paid to the officer or activist. For example, if an officer of your local is reimbursed for her or his travel and lodging expenses, that payment has to be reported as a disbursement to the officer or activist even though it was only a reimbursement. If, however, the payment is made directly to the service provider, then the expense can be reported as an office or administrative expense. By paying directly to the service provider, there's a lot less hassle involved when preparing annual reports.
Always Have a Written Agenda When Chairing a Union Meeting
Ever been to a meeting of your local that just seemed to meander around with no clear purpose or focus? Did you look forward to the next meeting? Experienced and effective leaders in our union know that meetings with focus and direction are effective and keep things from bogging down. No matter if it's a committee or full meeting of your local, having a written agenda helps to keep things on track and focused.
Most of our locals have specific agenda items spelled-out in their By-laws. Using those specific agenda items as a "roadmap" to lead a meeting will keep things on track. In addition, by knowing the order of business, effective local leaders can focus their thoughts and keep meeting distractions to a minimum. Using a written agenda allows for effective leaders to plan the meeting and control its flow so that members don't get bored. Check your local's By-laws to see what the order of business in your union's meetings should be and use a written agenda to keep things in order.
While it may take some time, following a formal procedure for closing cases can save you serious aggravation. Take the time to write a brief, but concise memo on all closed cases. The memo doesn't need an awful lot of detail -- but should reflect the reason(s) your local decided to stop action on any grievance or other case. In particular, where grievances are concerned and your local has the final decision on going to hearing, a file-closing memo can help to protect your local against meritless charges from employees who feel their cases should have "gone all the way."
Effective locals use a formal process to decide on arbitration. By that method either the Executive Board or a group of experienced officers or stewards reviews each case and makes a formal recommendation on going to hearing. Whatever method used, having a brief and concise record of how and why a case was closed can come in very handy should an unhappy employee challenge your local's decision. Since a charge, (normally an Unfair Labor Practice) can be filed up to six months after the employee became aware, having information on hand will allow your local to properly defend against such a charge.
Make Use of Those Bulletin Boards
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Check this example of a simple yet attractive Local Bulletin Board
Use Care and Follow our Union's Rules in Providing Member Benefits
While we, as local officers, want to provide the latest and best benefits for our AFGE members, we need to remember there are specific rules which apply to our dealings with "benefit providers" for our union.
In a detailed mailing to all AFGE Locals in January of this year, our National President spelled out the rules that apply to our relationships with insurance and other "benefit providers" for our locals. That guidance is detailed and specific. If you didn't get a copy and you are an elected officer of our union, E-mail this Web Site for that information.
In short, that guidance set out a couple of very important points:
Our Union's Insurance Committee is responsible to review and our National Executive Council , (NEC) must approve any insurance programs offered by our union to our members;
Where a local officer, at any level, has entered into an insurance contract in violation of our Union's policies, responsibility for problems, (and in particular, lawsuits) related to that arrangement, will fall on the individual(s) concerned.
The net effect of the rule is that if an officer of our Union enters into a relationship with an insurance or other "benefit provider" for our members without first having the program or company approved by our National Executive Council, the officer will not be defended by our union for problems that come up in that relationship.
In our District, there are several approved benefit providers for our Locals' members. They are, at present, Trustmark, National Western Life, Philadelphia Life and our AFGE Dental Trust. Locals in our District may choose among the approved providers.
If you have any questions about this policy, contact our District Office.
Send Personalized New Member Welcome Letters
Your local just had a great "Lunch and Learn" during which a dozen new members joined. Getting those new membership applications processed takes some time and effort.
Our effective locals take an additional step -- they prepare a personalized New Member Welcome Letter which is mailed to the new member within a few days of the member's joining. Those Welcome Letters include such things as a list of the Local's officers; monthly meeting date and time information; Union Privilege Benefits materials and other items of interest.
Most importantly, those New Member Welcome Letters aren't "form letters" which are reproduced in bulk. Rather, they are original documents, personally signed by the Local's President. The follow-up and "personal touch" the letters provide show the new member that our union cares about the decision to join made by the new member.
Choose the Time for Local New Employee Orientations With Care
Experienced officers and leaders in our union know that AFGE is entitled to make a presentation in connection with an agency's New Employee Orientation. We have that right because the Orientation will generally by a Formal Meeting of employees and the agency management involved.
During that orientation, our union has the right to be there for the entire event and, at an appropriate time to make our views known about what is discussed in the Orientation. Many agencies will "assign" us time on the agenda for our presentation.
Organizing-oriented locals will do their best to have the time for our union's presentation immediately before the scheduled lunch break. That way, those locals will present our union's views and information with an invitation to join us for lunch. Having pizza or other carry-in food ready and available, on the spot, will keep many employees interested in a lively "Lunch and Learn" organizing presentation.
For a checklist of some possible topics for our union's presentation, there are two ways to get one.
CLICK HERE for an Adobe PDF File that you can download and use in your local.
If you don't have PDF file capability, CLICK HERE for a Web Page version of the Checklist which you can print out from your Web Browser.