Our union will hold an all-day Training Summit for MSEA-SEIU members serving on labor-management committees, health and safety committees, and the like on Wednesday, March 31, at Augusta Civic Center. Registration begins at 8 AM. The training program runs from 8:30 AM to 4 PM.

Participants will evaluate the effectiveness of their own Labor-Management Committee or Health & Safety Committee and discuss the barriers to union success on committees as well as approaches that have proven useful in moving a union agenda. We will look at a union approach to Labor-Management and Health & Safety Committee work and discuss the “tricks and traps” — the techniques and approaches that are used in labor-management settings that can lead us down the wrong path.

In the afternoon, we will use a particular issue that is facing all of us — contracting out — to practice developing a strategic approach to using Labor-Management and Health & Safety committees to effectively represent our members and take on today’s challenges. There will be a chance for participants to raise their concerns about the operation of their committee and to tell the MSEA-SEIU staff and officers who are present what they need to be more effective in fulfilling their role on the committee and representing the members. This is an on-the-clock training summit for MSEA-SEIU committee members whose union contracts provide them with administrative leave for this purpose.

This includes all of our Executive Branch contracts. MSEA-SEIU members serving on labor-management or health and safety committees and the like in other bargaining units are also invited to attend this training, but would do so on their own time unless they make leave arrangements with their supervisors. If you are a MSEA-SEIU member on a labor-management committee, health and safety committee and the like, and have any questions about whether you are eligible for administrative leave to attend this training, call 1-800-452-8794.

Registration cards are being mailed out. You can also register online: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PGNFYFQ

If you are eligible for this training and haven’t already registered, please sign up right away .