Dues Increase for 2014

SHARE bi-weekly dues will increase in January:

• The regular dues rate for 2014 will be $16.48/paycheck (the 2013 rate is $16.25)
• For employees budgeted for 20 hours/week, the 2014 rate will be $12.37/paycheck (the 2013 rate is $12.21)

Below are some Frequently Asked Questions about dues:

Why are the dues going up now, even though we haven't gotten a raise yet?

The dues increase is set by our national union, AFSCME (American federation of State, County and Municipal Employees). Any rate change is in January of each year.

How much do the dues increase each year?

The dues increase is calculated by AFSCME, based on the average raise that all 1.5 million members across the country got in the previous year. Many of AFSCME's members have had small, or no, raises over the past few years, and some have had pay cuts or unpaid furloughs. This has resulted in small, or nonexistent dues increases over the past few years, even though SHARE members at UMass Medical School were getting raises.

dues rates stayed the same from 2010 through 2012

Where do the dues go?

Most of the dues go to pay for the SHARE staff, the office rent, office supplies, mailings, etc. That money supports the work of the union here at the Medical School (and in our sister unions at UMass Memorial, Harvard University, and the Cambridge Health Alliance):

• helping members with issues at work, 
• building connections across the campuses, 
• supporting people who have been laid off, 
• distributing information about issues of importance to SHARE members (like H59), 
• negotiating contracts, etc. 

A portion of the dues goes to the national union in Washington -- they spend that money on advocating for AFSCME members as a whole, including research for things like workplace safety and lobbying for policies that help workers, like the FMLA. Support for political candidates comes from AFSCME's Political Action Committee, not from dues money. 

Report from the H59 Public Hearing

Members of the SHARE leadership team recently traveled into Boston for the open hearing on House Bill 59, Governor Patrick's proposal to change the structure of the Retiree Health Benefit for State Employees. (For background, please see this previous post about the details of the bill, and this update about the status of the bill, prior to the open hearing, which includes information about how to be involved.)

I'll do my best to provide meaningful highlights. The hearing went several hours longer than the two hour scheduled meeting time, and there were plenty of colorful details. Hundreds of opponents to H59 filled Gardner Auditorium on Beacon Hill. Although the status of the bill is not yet certain, and no one can know what subsequent proposals might target State Employee benefits in the coming years, I think SHARE members have good reasons to be optimistic that their Retiree Health Benefits will not be taken away as a result of this particular bill. To pass it, the outgoing Governor has a lot to overcome, and not much time to do it. Most members of the Committee reviewing the Bill, The Joint Committee on Public Service, expressed grave concerns about the spirit and structure of the cost-shifting involved in the bill. (Representative James Miceli likened the "shifting" to "shafting.") Though the Committee's questions were measured, and seemed genuinely to get at understanding all of the arguments involved, I didn't hear any individuals on the Committee mention any support for the bill; some explicitly stated that they would not support it as it is written. 

Members of the Committee first heard from Glen Shor, Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, and his panel, to explain the rationale behind the bill. They explained that, unlike the State Pension program, the Retiree Health Benefit is unfunded, and that their current calculations show that the Benefit represents a 46 billion dollar liability for the state of Massachusetts. They explained that the bill is designed to bring costs in line by year nine of its implementation, and save one billion, cumulatively, by the end of that first decade. Due to the grandfathering clauses, the state would not fully realize the financial impact of the bill for roughly thirty years. (It's worth noting that there was grumbling both from the audience--and from the Committee itself--about the lack of quantifiable details regarding the proposal from the Secretary's panel. Senator Dan Wolf put it most plainly as he searched for answers about how the Bill would affect individuals, noting that Massachusetts employees are entitled to a sustainable State budget, but not at the expense of "sustainability around the kitchen table" as they calculate their home budgets.)

Many, many groups and individuals testified, representing towns, taxpayer groups, unions, and employee advocacy groups. The committee heard from UMass employees at various campuses. Shawn Duhamel, of MassRetirees, (who has visited the UMMS campus to talk with employees and members of Human Resources about H59) testified alongside the AFL-CIO. Even Ebba Hierta, the library worker who created the popular Facebook page, Stop Massachusetts Bill H59, came to explain how passage of the Bill would force her to retire from the job she loves, several years earlier than she intends . . . and at greater cost to the State, since it would be paying her benefits sooner, in addition to the wages and benefits of her replacement. 

The long conversation flushed out several concerns and criticisms. In addition to those mentioned above, these included:

• Many, many references to the broken promise to State employees who have worked diligently, and made career choices, based on assumptions that they would qualify for the Retiree Health benefit.
• Concerns that passage of the Bill could create unforeseen costs to the State in the form of litigation, resulting from that broken promise. (One such case in Rhode Island is not yet resolved. Opponents promised similar litigation in Massachusetts to block the implementation of Bill 59.)
• Worries that the structure of the Bill's implementation creates several "cliffs." In other words, the milestones and cutoffs created in the bill would make it so that employees with similar demographics, who might have had very similar lengths of service, would experience very different retirement benefits, requiring some to retire early, requiring others to work several years longer than they had planned, and simply leaving others in the lurch with no coverage whatsoever.
• Concern that the provisions of the bill rely on the Affordable Care Act to offset some of the impacts, even though the Affordable Care Act hasn't yet been fully implemented, and faces obvious challenges of its own.
• A preference to directly address the issue of skyrocketing healthcare costs, and create actual savings, rather than shifting costs from the State on to its employees.
• The need to consider more progressive ways of addressing the liability, which are unfairly weighted against lower-wage earners and women, whose caregiving obligations can sometimes make it impossible to reach the new 30-year requirement created by the Bill.

We'll keep at this, and will keep you posted. Please contact me (kirk.davis@theshareunion.org, OR 508-929-4020 x18), if you have specific questions, or would like to talk about the open hearing and H59.

Retiree Health Reform Update--Open Hearing this Thursday

SHARE members, like other employees of the State of Massachusetts, are vested in the pension after 10 years of creditable service. Currently, they are also eligible, upon retirement, for retiree health insurance. House Bill 59 proposes to change the eligibility for retiree health coverage. (Please see our previous blog post for full details of the Major Changes Proposed to the State Retiree Health benefit.)

On the plus side, it appears unlikely that the bill will be passed into law in the next few weeks before we reach the end of the current legislative session. If the issue is revived in the next legislative session (as it might be, since the benefit represents an estimated 84 billion dollar unfunded liability), the political landscape of the election year is likely to yield changes in any proposal that might be made.

That said, we want to make sure that the policy-makers know how important this is to SHARE members. We know that many of you have made important decisions about your careers and livelihoods with the idea that you would have access to the benefit as it is currently offered. Although the current version of the bill provides exclusions for State employees nearing retirement with certain amounts of service, if it were passed as-is, the effects on the Retiree Health Benefit would be dramatic and would affect most SHARE members.

House 59 is currently being reviewed by the Joint Committee on Public Service. The lawmakers on the committee have scheduled an open hearing for public comment. The hearing will be held October 31st, at 11am, in the Gardner Auditorium of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. SHARE leadership will be attending, and welcome members to join us on Beacon Hill that day.

In addition, if you would like to make a personal appeal to the Chairs of the Joint Committee, or to your local elected official, we encourage you to write to them to let them know who you are, what the Retiree Health benefit means to you, and that you're paying attention to the outcomes. 

Please call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020 x18 if you have questions or thoughts. Below you can find email addresses for the Chairs of the Joint Committee on Public Service. Online you can also find a full list of the names and contacts for the Joint Committee Members, and contact information for your local elected officials.

JOINT COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE 

SENATE MEMBERS:
William N. Brownsberger, Senate Chair: william.brownsberger@masenate.gov
Michael J. Rodrigues, Senate Vice Chair: michael.rodrigues@masenate.gov

HOUSE MEMBERS:
Aaron M. Michlewitz, House Chair: aaron.m.michlewitz@mahouse.gov
John J. Lawn, House Vice Chair: john.lawn@mahouse.gov

Agenda for October SHARE Member Meetings

1. Contract

a. How long will this take?

b. Raises:

• when, how much, and retro
• mins and maxes, structure, and merit
• evaluations

c. Other things SHARE would like to do:

• education, training and career development
• work-life-family balance
• “engagement”

d. The 3 big “time” proposals from the management team:

• Overtime
• Vacation caps
• Personal days

e. Other policies discussed so far:

• Performance Appraisals, Admin Decision, Emergency Assistance Fund, Internship, Contact with News Media, Personnel Action Approval, Transfer of Service to/from UMMS, Equal Employment Opportunity, FMLA & unpaid LOA, Employee Classifications, Inclement Weather, Work Injury

2. What Else is Going On?

a. Layoffs

• Library
• others

b. H59

• MA bill to change the retiree health benefit
• public hearing October 31

c. Ballot initiatives

• minimum wage
• paid sick time

Contract Information Meetings

Please join us on your lunch break to discuss the latest in contract negotiations with UMMS. Bring your questions, your lunch, and your friends!

Oct 2nd, 2:00-4:00       WRCH                            1st floor conference room

Oct 7th,  12:00-2:00     South Street               Sweden conference room

Oct 8th, 12:00-2:00      LRB                                 Michelson conference room  (1st floor, on the left)

Oct 9th, 12:00-2:00     Main Building             S1-123
Oct 21st, 11:30-1:30    Sherman Building     AS5-2072
Oct 23rd, 2:30-4:00     WRCH                            1st floor conference room

If these meetings do not work for you, give us a call and we'll work with you to schedule a time and place that is more convenient: 508-929-4020.

Contract Negotiations

This week we began negotiations for our next contract. We will try to post a quick update every week or two throughout contract negotiations. If you have questions, please talk to a SHARE rep in your area, or call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020. (At the bottom of this post is a list of who is on the negotiating teams.)

Our first session was productive. The members of the SHARE negotiating team and the members of the management negotiating team introduced themselves, we agreed on groundrules for negotiations, the management team made a presentation on the Medical School's strategic goals, and the SHARE team made a presentation about who SHARE members are and what we care about.

We have grouped our hopes for this contract into four broad categories:

1. Money
2. Career development, training and education
3. Work-life-family balance
4. "Other"

Raises are generally the last issue resolved in negotiations (even though they are generally the first thing people want to know about) because management will want to know the total cost of everything in the contract before committing to an amount for the raises.

We plan to focus in on each of the four areas, starting next week with career development. Members who responded to the survey were enthusiastic about the idea of more opportunities for growth and learning, and we are hopeful that we can work with the School to make progress in this area.

If you have not yet taken the Contract Survey, it is not too late! Click on the tab at the top of the page marked **2013 NEGOTIATIONS SURVEY**. If you have taken it, thank you. The responses we received are very helpful in shaping the SHARE team's approach to negotiations. Stay tuned for survey results in an upcoming post on this blog, and for a schedule of the next round of member meetings.

SHARE Negotiating Team

The SHARE negotiating team consists of the elected leaders and staff of SHARE:

Kathy Bateman, Executive Board at large (MaPS)
Andrea Caceres, SHARE
Kirk Davis, SHARE
Deb Engvall, SHARE
Peter Fallah, Vice-President (IRTP)
Jana Hollingsworth, SHARE
Paul Julian, President (Library)
Sherry Nguyen, Treasurer (DES in Auburn)
Elisabeth Szanto, SHARE
Alana Wesson, SHARE
Dianne Williams, Secretary (Psychiatry)


UMMS Negotiating Team
The Medical School management negotiating team consists of department managers and representatives from HR:

Erin Cummings (HR)
Tim Cummins (CPS)
Jane Fama (Library)
Marc LaBella (HR)
Kristin Mullins (HR)
Jodie Nosiglia (HR)
Justin Peristere (CPS)
Bill Schmiedeknecht (HR)
Bill Tsaknopoulos (Facilities)

Things to Do: Wright's Chicken Farm Review

Maybe you remember the movie and book reviews from past SHARE-UMMS newsletters? Maybe you've enjoyed something gooey on a SHARE Chocolate Day in one of the previous years? In that spirit--and in an effort to elevate and venerate the creative and cultural soul of the SHARE union--we present the first ever review to appear on the SHARE blog: Kathy Bateman's review of Wright's Chicken Farm! 

.

Wright's Farm Restaurant, located in Harrisville, Rhode Island, is a home-style, all-you-can eat chicken restaurant and is open year round, but is only open Thursday - Sunday.   The menu contains only two menu items:  Chicken Dinner and Steak.   Adult dinners are $11.75 per person, children’s meals, ages 2 – 10, are $6.75 per person, and children under 2 are free.     The chicken dinner is standard for everyone, salad, rolls & butter, shells and red sauce, hand cut hom-made French fries and chicken.  The steak dinner is a 16 oz sirloin for $20.00 – the steak itself is not all you can eat – but all of the other sides are all you-can-eat.  To make a reservation, you need a minimum of 10 people and, if only 9 in your party show up, you would have to wait your turn to be seated with the rest of the customers who did not have reservations.  I’ve heard the wait can get long.  So we made reservations for 18 people at 4pm for the Friday after Christmas.  

a peek into the dining room

We arrived about 15 minutes early to a very large, nearly empty parking lot.  We entered through the gift shop entrance, went through the waiting area up to the host, and gave our party name to the maitre’d.  We let him know that one car in our party would be arriving a bit late.  He said that was not a problem, told us that our table would still be available but that we could only be seated once the whole party arrived.  He showed us the lounge area that we could wait in or that we could visit the gift shop while we wait for the rest of the group.  The lounge area was large with only one couple sitting at a very long bar having a drink; and, at several tables in the lounge, people were waiting - possibly for the rest of their party to arrive - because the doors had just opened at 4pm and there was plenty of available seating.   

We decided to go into the gift shop and browse.  The gift shop is big with lots of nooks and crannies filled with a huge selection of items!  Christmas decorations just happened to be 50% off when we went!  A huge selection of Fudge made on right on the premises, all sorts of candy - including old-school candy, you could purchase frozen chicken pies,  they sell jewelry, purses, sports paraphernalia, nick-knacks, children's toys, novelty toys, stuffed animals, books, so much stuff you could spend several hours just looking!  We glanced up and noticed the rest of our party had arrived.    It was difficult tearing ourselves away from the gift shop – we were having so much fun and hadn’t gotten a chance to see everything in the store! 

We approached the maitre’d to inform him we had all arrived and were seated immediately - towards the back of the restaurant.  We told them when we made the reservation that we had about 6 children, so we were seated just outside of the main area.   It worked out well - the children were able to get out of their seats stretch their legs and not disrupt anyone in the restaurant.  The dining room was large, clean, well lit and nicely done.  Our rectangular tables were set side by side in two rows, and each row had its own waiter.   We were welcomed quickly and the drink order was taken first - drinks are not included in the price of the meal.   Soda can be purchased by the pitcher, by the glass or a beverage can be ordered from the bar.   Our salad and rolls arrived at the same time the drinks did.  The salad was nothing fancy, just a regular garden salad with Wright's Farm dressing and came with lots of rolls and butter - and so far, it was all good.      We had anticipated that all of the food items would be brought to our tables at the same time as the salad and rolls, but the waiters stood by our tables, and offered us more salad and rolls.  I admit that I was a little disappointed because I thought that everything was going to be brought out to us all at once and that empty bowls would be refilled as soon as they were empty, but it soon turned around quickly.   When everyone had their fill of salad and rolls, the rest of the meal was put out on the table all at once, baby shells in red sauce - (no meat in the sauce but plenty of thick red sauce that clung to the pasta just right - and cheese to sprinkle over it), French fries, and chicken.    

I reached for the French fries first. The French Fries were like none I had ever tasted before.  Homemade from a white Russet potato, fried to a dark golden crispy outside and soft on the inside with an indistinguishable sweet flavor.  The malted vinegar, used in place of ketchup, finished the fries off!  Next, the chicken - it was cooked golden to medium dark brown in color and looked moist, tender and scrumptious!  My first bite was of a piece of the skin – (admittedly, it’s my favorite part of the chicken!).  Immediately I thought, "Uh Oh, this is too salty", but the meat itself was not salty at all - it was only the skin that was salty from the spices that the chicken marinated in and then gets baked.  The meat was very moist and delicious, not greasy at all!  I really loved the flavor and texture chicken.  It was prepared in quarters - the leg and thigh together and the breast and wing together.  During the 1 hour and 15 minutes that we spend eating dinner, our waiters stood by our table the whole time just waiting to serve us more, and we did eat. . .

 Once we ate our fill of the meal, one person ordered dessert - my 3 year old granddaughter, Lexi.  It was a slice of ice cream roll, and it had crunchy chocolate bits surrounding the outside of the roll of vanilla ice cream with chocolate ice cream in the center of the roll, shaped as . . . you guessed it, shaped as a chicken!  The restaurant offers only ice cream for dessert at a reasonable cost of $1.00.

 Everyone in our group really enjoyed the Wright's Farm Restaurant and we all plan to go back again sometime in the future.  I think it might become a tradition.



PS  - just to let you know how busy it is on a Friday, when we arrived in the large parking lot at 3:45 pm- it was mostly empty -   at 5:30 when we left - the parking lot was so full that cars were driving around waiting for people to pull out of spaces so they could park.   The restaurant was completely full and the waiting area was packed.  It is a must to put on your bucket list if you have not been there yet!

 Kathy Bateman, Pathology

.

Incidentally, I have it on good authority that Kathy makes a mean batch of brownies, too. And yes, you read that right: this is a review from over the Winter holidays. Now that we've got our new blog up and running, we're looking for more. If you'd like to share with SHARE a restaurant review (or a book review, or a movie review, or a roller-coaster review, or other idea) please send it to kirk.davis@theshareunion.org. (I'm also on the hunt for other food-related writing from SHARE members . . . for example: recipes, holiday meal remembrances, brown-bag lunch tips, notes on recent nutrition research--and, especially--fun tales of kitchen disaster. Thanks!) 

Coincidence at Nu Cafe

Do you like science and beer? Yes? Then here's a thing that will be fun: Science Cafe Woo (#2)!  

This talk, "Accidents Happen: Serendipity in Biomedical Discoveries," will be the second installment from our local neighbors in the Science Cafe Woo group, which meets occasionally at the Nu Cafe on Chandler Street. 

On their Facebook page, the SCW writes: "Join us in conversation with Dr. Allan Jacobson from UMass Medical School. Dr. Jacobson will discuss why it is worthwhile to study basic science. Using his own career as an example, he will explain how the discovery of a promising new drug for the treatment of genetic disorders began with simple experiments."

The event will be held this Monday, June 17th, at 6pm. Nu Cafe is at 335 Chandler St. in Worcester. Hope to see you there!

For more details about the Science Cafe Woo, check out their page on Facebook.

Postcard from the LERA conference

I had thought we would be able to catch our breath for a minute here and there and provide some updates during the LERA conference. But it was a whirlwind!

And, it was a good whirlwind. We attend these sorts of conferences from time to time for a couple of primary reasons. We have a unique union, and it's useful to build a web of connections among other unions and organizations that believe in positive, collaborative work. We often find that people who are interested in work systems are interested in SHARE's model. Perhaps most importantly, we learn a lot, and bring that learning back to our own union. 

I can't begin to convey everything about the conference here. This'll be a quick summary, and I'd love to talk with anyone who wants to know more about what we learned. LERA is the Labor and Employment Relations Association, and this was their 65th conference meeting, "The Future of Work," bringing together academics and labor leaders from all over.

We met folks from around the globe, many of them dealing with issues like the ones we face every day, many of them with particularly sharp ideas. We were hit up with interesting questions about the work that we're doing at SHARE: how we're addressing problems in patient experience, how we're working to protect our university and our members from outsourcing, and how we try hard to create connections within our union. It's awfully exciting to know that people from around the country have been talking about what SHARE has been doing. 

For me, the most inspiring example of important work being done to help workers elsewhere was described by Cheryl Feldman, with the AFSCME 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund. She delivered a talk entitled "Investing in a Skilled Workforce: A Win-Win for Workers and Employers." She gave a very inspiring description of her work over the past 30+ years, creating job ladders and training opportunities for climbing those ladders for AFSCME members in Philadelphia.

I was fascinated by Adam Seth Litwin's study of employee engagement at the Kaiser Permanente hospitals. It was heartening to hear his research finding scientifically what has been true in our experience: improving the workplace is complex. And, in the end, frontline employees really do hold much of the most important intelligence, and they are the ones who make quality outcomes happen.

There was inspiration to be had, but there was discouragement, too. I learned that nearly half the households in the United States don't have retirement funds. And, enough companies have filed for bankruptcy, (thereby skirting their commitment to pay out their Defined Benefit pensions), that the government agencies who bail out those companies are themselves facing financial problems. Meanwhile, powerful organizations such as ALEC have been successfully coordinating efforts to undermine the economic progress of working people.

We've got a lot of leads to explore. Timothy Vogus' concept of mindfulness organizing resonated with me, and his emphasis on expertise over authority. A neighbor at Brandeis University, Jody Hoffer Gittell, talked about the ways that our relationships with one another affect the "Lean" process improvement method that is currently so popular among management leaders.

We caught a fun Cardinals game, discovered a very nifty Indian import store, and went a little cross-eyed staring up at the impressive St. Louis arch. Now we're excited to talk more about what we've learned, and incorporate the good ideas into our own union.

Wish you were here: greetings from St. Louis!

Greetings from the conference of the Labor and Employment Relations Association! I am here with fellow SHARE organizer Janet Wilder, and a few hundred labor and business leaders from around the world, not to mention quite a few academics. There is an impressive looking roster of panels to attend. First up, this one: "Addressing Healthcare Challenges on the Frontlines: Partnership, Involvement, Voice and Mindful Organizing." Hope to learn a bunch. More to come…

Major changes proposed to State Retiree Health Benefit

You may have heard the announcement by Governor Patrick earlier this year regarding proposals that would affect the State Retiree Health Benefit. The proposed changes could significantly impact the majority of SHARE members at UMMS. According to Governor Patrick's letter attached to the bill itself, the cuts are in response to the fact that the benefit currently represents more than a 40 billion dollar unfunded liability for Massachusetts, and we have heard figures that reach $83.6 billion. They pertain only to the Retiree Health benefit, and do not affect the pension system

Under the proposal, current retirees will not be affected. However, the affect on most current employees would be dramatic, including: 

• Minimum age of eligibility for retiree health care benefits increased by 5 years (for SHARE members, from 55 to 60).

• Minimum years of service will be increased from 10 to 20 years for vesting in the retiree health benefit.

• Benefit prorated from 50% premium contribution at 20 years, and would not match the current maximum current retiree benefit (80%) until 30 years. 

• The change would impact all future SHARE employees, as well as all current employees, except (i) those with 20 years of service and within 5 years of pension eligibility as of July 1 2013; and, (ii) those within 5 years of Medicare eligibility and with a minimum of 9 years of creditable service as of July 1, 2013. 

Though the bill was originally scheduled to go into effect in July of this year, the timeline appears to have slowed down. The bill is currently being considered by the Joint Committee on Public Service. This Committee has not yet set its 2013 Public Hearing schedule; however, we understand that the first hearing is likely to take place in September or October.

SHARE leadership is currently at work to determine what possibilities could be created to protect the Retiree Health benefit for SHARE members. We are consulting with other unions and State employee groups, including UMass and UMass Medical School, to ally our efforts with other groups. We will provide more information and developments on this blog, as well as at SHARE Information Meetings.

Perhaps the best online news source for developments in the proposal can be found on the Mass Retirees website.

We recommend all SHARE members become familiar with the online summary of the effects of the bill.

You can also read the full text of MA H59 in all of its legalistic detail.

More to come . . .

Things SHARE members should know about the possible University MNA strike

SHARE members are asking a lot of questions about what will happen if the MNA strikes for one day and then UMass Memorial management keeps the replacement nurses for an additional for 4 days. SHARE very much hopes that the University MNA and UMass Memorial can come to an agreement without the need for a strike. Just in case, here are answers to a couple of the questions that are most relevant to SHARE UMMS employees. (As you've probably heard, the Memorial MNA and UMass Memorial came to an agreement, so there will be no strike on the Memorial campus.

Q.  Should I go to work if the MNA goes on strike?

A.  Yes. The MNA is not asking SHARE members to stay out of work if they strike. The SHARE contract, like most union contracts, says we won't go on strike while our contract is in effect. SHARE employees would not be protected from discipline if they didn’t come to work.

Q.  I would like to show my support for the nurses in the MNA -- how should I do that?

A.  We expect that the MNA will welcome us to walk their picket line with them. You should do this on our own time: before or after work, or during your regular lunch break.

If you need information or advice during the strike, give the SHARE office a call. We'll be staffing the phones, and have SHARE organizers at the hospitals to help resolve any issues. If you get the voicemail when you call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020, leave a message at  for the general voicemail by pressing 0.

Scholarship Opportunity

The SHARE office recently received a letter with the following announcement about a scholarship opportunity for our members and their families. More details can be found in the flyer for the annual AFL/CIO Golf Tournament. If you would like to receive a copy of the nomination form for this scholarship, please leave a message in the SHARE office at 508-929-4020 with your contact information.

To: All Affiliated Locals of the Central Mass AFL/CIO.

We are pleased to announce that we will be awarding six $1,000.00 scholarships as well as a number of $500 Platinum sponsored scholarships.

The scholarship recipients will be drawn by lottery at the May community services committee meeting and the winners will be announced at the Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament on Friday, June 7, 2013

The scholarships will be presented at the Labor Day breakfast September 2, 2013

To be eligible, the student must be a 2013 graduating high school senior going on to college and a child, grandchild or member whose local is affiliated with the Central Ma AFL/CIO. Union members must live or work in the jurisdiction of the Central Ma. AFL/CIO.

All names must be submitted by April 25, 2013 and returned to: 

Paul Soucy

AFL/CIO Labor Community Services

Central Ma. AFL-CIO

400 Washington St

Auburn MA 01501

Fraternally yours,

Joseph P. Carlson, President

Central Massachusetts AFL/CIO

Welcome to the SHARE UMMS blog!

Welcome to the new online home of the SHARE union for UMMS employees! We will use our new website to post items of interest to SHARE members at UMass Medical School, including:

• Current SHARE and UMass Medical School news
• The SHARE-UMMS Contract, and updates about Contract Negotiations
• Useful tidbits about our Contract, and how it can help you
• Advice on surviving and thriving at UMass Medical School
• Links to our sister organizations
• Online resources to help you at work and at home

Of course, nothing beats person-to-person communication and a real-live chinwag, but we hope the new website will provide another way to stay up-to-date, and better connect you to the SHARE community. More soon . . .