Last Week in the EPEA
Keeping members informed and engaged .... February 14, 2019
VOTING NEXT WEEK
SEE THE BALLOT SAMPLE BELOW FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS.
Further voting guides will be available at the voting booth.
EPEA is also part of Ed MN Voting District W. Our of our members is running for a Governing Board seat of that district. You'll have a separate ballot for that.
EPEA VOTED A LOCAL POSITION OF SUPPORT FOR JAMIE ALSLEBEN (Cedar Ridge teacher) IN THAT ELECTION.
You can contact Allen Lundberg if you have any questions about voting.
SAMPLE BALLOT
SAMPLE BALLOT
DISPLAY YOUR FITNESS PUNCH CARD PROUDLY
EPEA at the School Board Meetings
Better Together!
EPEA is trying to be more present at our school board meetings.
We hope to inform members and school board about our involvement.
We offer dinner before the meeting to the first 5 members. So ….
NEGOTIATIONS STATUS
The negotiations team is meeting and preparing for the upcoming round!!
Your story is important to us.
* Sites have and will host input sessions as part of their EPEA meetings.
* Rep Congress has already worked through and discussed many ideas related to negotiations we are sorting through
* A short survey will be coming to gather member input.
* You can also reach out personally to your negotiations team.
Some things we hear about are not negotiable items as determined by state statute (another reason to join LOBBY DAY) and we'll work to inform members about those areas.
It's also important to consider that many and maybe even 'most' changes to contract have an associated cost and the team has to determine courses of action that support members as equitably as possible and consider changes that impact the group as a whole.
EPEA LOBBY DAY AT THE LEGISLATURE
We start at 9am on March 6 in St. Paul. Please let me know ASAP
Health Insurance Committee Update
The committee and our consultant analyze that data to inform areas to educate and be better consumers of our benefits. For example, you may pay the same for a prescription but where you buy it can produce different costs to the plan. This is also true of procedures when you have the benefit of time to make a decision that isn't rushed. You can find considerable personal savings when paying deductibles and co-insurance.
The use of Virtuwell visits also can contribute to personal savings and plan savings.
The couple screen shots below show you access to tools once you are logged into Health Partners. You can compare Prescriptions and Procedure costs at different places. Use the "Compare Costs" options. This is just one example of an Rx.
LOGIN TO HEALTH PARTNERS. USE THE SCREEN SHOTS BELOW TO FIND TOOLS TO COMPARE $$ OF PROCEDURES AND MEDICINE
EPEA SPIRIT WEAR UPDATE
EPEA shirts have been ordered. We should see them in next couple weeks.
Shirts for our newer members have arrived. I'm working to deliver those personally.
Private EPEA Email
EPEA now has an email you can use when you are concerned about privacy. For most all communications please continue to use my school email.
When you have a question about privacy and want to be sure your communication cannot be retrieved, use a personal device that is not on district wifi and send your message to epea.epea@gmail.com. Note: I am the only person reading email on that account.
Feedback?
Do you have other feedback on EPEA News?
Please contact me or any rep.
Your Reps
Allen Lundberg, Vice President
Adam Cooke, Treasurer
Cheryl Heaney, Secretary
Email: tom_baker@edenpr.org
Website: http://cedar-wmu.edenpr.org/epea
Phone: 952-975-7117
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/epeateachers
Twitter: @epea_teachers