SEIU Local 1199WI

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Letter from Dian Palmer, President, SEIU District 1199W/UP

Dear SEIU District 1199W/UP Member,

I hoped to be inviting you to a planned JoCER (Joint Committee on Employee Relations) meeting tomorrow to refer your contract with approval to the full Legislature and then the Governor for signature. The Department of Employee Relations (DER) continued to tell us right up until now that JoCER will be meeting. During the past few days, you've probably been hearing that the State's not meeting to approve our contract this year. Unfortunately, that's the case.

If you are mad that this happened during the holiday season, that's understandable. All members, like those at King, where almost 40% of the nurse positions are unfilled, deserve answers. The veterans and other vulnerable citizens we all serve deserve answers. If you are working short staffed or on a mandated shift because the state is struggling to attract new employees, then I hope you will get involved in efforts during the new year to get our contract ratified. Our goal is to move the legislature to a quick settlement of our contract in the new year. A new legislative session begins early next year and we must ensure that its first order of business is action on our contract.

That means we will need to talk with the public, other union members and politicians. The more of us involved in the effort, the more effective we all will be to get our contracts (that the Department of Employee Relations already agreed to!) implemented.

At this time, we want to hear from you. When not on work time or at a work computer, visit our website, www.seiu1199wi.org. There you'll find a survey where you can share some of your observations and opinions about the current contract situation. Also at the website is a summary of newspaper stories concerning state contracts. In the weeks ahead, you'll be hearing more about activities to win our contract so that we can give the people of Wisconsin the service they expect.

In Solidarity,

Dian Palmer, RN