1. Elwyn First Contract tentative Agreement – thanks to Business Agent Bill Major and a host of members and staff helping him, a tentative agreement was reached in the wee hours (about 2 am) on December 8, 2009. A ratification vote will take place on Thursday, December 17, 2009. It is a 4-year agreement. I hope not to miss anyone, but thanks go out to members Roxanne Hoag and Cheryl Reaves, Organizer Ray Martinez and Business Agents Roni Green, Bob Kallish and Jim Young. GREAT TEAMWORK!!!

2. Governor Rendell goes public again (open mouth, insert foot) – Rendell is again bargaining in the media by announcing that he may have to consider more state layoffs and talk to the unions about rolling furloughs to balance this year’s budget as revenues are well below projections. The Governor has not approached the Unions for any discussion. When and if he does 668 will give him an earful that he could save money if he would listen to our cost-savings suggestions and give us the staff and tools to get the job done. Auditor General Jack Wagner has done a great job in exposing the no-bid contracts with Deloitte that cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. Our members know that these systems not only are NOT user-friendly and do not work, they also take even more time to get benefits to those in need. Legislative Director Bill Bacon and the Chairs of the County Assistance Office (CAO) Statewide Committees (Gene Quaglia and Joel Levin) met with Majority Policy Committee Chair P. Michael Sturla on the welfare reform/cost savings issues. To add insult to injury, our overwhelmed CAO workers have also been assigned to complete thousands of LIHEAP applications for those in need of heating assistance in addition to working with severe staff shortages. Management’s response to this….."It will only get worse…" is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

3. DPW Secretary Estelle Richman – Ms. Richman will be leaving the Rendell administration and working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the Chief Operating Officer for HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in Washington, D.C. Harriet Dichter, the current Deputy Secretary to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning will fill Richman’s post.

4. Pa. State Council meeting – as expected the Pa. State Council lacked a second to my motion as directed by the Sept. 2009 SWEB that 668 per caps be reduced by 35 cents per member per month. I did get a chance to air all of my concerns and those raised by others to the Local Union Presidents and J.J. Johnson, who works directly with International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. The Presidents are slated to set up a series of meetings to try to resolve some of the issues, with Mr. Johnson in attendance. I also need to have conversations with the Leadership Team here at 668 to discuss next steps and will send a full report out to the Board.