Suggested agenda/Motions for General Membership meeting

I think this bears repeating......

Please post comments for other agenda items and I'll see they are published here.....

If you ever get invited to a NAGE membership meeting bring this with you and make some motions to take up the urgent union business items listed below, see if any of the NAGE stooges allow any useful discussion....

Here is a suggested agenda for the meeting, when and if it is held.

Unit 1,3 & 6 General Membership Meeting Agenda-2009:

1st order of business: to set the time and place for next general membership meeting (and those to be scheduled for the rest of the year)
Don't let these skunks keep getting away with hiding from us while they squander our dues and get us nothing in return! Let's start calling these over-paid layabouts to account !......on a regular meeting basis!

Other business to be taken up AND VOTED by the members: (you all understand what voting is, right?.... that's what is supposed to happen in democratic organizations....something the sheeple in NAGE never get a chance at...)
Here' how you do it.... You stand up and "take the floor", you "move" an item to be considered by the members, you ask for someone to "second" the motion, then you debate it, and vote it.
Motions/agenda items.....

1. I move To see if the Members will vote to require that Mandatory general membership meetings be increased to 6 times per year
2. I move To see if the Members will vote to direct the "leadership" to see that meeting minutes are taken and published on the website
   
3. 
   
   I move To see if the Members will vote rescind (or approve) the recent dues increase foisted upon them by the "nationals".
   
   
   
4. I move To see if the Members will vote to limit the rate of future dues increases to be less than or equal to salary rate increases achieved by NAGE for members through contract negotiations (the recent increase in dues is approx 22%, while the recent salary increase is only 0%)
5. I move To hear the NAGE Financial report: Total Dues collected from members-by local and by agency, detailed expenditure report of same, proposed salary increases for NAGE officers and Employees.
6. I move To hear the report of the Grievance Committee: How many grievances have been filed, by agency, by local, and by issue. What is the current status of grievances, what was the outcome of settled grievances? How many grievances were handled by professional legal counsel, how many by unpaid volunteer stewards? What is the average length of time taken from grievance filing to settlement?
   
7. Election report: what was the precise tally, by candidate, for the recent election (every election gives the tally by candidate---except for NAGE and Iraq under Saddam Hussein)

Still no General Membership meeting!

Over two years ago I called for NAGE to hold the By-Law required general membership meeting for Unit 6........ STILL WAITING.... no meeting has been held, so I'm repeating the call.....

According to the NAGE constitution, such as it is (a piece of bleep), we members are entitled to have a general membership meeting once a year:

SECTION 8.
All Local Units shall have at least one general membership meeting annually.

But do we get one?..... NOoooo. Now one would think with there being so much to discuss (Contract negotiations, outrageous dues increases, the Governor's Budget....), that our duly elected Local Officers would be scheduling one..... but don't hold you breath.

I want the General Membership meetings to be held at Jasper White's in Cambridge....not a "brown-bag" lunch to be held at an empty table in the cafeteria at One Ashburton, not some craphole-in-the wall NAGE Regional office at 70 Elm St. in Worcester!
I think they can break out a few grand to rent a suitable space, provide suitable refresshements with some of the $28million per year in dues they are collecting from us.

I understand Jasper's is quite the place!.... NAGE Headquarters has spent over $50,ooo there on parties for itself in the last few years (no members invited...) .... one has to surmise that the budget for the staff Xmas party is $12,500 per year and the budget to fund membership meetings is $$$ZERO!!!!! folks we can't keep putting up with this crap!

I think it's about time they started spending some of my dues money on ME and my fellow members! How about it?

And I can suggest how to fund the effort? .... here's how:
STOP squandering our dues money on the social engineers at SIEU national with their outrageously expensive and unsuccessful efforts to do, God only knows what, with their ridiculous fight for the future boondoggle.

Here is a suggested agenda for the meeting, when and if it is held.

Unit 1,3 & 6 General Membership Meeting Agenda-2009:

1st order of business: to set the time and place for next general membership meeting (and those to be scheduled for the rest of the year)
Don't let these skunks keep getting away with hiding from us while they squander our dues and get us nothing in return! Let's start calling these over-paid layabouts to account !......on a regular meeting basis!

Other business to be taken up AND VOTED by the members: (you all understand what voting is, right?.... that's what is supposed to happen in democratic organizations....something the sheeple in NAGE never get a chance at...)

1. To see if the Members will vote to require that Mandatory general membership meetings be increased to 6 times per year
2. To see if the Members will vote to direct the "leadership" to see that meeting minutes are taken and published on the website
   
3. 
   
   To see if the Members will vote rescind (or approve) the recent dues increase foisted upon them by the "nationals".
   
   
   
4. To see if the Members will vote to limit the rate of future dues increases to be less than or equal to salary rate increases achieved by NAGE for members through contract negotiations (the recent increase in dues is approx 22%, while the recent salary increase is only 0%)
5. To hear the NAGE Financial report: Total Dues collected from members-by local and by agency, detailed expenditure report of same, proposed salary increases for NAGE officers and Employees.
6. To hear the report of the Grievance Committee: How many grievances have been filed, by agency, by local, and by issue. What is the current status of grievances, what was the outcome of settled grievances? How many grievances were handled by professional legal counsel, how many by unpaid volunteer stewards? What is the average length of time taken from grievance filing to settlement?
   
7. Election report: what was the precise tally, by candidate, for the recent election (every election gives the tally by candidate---except for NAGE and Iraq under Saddam Hussein)

NAGE wins retro pay raise---zero percent! Dues increase pending!

NAGE continues their role as leader in the race to the bottom. They just settled a contract for zero percent and it's retro active for one year.
The latest contract is a disgrace.... merely continuing a long history of selling out the members by "leadership."

How long have the NAGE shills been feeding us the same tired old litany..... "Well, it's not a GREAT contract, but its all we can get during these tough times....." Whether the Commonwealth is racking up record surplus revenues, or as now when the economy is in the crapper.... it's always the same from NAGE..... there's nothing for you.....but from you we expect your dues
How long can it be before NAGE is looking for yet another dues increase, everytime they sellout on a lousy contract they raise the dues.