NAGE Funding Line item to be taken up

Word is the House Ways & Means Committee has today released a Supplemental Budget which includes the funding for the NAGE Unit 1,3,6....

....next stop Senate Ways and Means.

I understand that the supp can be passed in an informal session..... so it should pass without much fanfare.

I thinks it's apparent that someone made their point, but it was not appropriate to continue to punish the members for whatever the union may have done to piss someone off.....

you heard it here first.

Funding Update ... still No RAISE, but a 22% increase in dues is approved!

Still hostage, day number 61....

Unlike other bargaining units who are enjoying their whopping 3% raises.
NAGE 1,3,6 members languish with no raise and no effective action by our illustrious union.

Shown above, in relevant part, is the implementation memo for Unit 2 (other units got similar memos) --click on the image to see full size...

The HR advantage newsletter reports:

"OER worked closely with other HRD staff, the Comptrollers office and ITD on the successful implementation of the economic provisions of the Units 2, 4A, 9 and 5A contract extensions. Efforts are now underway to initiate the other aspects of these agreements, including training and career ladder programs, employee safety initiatives, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and classification analyses. These initiatives will continue through the balance of this fiscal year."

NAGE official WEBSITE reports:

3% Raise Update from State Local Presidents

"We, along with the NAGE legislative staff (Ray McGrath at $166,000 a year is doing a lot better for himself than he is for us... not quite as well as Dave Holway at $245K), .....

.......continue to place our highest priority on the prompt and full funding of state employees' raises (passing a 22% increase in dues looks to have been your truly highest priority).

........We have not backed down from our constant pressure on the House Ways & Means Committee and State Ways & Means Committee to get this matter resolved immediately.(wow the W&Ms committees are obviously shaking in their boots)......

Today, based on our latest information from the State House, we're confident that the final resolution will happen shortly. (Really, what exactly IS the "Latest information"?, why not share?)

....... As soon as we learn of the specifics, we will have them posted on this website."(Ohhh damn it!, that's it, there ARE NO SPECIFICS, that's why they can't share..... does this remind you of the old saying "money talks and bull shit walks....")

Wow, those NAGE local presidents.......how inspirational....

This was obviously a political screw-upof monumental proportions by Dave "Slobodan" Holway, (well not in the same league as "Level 4 Reilly's" selection of "Deadbeat St. Fleur" as running mate....

..... but ole Dave really must have pissed someone off in the Legislature..... and the hapless members pay for his insufferable arrogance.....)

Hey, NAGE State Local presidents...:

Why no WEBSITE UPDATE on the Dues Increase ($2 a week!) you voted in Vegas? Christ almighty! That is a 22% increase in dues (gee, that does not compare favorably with the promised, yet unrealized 3% raise).... I don't think dues should be increasing faster than the rate of member salaries.....

By the way....How long do we go without money before we say the Commonwealth reneged and go back to the bargaining table???

NAGE Financial Disclosure Reports

You, as lowly members, will NEVER be shown this information by NAGE.....

But thanks to the requirements of the Federal Labor-Management Disclosure Act, you can download summary financial information on NAGE, and other unions in seconds.

Here's a screen shot showing the disturbing decline of NAGE assets and the increase in liabilities over the last few years..... (click on th eimage to see it full size)

Holway and his minions haven't been able to negotiate a decent contract for state workers, but they sure know how to spend money like drunken sailors....(sorry if I've offended any drunken sailors out there...)

Shake-up at NAGE Headquarters ?

A reader reports:.... (sorry the original comment didn't publish for some reason...so I posted it here)

"Good to see a blog focused on units 1, 3, and 6! It's about time. Thanks for starting this blog. (Thanks, my pleasure....WS)

Did you hear that Dave demoted Barbara Ozgood and jim Farley? Kicked them out of their offices and installed Kevin Doyle (who?) and Bernie Flynn (what?) as personal assistant to the prez and chief of staff respectively? Gave them both a day to clear out their offices. Neither Doyle or Flynn are members, and they hold offices higher than the people who are members. Osgood is now a secretary and Farley is in the finance office. Nice"

.... I hadn't heard..... don't have a clue what's going on at NAGE HQ..... we'll have to see how it's spun in the NAGE "newsletter"

Well when you've got a tin horn dictator in charge, he answers to no one.... (WS)

Dave Holway--- Judas Goat of the State Unions, Romney Shill

The NAGE spin on the lack of funding for contracts screw-up is that "NAGE was a victim of it's own success!! What a laugh....

TheNAGE line of crapola goes like this:

NAGE was the first Union to cave in to Willard Romney and meekly accept a contract for a measly 3% raise during a time of record high revenue surpluses and when inflation is running at 4.15%.... and they're PROUD of that???? (not to mention increases in health insurance premiums and co-pays.....more on that later.)

By doing this they set up the other unions....to be played both sides against the middle:

Romney won't negotiate, because his trained "Judas Goat" Dave Holway has already settled for 3%..... Romney just points to that as says:, "They settled for 3% and that's all your going to get"

Even if a decent union such as MOSES, is inclined to fight for a better contract for their membership, they're in trouble because --they have Sheeple too [Sheeple are humans with the brains and temperament of sheep.]

If MOSES leadership hangs tough looking for a fair contract, eventually the Sheeple will begin to whine and bleat..."NAGE got their contract, why can't we settle?"..... the pressure on the other unions to throw in towel after Judas goat NAGE does, is irresistible.

This has been the pattern for a number of years.... NAGE settles for an insultingly unfair contract and leads the other unions to their slaughter...... this is SHAMEFUL..... and if NAGE membership fails to step up, it will be repeated again this year.....

Dave Holway/NAGE is a Judas Goat and a Shill......

"Judas goat" is the official slaughterhouse term for a trained animal used to lead others down the ramp to their death.

(This may apply to "Sheeple" as well....) Sheep can not be readily driven to their death, especially in modern slaughterhouses where they may have been trucked beforehand for as long as three days, wide-awake and without food or water (Or for years without a decent contract for the case of Sheeple).

Judas goat is also a term that is occasionally used to refer to the shills at crooked carnival games who attempt to convince observers that the game is not only winnable, but easily so.

The problem with NAGE ........................ Democracy vs. Hegemony

The fundamental problem with NAGE, is that membership meetings and membership approval are not required as part of union governance...unlike some local unions, MOSES for example.

Holway and hand picked minions collect millions in dues (around $21 million per year), and spend it as they see fit....on their salaries (Holway gets $245k!!), contracts, purchases....

Zero accountability...ever seen a financial report? ...ever voted to approve a budget???

Once the ruling hegemony takes power it's impossible to unseat them or force them to even consider the interests of the membership....

Only a palace coup will unseat the King (as when Dave "Slobodan"Holway assassinated the drunken fool Ken Lyons) ...and then the next drunken fool takes up where the last left off....

Until the members demand that NAGE begin holding regular membership meetings, where the membership votes up or down on budgets, salaries, contract issues, and generally how their dues are spent..... the NAGE "leadership will continue to squander your dues and serve up crappy contracts loaded with "give-backs".....

.....more to follow on how the members can move this union towards democracy

Contract Funding: A Glimmer of Hope

The NAGE spin on the failure to secure funding for the Unit 1,3, 6 contracts-- a monumental screw-up, is that "NAGE was a victim of it's own success!"
(More on that in another post----NAGE as the Judas goat of the State Bargaining Units)

You've got to be kidding, right?... With success like that who needs failure?.... all the other unions were funded in the supplemental (Chapt 192) budget.... not NAGE.

(Other unions have already seen the raise in their pay checks, and they've gotten their retro....NAGE neglects to mention that on their web site)

What some people are saying is: that somehow NAGE offended the House of Reps and that it was no accident or misunderstanding that the House excluded only NAGE from the list of collective bargaining reserve accounts in the supp budget....who can say?

HOPE?
Word is that the Legislature has agreed to return for ONE DAY ONLY, sometime next week, to go into formal session for purpose of taking up the badly needed bond bill.

Now if NAGE manages to get it's act together, facts straight, and bare their throat to the legislature they offended, etc..... there may be a glimmer of hope for the members.

A supplemental budget item could pass (along with the bond bill) funding the NAGE contracts.... if that doesn't happen folks, it could be ugly..... the "L" word..... quite a sacrifce for the members to bear for the sins of Dave "Slobodon" Holway (whatever they may, or may not have been).

There are a number of members working on this for you.... they didn't offend anyone.

...... more to follow....

Units 1,3 and 6 Contract Funding Update: NO MONEY! SCREWED by NAGE again.

You folks in Units 1,3 and 6 are not getting any raises (Unlike MOSES,AfSCME, and SIEU.... they've already gotten their raises and their retro checks).....

Bad enough that NAGE sold you on a crappy 3% raise during a time of record high surplus revenues AND when inflation is running at 4.15%..... but you poor uninformed members are going to have to settle for a 4% pay cut instead of a 1% pay cut after all.....

You are probably too miserably uninformed to even realize you've been been screwed.

Sorry folks, there is NOTHING on the Legislative radar screen that indicates they'll take up a new supplemental budget to fund the NAGE raises....so expect to wait a looooong time....maybe sometime next spring.Don't believe it? call NAGE and listen to them babble.... they don't have an answer, yet the other unions have the money........

The raise, when it comes, if it comes, it may not even be retroactive....who knows???

What Happened?????
Chapter 192 of 2006 (the Supplemental Budget) contained funding reserves to pay all the unions except for NAGE 1,3,6. When the language in the supplemental budget came out lacking a reserve for NAGE contracts, the NAGE stood by and did nothing to have the language and the money put into the supp budget.... that NAGE legislative machine is really on the ball, huh?

While the other unions diligently attended to their knitting and made sure their members' contracts were funded in the supplemental budget....where was NAGE?.... planning the party in Vegas?

This is our punishment for being uninformed and putting up with an undemocratic, self serving union dictatorship....... more to come........