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Welcome to the Michigan Association of Governmental Employees 

MAGE - OPEIU Local 2002 Website     

 Office address:  6920 S Cedar,  Suite 7 - Lansing MI 48911

Toll Free (800)477-MAGE  -  (517)694-3123 -   FAX (517)694-8250

Alternate Fax number for MAGE is 1-877-317-4251 

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email  info@mage.org      Staff email addresses listed below

Visit the NEWS Page for more!  Recent Articles include Nominations for Office and Resolutions for Consideration at General Council

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PRIVATIZATION CONTINUES...posted 4.12.12  

You will see in the article below that the assault on public employees from the capitol continues.    It has been proven time and again that turning our jobs over to profiteers does not save money.    In due time, they will want more profit and, as always, extract it at the expense of our citizens.   Contact your legislators today. They may not be privatizing your department today...but if we don't fight now...yours will be tomorrow !

 
Al Quattrin,  MAGE President 

Private Prison Could Cost Farm Jobs

The Department of Corrections, as part of its effort to streamline its food service and reduce costs, is working to buy more of its produce from Michigan farmers, an effort that would go away if prisons are privatized, said Brad Purves, Food Program manager for the department, at a presentation Wednesday to the Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The department has changed its processes for buying, and storing, all of the items it uses as part of an overhaul of its supply chain, and Mr. Purves said part of the effort is working more with local growers to reduce transportation costs.

Though he estimated the department currently buys 40 percent of its produce from Michigan farmers, it is working to increase that to 75 percent.

"We're definitely looking at manufacturers and farmers, how can we grow that in Michigan?" he said.

And he said coming requests for proposals for supplies will also encourage working with Michigan businesses and, for food, Michigan farms.

"Let's have more farms. There's no reason we can't," he said. "We just have to be more coordinated."

Private prison operators are not going to have that same focus, Mr. Purves told the commission, remarks coming as the Legislature is urging the department to put various services up for bid and possibly even have an entire prison run by a private company. "They already have their supply chain set up, and it's not in Michigan," he said.

Under the department's new purchasing system, the change could be particularly devastating to the farmers already selling to prisons, he said. The department is now able to forecast its needs for produce for a year and essentially guarantee farmers it will purchase that amount.

"That's huge for our farmers and our growers. ... They know everything that's coming out, we use," he said.

If the state closed its facilities in favor of a private facility and ended those contracts, "we will close farms," he said.

Mr. Purves said the department is working now on moving all of its food service vendors to more predictable contracts, with all of the prisons moving to "push" deliveries. Purchases for food services are made centrally and delivered at regular intervals to the various facilities, rather than the facilities ordering what they need.

He said the change was possible because the new tracking systems allowed the department to predict what each facility would use based on its population. For instance, inmates can now only go through the food line once because there is a system for counting them as they go through.

The next goal, he said, is finding ways to reduce the cost of transporting items to the prisons. For instance, he said, check-in procedures sometimes leave trucks sitting at prison loading docks or gates for extended periods. If those waits can be reduced, that cuts costs to the shipper, of which he said the department is hoping to see a portion.

Mr. Purves said the department had already been working with other states to help them reduce prison food services costs. For instance, he worked with Ohio officials to reduce their menu cycle from five weeks to three weeks and so reduce costs.

The department now is working with a number of school districts, hospitals and other institutions on their food costs. The department currently spends about $2.25 per inmate per day for food, he said. "When we started, we were running $2.69," he said. "All these other places I mentioned are running that per meal."

 

 

  Budget Bills are Cause for Alarm! by Al Quattrin, MAGE President 4.5.12

These are the highlights from this week in the legislature. There is an unprecedented attack on state employees in both the  Senate and  House.   These cuts are proposed prior to the Revenue Estimating Conference on May 16, 2012.    In other words ,  the legislature is providing a political agenda before the revenues are  known   We need to join together and contact our legislators.    MAGE continues to express their concern and shock over the proposals developing in our legislature.     Help us help you ...  contact your legislator today!   

 The following budgets  proposed this week:

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The Senate DHS budget requires all child welfare services except child protective services (CPS) workers to be privatized in Kent County. It calls for a workgroup on the privatization of the Maxey Training School, the state's juvenile justice facility and Medicaid eligibility services.

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The House DHS budget closes all three juvenile justice facilities and moves the 90 youth in the system to private residential facilities. The House Fiscal Agency estimated the savings to be $11.4 million overall, $4.255 million General Fund.

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The House Corrections budget closes the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia and likely moves the 1,750 beds to a private facility prison in Baldwin.

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The Senate Corrections budget eliminates 580 non-correctional officers from the state prisons, including  assistant  resident supervisors, secretaries and librarians by going line-by-line and eliminating budgets.    The Senate agreed with a Governor's recommendation to competitively bid out health care, mental health and the Woodland Facility. 

 

WORRIES ABOUT SAFETY ARE WELL FOUNDED! 4.5.12

You have seen our warnings regarding the endless attacks from the House and Senate. We have warned them time and again that cutting Assistant Resident Unit Supervisor positions was a safety issue and that cutting perimeter patrols...our last line of defense for keeping citizens safe from an escape..is a mistake. Please see the below article regarding another escape attempt. Call your legislator now before its too late.  

Ladders found inside KCF

Multiple anonymous sources report an escape attempt has been thwarted at Kinross Correctional Facility.  The 113-acre fenced facility is the largest under the Michigan Department of Corrections jurisdiction and currently houses prisoners of Level I and Level II status.

Unofficially, two homemade ladders were found on the north side of the facility.  The ladders — estimated to be in excess of 12-feet — some speculate, could have been used to scale the perimeter fencing, allowing one or more inmates to escape into a remote area.  While it does not appear as though anyone has executed an escape from the facility as calls to both the Michigan State Police and the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office early this morning showed that local law enforcement had not been notified this incident.

Local law enforcement officials explained that they would likely only be immediately alerted in the event that someone had escaped from the facility.

A number of people who work in corrections have expressed concerns about budget cuts which included the elimination of the perimeter patrols where armed workers utilized motor vehicles to circle the facility. Those same individuals further indicate that the recent discovery underscores the importance of those duties and the potential threat to the community.

 

LAWSUIT ON 4% PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS posted 3.12.12

 

For those members and non-members who are wondering if MAGE will be filing another lawsuit over the new 4%  retirement deductions, the answer is most definitely YES!  We have filed!  Click here to read a copy of the legal complaint filed.

   

MAGE will be making essentially the same arguments as we did in the 3% lawsuit, in that the new retirement bill touches on issues that are outside the Legislature’s constitutional authority. The lawsuit will specify that it is for MAGE members only.

 

  3% RAISE LAWSUIT UPDATE posted 2.21.12

MAGE members will recall that MAGE filed a lawsuit and unfair labor practice over the State reneging on our 3% raise agreement (not to be confused with our 3% retirement lawsuit which you have already been recompensed for).  

This is to inform you that the Court of Appeals has now denied the State’s Application for Leave to Appeal.  The Court of Claims had granted summary disposition in MAGE’s favor, that the State breached its agreement with MAGE to recommend a 3% pay raise to non-exclusively represented employees.  The Court of Claims then ordered that the case proceed to trial.  The State attempted to prevent that trial from proceeding, by filing an Interlocutory Appeal. 

Now that MAGE has prevailed at this step, the Court of Claims will set a date for trial on the remedy.

To receive informational news updates via email click here: info@mage.org  and list  your name and "OPT IN" in the subject line.  Please use your home email so we can avoid any possible issues with your employer.

MAGE's Statement of Financial Position as of year end June 30, 2011 is now available you may have a copy mailed to you by calling 1-800-477-6243.   

MAGE Office Emails:

The MAGE Office:   info@mage.org

Alan Quattrin, President  MAGEPres@mage.org

John DeTizio, Director of Labor Relations jdetizio@mage.org

Thomas Brott, Labor Representative tbrott@mage.org

Aaron Sanders, Labor Representative aaronsanders@mage.org

   Ann Sanders, Admin Assistant to President and Secretary-Treasurer  annsanders@mage.org

Julie VanHorn, Admin Assistant to Labor Relations jvanhorn@mage.org

Arrange for Dues Payment During Leave or Layoff

MAGE members who go off work on sick leave, are on layoff status or on a long term disability leave must make arrangements to pay their dues if they are taken off payroll deduction.   Those who let their dues lapse during leaves of absence jeopardize their right to MAGE representation should an employment problem arise, and lose all rights to MAGE-OPEIU benefits.   To assure that you will be protected if and when you need representation, contact the MAGE office at 1-800-477-6243 to arrange for cash payment of dues during an extended leave.

Interested in unbiased political information?  Check out. . . http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm

NEW ADDRESS OR  PHONE?  Email MAGE at:  info@mage.org to update your address/phone

The telephone company continues to add new area codes (seemingly every day).  Please let the MAGE office know if your address or phone number or area code has changed.  For that matter, please let us know anytime you have an address or phone number change.   Did you know that the State Employer does not tell MAGE when you report an address change to them ?   Remember, we can't keep you informed if we can't find you !   

Mission Statement

The purpose of MAGE shall be to provide to the membership professional representation and pertinent information in labor relations, compensation and retirement matters.

Association Profile

MAGE - Is the Michigan Association of Governmental Employees, a non-profit corporation.   Formed in 1980,  MAGE represents active and retired State of Michigan Employees who are (or were at date of retirement) classified as not exclusively represented (most often known as NEREs).  See our "All about MAGE" page in this web site for a detailed description of the organization.

Contact Information

Please contact us if you have any questions or comments. 

A list of officers, committee chairs and staff can be found on the "Officers & Staff" page.

Telephone  517-694-3123 or 800-477-MAGE       Fax:  517-694-8250                        

Postal address  Michigan Association of Governmental Employees - 6920 S Cedar Suite 7, Lansing MI 48911

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