November 2025 Minutes

APLE General Membership Meeting

 November 21, 2025, 6:30 p.m.

Agenda

1. Officer Roll Call

• Teresa Alvarado

• Steve Nichols

• Carlye Seybold

• Sally Sherman-Weckerlin

• Amy Hartman

• David Lutz

• Jules Hebert

• Morgan Rinckey

• Renee Sarra

Come to order:6:33pm

2. Officer Reports

   1. Chairs

      1. This was a difficult week.

      2. Our membership had to make hard decisions about what they needed to do with their positions. 

      3. Teresa sat in on those meetings with HR ; Steve and Amy were a great help meeting with people while they waited. 

   2. Treasurer

      1. There is a new part of the APLE website to help members and staff through tough times with links to different resources like affordable lab tests and job searching. 

   3. Trustees/Negotiators

3. Old Business 

   1. Safety

      1. You can contact the chairs at their personal phone numbers or emails if you need to discuss any safety issues. 

      2. Chairs are getting PITS reports and updates in their emails with every report and update added. 

   2. Reductions

      1. LPTs are getting leave requests frozen, HR did not discuss this with APLE.

         1. In 2009 people got paid out for their Annual Leave. 

         2. For people who are laid off, Sick Leave is frozen, Annual Leave is paid out.

      2. One LPT position wasn’t filled in at Computers and Media. 

      3. We hope to work through a plan for our members to become whole again and move back to Full-Time. 

      4. We never wanted our members to have these LPT positions. There are no benefits. 

      5. We hope as these positions play out, they will be bumped up to a PT-II. 

         1. Is this circumventing the recall?

      6. Ready to Read and Business shall not be merged into the Children’s and Fact & Fiction departments, but we will keep an eye on it.

      7. The library has not been very communicative about part time positions.

      8. Be supportive of our coworkers and be mindful of how we interact with each other. 

      9. Can the LPT in CAM be bumped up to a PT-II? 

      10. Can part time people pick up sub hours? 

          1. They restrict how many hours you can have so the library doesn’t pay benefits.

          2. Part-time librarians can pick up sub hours up to their status.

             1. LPTs work less than 37 hours per pay period. 

                1. LPTs can only work up to 18 hours a week, but the library is saying they can work up to 29 hours a week.

             2. Part-time II work at least 37 and less than 56 hours per pay period.

             3. Part-time I work at least 56 and less than 75 hours per pay period. 

          3. The librarians sub pool will go to Part-Time staff first then HR subs. 

      11. Talked with John in CWA and Michael from Job and Family Services about having JFS do a presentation to affected APLE and CWA staff.

   3. Health care

      1. The library has the ultimate decision on who our healthcare provider is.

      2. The library was asked about the union's involvement at the board meeting, they responded they conferred with us. The new plan was unveiled to APLE and CWA a couple of days prior to everyone attending the Zoom session. See Steve’s recent email about health insurance.

4. New Business

   1. Negotiations

      1. We did extend our contract another 30 days.

      2. The board voted on CWAs and had an executive discussion at one point.

      3. Things will go quiet during this time as APLE officers can’t discuss the negotiations as they are ongoing.

      4. Negotiations usually move around to different branches.

      5. Will the insurance change be a factor in negotiations? 

         1. We can’t change the insurance. 

      6. Email chairs and negotiators (Steve Nichols, Teresa Alvarado, David Lutz, Sally Sherman-Weckerlin, Amy Hartman) with suggestions and questions.

      7. CWA’s new contract: 1% steps, 2% cost of leaving each year, $400 signing bonus, passport people also get a $400 signing bonus. CWA has a me too clause, which means if we negotiate something better, they get it as well. 

      8. Can we change policies to be more beneficial, like the accident policy?

         1. What if we have to go to the ER after an accident? It’s under Workman’s Comp? 

      9. When dealing with the board, we have to be mindful of how we communicate with them, especially during negotiations. 

      10. We have been in contact with Denise Duffer, our regional UAW representative, to inform her of the significant changes to our healthcare and the layoffs.  

   2. Elections

      1. Elections are 6 months away.

      2. We need to start forming a committee by January with a motion to approve.

      3. We will survey people who are interested in joining the committee.

      4. If you are interested in running for office, please consider it. 

5. Open Floor

6. Adjourn: 7:31 pm