10/17 Weekly Email
Hi all,
We’re halfway through October and we’ve finally hit what appears to be the cooler part of our year. I’m crossing my fingers, but it sounds like we’ll have some rain tomorrow and lows in the fifties over the weekend. I really wish we had got all of this sooner but I’m happy we’ve finally made it - hopefully this weather finally lasts.
First, Member Recruitment Drive. As I mentioned in my 10/3 Email, UAEA is running a membership recruitment drive from now to December 31st, 2024. The relevant detail for current members is that we want to reward you for getting people to sign up - if applicants mention your name when signing up we’ll enter you into a giftcard drawing at the end of December. Growing our ranks is a great way to expand our impact and improve our negotiation position with the City - we strongly encourage you to mention this opportunity to your non-member colleagues.
Second, New Citywide Representative. The UAEA board is excited to announce that we have selected a new Citywide Representative, Kenny Parker! Kenny is a Building Inspector who served for 6 years as a union steward for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers (IBEW) prior to starting with the City of Tempe in 2018. We appreciate Kenny stepping up to fill the vacant role and are excited to swear him in at our next Executive Board meeting.
Third, Retirement Expo. On October 22nd (next Tuesday), Tempe will be hosting their annual Retirement Expo at the Tempe LIbrary. We strongly encourage UAEA members to attend - not only will you learn some useful information about the retirement process, you also can count attendance towards your annual healthcare points if you speak with a financial adviser. I will attend as many sessions as I can and relay relevant details in a future email but please note that what I consider relevant may or may not align with your personal retirement goals.
Fourth, Bulletin Boards. UAEA has gone around and updated all the City bulletin boards that we’re aware of. There should be a new Executive Officer list, updated membership applications, information on our Membership Drive, and a large QR Code for offering feedback. If the bulletin board in your area does not have that information please let me know the location and I will get it updated early next week.
Fifth, Employee Survey. If you haven’t seen it already, the ETC Institute published the 2024 Employee Survey results on their website. The data can be broken down by demographics, different departments, question or topic areas, and a number of different categories. You can also compare the last few years of surveys and see if your department has improved or regressed in different areas. UAEA will be taking a look at the results but encourage you to reach out if you see anything interesting for your area.
Sixth, Voting on Election Day. We’ve received a few questions about City rules regarding employees voting on Election Day (November 5th, 2024) so I wanted to provide some general details. It is accurate that employees can receive up to 2 hours of paid leave on Election Day to vote, but 2 separate conditions have to be met. First, there must be less than 3 consecutive hours between the opening of polls and the beginning of an employee’s regular work shift or less than three hours between the end of their work shift and the closing of the polls. Polls open at 6AM and close at 7PM on election day, so an employee who wishes to use this time must normally start work no later than 9AM or end work normally no later than 4PM.
Second, employees must receive permission from their supervisor before Election Day to use this time. If you get permission, you should code the time you take as “VL” (Voting Leave) for the time you take off.
For more details, please consult the City Personnel Rules, Section 501:D, subsection 5. Please also note that you are only allowed to use this time to vote (you cannot turn this into a longer lunch) and that if voting takes longer than 2 hours you will have to use personal time to cover the difference. Given that this year’s Arizona ballot is two double-sized pages, delays are likely, so please plan accordingly.
Thanks for another great week, everyone!
All best,