Latest / The SEANC View / Back to School! SEANC's role at public schools, colleges and universities

Transcript

Back to School! SEANC's role at public schools, colleges and universities · The SEANC View

0:00
Music.
0:09
Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast.
0:12
I'm Jonathan Owens, the communications director here at Scenic.
0:15
Joined today by Artis Watkins, the executive director.
0:19
And we have a special guest today. We're very excited to have everyone's favorite
0:23
at Scenic, Lynn Cody in the house.
0:25
Hi, everybody. Tell them your title.
0:28
Director of Member Relations. Member Relations. I always mess up and say like
0:33
member, membership or something.
0:35
Yeah, it should be membership. I think that's better, but it's member relations right now.
0:39
If you've ever interacted with any part of Scenic, you've probably talked to Lynn at some point.
0:44
She knows everybody in Scenic, so we're so excited to have her on.
0:49
We also have Sam Klein on the microphone and the controls over there recording.
0:55
Speaking of Sam, she hosted our last episode of the Scenic View podcast.
0:59
You and I haven't been on here in about a month. We have not.
1:02
A month to the day. Our last episode was July 12th.
1:06
Surely we have left people clamoring to know what is next.
1:09
But in the meantime, on July 26th, we released the Gen Z Takeover.
1:13
And that was a pretty cool episode, I thought. What did you think about it?
1:16
It was very cool. I loved it. Sam, I don't know.
1:19
You were leading the thing. You did a great job. You did.
1:23
But what did you feel about it? I feel like there was a lot of talk of different
1:28
things that we can do to get our younger members incorporated.
1:31
And also just getting new younger members involved, different ideas of what
1:36
we can do to get around the state and really get the scenic name out there to the younger members.
1:42
Several t-shirts ideas as well. Yeah, like there was so much talk about merchandise.
1:50
Merch. Yeah, the merch, as they call it. Is that really how the kind of thing
1:56
that draws a younger person's interest to, oh, let me look more deeply into that organization?
2:02
Or, I mean, is that a thing? I feel like whenever we see a really cool shirt,
2:07
we want to know where someone got it so that we can get the same thing.
2:10
And if it requires being a member for something. think
2:13
this is like a tactic that
2:17
the credit cards used to use on us at the college campuses
2:20
where they would give you a t-shirt you'd sign
2:23
up and you'd be signing up for a subscription to something i
2:26
remember that yeah it costs a thousand dollars at some point i think there's
2:29
been laws against that since then now it is only free cups oh yeah free cups
2:34
well the takeaway i had is that it is It's imperative to the Gen Z folks in
2:41
the scenic world that we have blue flames on our clothing.
2:45
I feel like that's more of a Jameson point of view. I don't know.
2:48
You all jumped in. You kind of got on the bandwagon with him. Well, I commit.
2:54
Are we going to do Blue Flames? We're going to do it. We're going to have Blue Flames on something.
2:58
We should commit to that right here. I'm listening to Gen Z.
3:02
Me and Allie actually made a mock-up of several different ideas.
3:07
Allie being the, I think, is she Secretary-Treasurer for District 10?
3:11
Sina G is the Secretary for District 10.
3:14
Yeah, Parole Officer, is that correct? Yes, a Probation and Parole Officer.
3:18
Blue Flames will look great on that trailer we have.
3:21
Let's put that on there. Can we? Can we? We have it by trailer.
3:25
He's referring to, John is referring. Not mobile home, but moving trailer.
3:30
That would be cool if we had one. But yeah, we have a trailer to go to our events
3:34
to see state employees that holds all of the things I just never would have
3:39
thought about that you need if you're going to go celebrate state employees, set up tables,
3:45
have the things you need to talk to people. But the trailer does need some blue flames.
3:50
I thought it was a very informative episode, though. And I think everyone should
3:54
go back and listen to it if they haven't already.
3:56
Some unique perspectives and a lot of passion from maybe some staff members
4:01
I didn't expect to be that passionate about.
4:03
I thought that Tiana had a good take and Allie was there.
4:08
Well, I think, you know, scenics. Yeah.
4:11
Membership is very committed to making sure everyone has a voice at this table.
4:16
Well, speaking of that trailer, the pilot of that trailer is usually someone
4:20
from Lynn's shop. You see, he liked that segue. That was a good segue.
4:24
So what's going on in the membership world? And we brought you in specifically
4:27
because this is a very busy time for you guys.
4:30
Looks like you guys are hitting a lot of the convocations and the school system
4:35
events with back to school coming up, right?
4:38
Yep, we sure are. we've had close to 40 schools call and want us to either present
4:45
or set up a table at their events.
4:48
We're excited. We have been reaching out to the school systems now for a couple
4:54
years, and it seems like state employees that are in the school system are starting
4:59
to realize that we're their voice.
5:02
With benefits, you know, the state health plan,
5:05
retirement system, we were advocating for them all the while because we advocate
5:10
for state employees and retirees, but they just weren't spreading the word to their co-workers.
5:18
I would say during COVID, we probably had 20 folks call from school systems
5:23
and wanting information on PPE.
5:26
Anything from how do I get help with, you know, my particular superintendent
5:32
needs information about this, that, or the other.
5:35
So we just tried to help during COVID especially.
5:38
And then after that, we just realized these folks need us.
5:42
And that's what we're trying to do now is grow our voice in those places so
5:48
we can better advocate for them.
5:50
Yeah, I think that especially at the legislature, we're not pitted against each
5:54
other, but we're kind of seen as kind of separate teachers and state employees.
5:59
But they really have the same issues if you think about, I mean,
6:02
there's pretty much one group, right? Right. That's right.
6:05
You know, there's local government supplements to certain personnel in a school system.
6:11
But at the end of the day, they're in the state health plan, state retirement plan.
6:15
So much of what they do would, you would think, would make one very clearly,
6:21
appropriately called a state employee.
6:23
So no matter what you want to call the folks in the school system,
6:26
it's like Lynn said, what we've been hearing is we need more help.
6:29
And it And it definitely started with the $15 an hour.
6:33
Yeah, we were able to get the $15 an hour minimum wage for state employees,
6:38
I guess. What was that, 2018?
6:40
Yeah. And we were able to expand that to all school personnel a few years later.
6:46
Yeah, I was going to say, it took several more sessions to be successful with that.
6:51
And I think there's a lot of reasons for that. But at the end of the day,
6:55
what matters is that we at least have a new salary floor for every single person
7:01
who's working in statewide public service in this state.
7:04
About 10,000 state employees were directly affected by us getting everybody moved up to 31,200.
7:13
So we're quite proud of that. You mean in just the, not with schools included,
7:17
just the... Right, just in general. Okay.
7:20
Your team today is at Halifax County Schools, I saw, right?
7:24
Right. Where else will you be going? Gosh, we'll be going to Durham County,
7:29
Caswell County, Madison County, Wayne County, Cumberland County.
7:36
You know, like I said, over 40. And, you know, requests are still coming in.
7:41
So if you're at a school system and you'd like Senior to come appreciate your
7:46
folks, please just reach out and let us know.
7:48
It's also back to school for our universities and community colleges.
7:53
Yeah. So we will be celebrating those folks as well.
7:56
Next week, we'll be at North Carolina School of the Arts and Winston-Salem State University.
8:03
And then in September, we are excited to be the proud naming sponsor to the
8:09
Chancellor's Golf Tournament,
8:12
where it benefits the UNC System Staff Assembly folks and their employees getting scholarships.
8:21
Yeah, Janet Royster's family set up this scholarship fund so that folks who
8:26
work in the university system could actually get scholarships themselves.
8:29
And it's an amazing, it's amazing what they've built that into.
8:32
It's a great cause. A couple of years ago, it was at Tobacco Road,
8:36
which I live like a mile away from Tobacco Road in Sanford.
8:39
And we did get to kind of chase Bubba Cunningham around a few times trying to
8:45
talk to him there. That was fun.
8:47
I'd never met him before. But yeah, those are always a lot of fun.
8:50
Well, and where is it? It's this year it's at in Greensboro, right?
8:52
No, this year it is in Chapel Hill. Oh, is that Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill? Yes, yes. Okay.
8:59
It's an unbelievable opportunity to talk to everybody from all of the different
9:03
universities. I remember we were at Tobacco Road, and I think you and I were
9:06
on a cart together, and we started talking to someone, and he was like,
9:10
oh, yeah, I'm the chancellor of this school. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
9:14
So, not our finest moment. It's funny. Funny, sometimes the chancellors are so well-known.
9:20
Yeah, he was new, I think. Yeah, I was going to say, we have an awful lot of
9:24
interims and then people who are in and out of these positions.
9:27
So it's important to keep up with them, but it can be difficult.
9:32
We've got some new chancellors this year and definitely still some interims.
9:36
So we will keep reaching out to folks because Scenic has, I think,
9:39
been building, Lynn, a closer and closer relationship to the universities,
9:43
kind of like we used to have back in the day. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
9:47
We're definitely getting back on campuses, building relationships with the staff
9:52
assemblies, the staff senates, with the chancellors and their leadership team, of course, HR,
9:58
and then just meeting and greeting with the staff and faculty.
10:03
The thing I think is cool about the districts in Scenic who have universities
10:07
in their membership is that they have traditionally been such a member of the
10:12
university community, the districts have.
10:14
And done so much that I never really knew until you get in deep conversations.
10:19
District 1 in Western Carolina, District 25.
10:23
You can always name them off your head. They do so many things to try to help
10:27
the university in general that kind of go unsung.
10:31
District 3 at App State is very ingrained. Oh, yeah. District 3 has always been
10:35
very active. So it's really neat.
10:37
And hopefully we can, like you said, keep expanding on it. There are issues
10:40
that are kind of specific to college, university employees that we can help
10:45
with, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely.
10:48
It's just where we go through OSHR now.
10:51
Typically, we would go through the campus HR offices and start there.
10:56
And then if we have a deeper issue, we'll just go to the system office.
11:01
Yeah, I mean, I know I can tell you at the universities we have heard from almost
11:05
all of the universities at this point, from folks, not the universities themselves,
11:09
but from some employees at almost every university, about concern that when
11:13
the legislature put into law that UNC Health and ECU, if they wanted to do so,
11:21
would take folks out of the retirement system if they were new and give the
11:25
option to existing employees, we started to hear concern across the board.
11:29
Are we going to be shoved out of our retirement system eventually?
11:33
You know, is this going to spread?
11:35
Is this going to start affecting all of our benefits, our health care.
11:38
And so those are the kind of things I think that are a little more unique to
11:41
universities than the agencies. The agencies aren't really looking at that right now.
11:45
When you have an association named the State Employees Association of North
11:49
Carolina, it's a very broad group that you're working with.
11:53
You know, we have teachers, university, correctional officers.
11:58
It's kind of like herding cats at some point, right? Colleges and universities.
12:01
And then, of course, the city and county employees who we don't have as many,
12:07
but under our bylaws, they are definitely welcome and active members.
12:11
And we have we have a fair amount, not as many, I think, as we have in the big agencies.
12:15
But cities and counties, that's a whole other kettle of fish in terms of issues.
12:20
Yeah. But I think no matter how spread out those issues are,
12:23
at the end of the day, our mission is the same for all.
12:26
And we want to represent whatever their issues.
12:29
There's a common denominator for public employment in general. Yeah.
12:32
Which is benefits used to be the thing no matter where you worked.
12:36
If you worked for a government, local, state, you name it, benefits were what
12:42
brought you in because the salary was never going to compete with the private sector.
12:46
And as we've seen an erosion of benefits around the country,
12:51
public workers everywhere have been facing more difficulty in figuring out how
12:57
do we keep these jobs filled? Well, the workers haven't faced that problem.
13:01
The governments have faced the problem of how to keep the jobs filled.
13:04
The workers have faced the problem of how to get the job done because the jobs
13:08
aren't filled. And I think it's important for all state employees to realize
13:13
that their voice does matter. Their membership does matter.
13:16
With the vacancy rates and less
13:19
state government positions within state government and at the university,
13:24
we all have to stick together and unite because that's where we're going to
13:28
get our political power in the General Assembly. Without question.
13:33
And it's funny, you know, we had a storm come through North Carolina last week.
13:37
And at times like that, I think people are genuinely kind of aware of and appreciative of state employees.
13:42
That's something they can really connect. But most of what, we've talked about
13:46
this many times, most of what state employees do isn't seen.
13:50
It's felt if it's not there, but you don't really think about it if it is.
13:54
So that's one of the challenges for groups like Scenics.
13:57
Speaking of one of those benefits, the treasurer came out with,
14:00
was it a, it was a story, right?
14:03
Last week then. Well, yeah, he's let the legislature know we have,
14:07
we have a bigger problem with the state health plan than we even thought.
14:10
The state health plan had been predicted to be in the red.
14:13
In other words, not have enough money to pay the bills by 2027.
14:17
That's been accelerated.
14:19
Now it's treasurer saying it would be 2026, that we need $250 million to not
14:26
go short on money by 2026.
14:28
And that the state health plan had $106.3 million loss for 23-24.
14:34
That's a big deal. Because if you have to backfill that kind of money to the
14:39
health plan, where does that come from? It comes out of wages.
14:42
It comes, we have more than a billion dollars sitting around,
14:46
but it's not going to the health This is why we care about issues like the Clear
14:51
Pricing Project and about the prescription Yeah, we don't have to be in this situation.
14:55
Yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And then we mentioned this before on the
14:59
podcast, but COVID cost the state health plan $528 million, just testing people
15:05
for COVID, treating COVID, $528 million.
15:08
And around $308 million, or about 60% of that, has not ever been repaid to the
15:15
state health plan out of the CARES Act money that the federal government sent
15:19
to the states in North Carolina.
15:21
We got more than $3.5 billion in CARES Act money to take care of whatever North
15:27
Carolina's costs were with regard to COVID.
15:30
Now, what's a more direct cost?
15:33
Yeah, if you're listening out there, reporters, you need to look into where
15:36
that money went to and why did it not go to the state health plan? Yeah, $3.6 billion.
15:42
Anyway, so now we've got a state health plan in that kind of shape.
15:45
And unfortunately, what happens is oftentimes, especially, you know,
15:50
in January, you're going to have a lot of brand new legislators.
15:52
And if you tell them, oh, we have a real shortage in the state health plan.
15:56
Well, they didn't. Well, yeah.
15:58
Not my problem. I don't know how it got there, but we have to adjust that.
16:01
How are they going to think you should adjust that?
16:03
Probably higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket maximums, deductibles, things like that.
16:08
And a new treasurer, too, right? And they'll have a new treasurer.
16:11
And who knows, you know, where they'll come down.
16:13
So it's a big thing still. And I think we all know a lot of the time those costs
16:18
get passed on to the consumer, right?
16:20
Well, sure. I mean, the path of least resistance politically is normally the
16:24
folks who are not multibillion-dollar companies, unfortunately.
16:28
But that's why we're here, is to stand up for the folks who are not.
16:31
And by consumer, I mean plan members. Regular Americans.
16:36
That's why we're spending multiple times the amount for prescription drugs of other countries.
16:44
Because nobody's standing up for the regular Americans. And people say that
16:47
we just harp on these issues.
16:49
We do. Because we want to hear ourselves harp on them. But these are...
16:53
Well, if you don't get it in line, again, it leaves no money for the state services themselves.
16:59
God knows it leaves no money for pay raises, any other kind of benefit,
17:04
paying into our retirement system, things like that.
17:06
There won't be enough money if we're overpaying for everything else.
17:10
So if we're overpaying for something, we should correct that.
17:13
Well, it's a good thing we have Lynn Cody here to tell us what the members think
17:18
about an issue like this.
17:19
Do they really know what's going on with the state health plan and when do they feel it, I guess?
17:25
I don't think that they are connecting the dots like to what Artis just said.
17:30
I don't think that is on their mind as much as when they have an increase in
17:37
a copay or their deductible or their family plan.
17:42
I think that they're so far removed from that information, even though we try to give it to them.
17:49
It's a complicated issue. Health care costs are complicated.
17:54
Kind of, except that if you're overpaying a lot for health care,
17:58
it's a fairly simple thing.
17:59
It's just like if you're overpaying for anything else, it leaves less money
18:03
over here, with the other hand, to give you salary increases.
18:06
And that's the way I think we've been trying to describe it to people. But I'm with you, Lynn.
18:10
I don't think most people have any reason to connect those dots outside of, you know.
18:15
I think they appreciate the fact that we're bringing awareness to it.
18:18
But when they think of an overpayment, it's more personalized for them,
18:24
not what we're paying a hospital for a medical procedure or what we're paying
18:29
a doctor for a treatment.
18:32
Right. Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah. I mean, personally,
18:36
on any health plan before I started working here, I wouldn't think about those things either.
18:40
No, you just figure, oh, well, it's just going up that much because it,
18:44
you know, to a degree, it does go up that much everywhere, but why? Yeah. Right.
18:50
So. What else are you hearing out in the field that you can talk to us about?
18:55
So something that we're hearing right now, especially since the General Assembly,
18:59
you know, didn't give us a salary increase. Well, they did.
19:02
But it was based on what we had gotten last year, the 3%. So right now the buzz
19:08
is, are we going to get a Christmas bonus? So.
19:11
Are we going to get a Christmas bonus? Right. Which is a good question.
19:16
And the answer looks to be no, because I don't know when they would come back and do that.
19:21
It was certainly what we asked for. Again, there's more than a billion dollars in surplus revenue.
19:27
So that would have seemed like a really good thing to do this year with vacancy
19:32
rates high, with a pretty modest salary increase.
19:36
And the timing would have been just right. But I'm less optimistic about that.
19:42
But we're certainly going to keep trying because, look, they can come back and
19:45
do anything they really want to do at the end of the day.
19:48
Speaking of which, hot off the press, you received an email from the Office
19:52
of State Controllers saying that state employees will not receive their December
19:57
paycheck early like they usually do. I know that's a big deal.
20:01
Sounds like a minuscule thing, but
20:03
when you're trying to buy a present for Christmas, then it is a big deal.
20:08
Yeah, because it is just hot off the press. Yes, I'll get back to my office
20:12
and see how many folks have made us aware of it.
20:15
But it is something that Scenic is at least going to have to,
20:18
you know, look into and ask, you know, what was the particular reason?
20:23
State employees have been getting paid, I know, for as long as been around. And that's 30 years.
20:29
So, I mean, hopefully they have a good reason to do this.
20:33
But that's why we're here is to ask the question. And it would have been nice
20:38
to know maybe a year in advance so folks could have prepared for this.
20:42
So maybe I should explain that a little better first.
20:45
So state employees are paid once a month, most of them. Most, yeah.
20:48
And in December, they usually get their paycheck around December 20th or 21st.
20:54
And that gives them five days of shopping, right, for Christmas.
20:57
Right. And I mean, there's just a lot of bills in December.
21:01
But it also makes for a longer period to the next paycheck.
21:05
But that's what they're saying they're not going to do this year,
21:08
which will cause quite a stir amongst our members.
21:11
Right, right. Right. And I always like to say we may not get the answer that
21:16
our members want to hear,
21:17
but we will always ask the question because that's why we're here is to advocate
21:22
for them and, you know, be the voice that they don't feel comfortable necessarily being sometimes.
21:29
Yeah, we're going to look into the reason given by the controller's office is
21:32
if they're paying early, they don't know that those folks will end up working
21:36
the requisite number of hours they would need to work between the 20th or the
21:41
21st and then the end of the month.
21:43
I mean, if you take out weekend and holidays.
21:46
So this would be so you get off on the 24th, 5th and 6th this year.
21:51
So you'd really be looking at the 23rd, 27th, 30th and 31st.
21:56
I'm not sure if that And none of those are weekends?
21:58
No, those will be the Monday and Friday and then the Monday and Tuesday of the next week.
22:04
So I'm not sure if that argument really holds a lot of merit.
22:08
So four days of work? Yeah. I mean...
22:11
I assume it is probably a hard task to move your payroll deadline up a week,
22:16
but can't some things just be a good thing for employees?
22:20
I think it's been something state employees have kind of relied on and been
22:23
used to, so that's going to be very difficult.
22:26
But what they're asking agencies is to get the word out through their HR departments to employees.
22:31
So we wanted to get the word out on this podcast as well that this is coming.
22:35
I mean, again, you know, we're going to be looking into it and then we'll get
22:39
back with you on maybe some other some alternative ideas to make things easier for folks.
22:43
Right. Maybe someone from the office can come talk to us.
22:46
Yeah. State employees do consider it one of their benefits. Yeah.
22:52
It's just a nice perk. Definitely. I don't know the ins and outs of it from
22:57
the standpoint of they obviously have a reason or they wouldn't be doing making this change.
23:01
And it's not really a perk. I mean, it's not like, it doesn't cost any more money, right?
23:06
Well, according to OSC, what's happening is that about $78 million gets paid
23:11
out prior to the date it should.
23:14
So, I mean, technically, if you're looking at interest alone,
23:17
even that few days for $78 million.
23:21
See, I don't deal with numbers. It's a cash flow. I mean, you know,
23:23
not a cash flow thing, like the state doesn't have enough cash. I'm dealing with $78.
23:28
Right. Yeah, I feel you. you so
23:32
but we will we will be looking into more about that
23:35
again it just happened so yeah that was hot off the press and i'm sorry i dropped
23:40
that on you but i think we did need to kind of talk about it and we'll get back
23:43
to it and we'll do next week's podcast we will update everybody on next week
23:48
your your phone lines will be off the hook glenn with people well we're here that's why we're here,
23:55
So, mentioned earlier that we had not podcast in about a month.
24:00
We come into this room with a whole new world, right?
24:03
The political world has turned on its head.
24:07
So, last time we talked about politics, Joe Biden was running against Donald
24:12
Trump for the presidency.
24:14
Yeah, I think we talked about the debate. Yeah, we did, didn't we?
24:18
Yeah. Yeah. So, obviously, President Biden made the decision he's not seeking another term. Mm-hmm.
24:25
So he recommended that his vice president, Kamala Harris, should be the Democratic Party's nominee.
24:33
The Democratic National Convention has not happened yet, so they don't have an official nominee.
24:39
Obviously, Vice President Harris
24:40
wasn't part of a primary to get a sort of official nod from the party.
24:46
But all systems are go for Vice President Harris.
24:50
It looks like the party is very unified around her. They did the virtual straw
24:55
poll or something like that, and she was pretty much the only candidate, right?
24:59
I mean, you got to think it's going to— And she has chosen her vice presidential
25:04
candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
25:07
So we don't want to get too in the weeds on politics, on a national scale at
25:13
least, but I did have a thought about Tim Walz and Governor Cooper and the whole VP race.
25:19
Yeah, because that was one of the rumors, is that Roy Cooper— That was the last
25:22
thing we talked about was that Roy Cooper might be the VP.
25:26
So when you see her pick Tim Walls as her VP, don't it make you think that maybe
25:32
Cooper was the front runner until he took his name out of the hat?
25:35
Because he's pretty much the same as that guy, but he also brings possibly North Carolina.
25:41
And I think if he had stayed in, he may have been the person.
25:45
That's just my take. I think he may well have been. Yeah.
25:48
I don't know, Sam, you look like there's something on your mind with that, but.
25:51
All of it confuses me because my generation does not talk about politics very often.
25:56
But I remember seeing something saying that Roy Cooper was like, I don't want it.
26:01
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, he did. He pulled his name out of consideration.
26:04
But I think if he had stayed in it, if he had, like, pushed for it,
26:08
like, I think he would have been possibly the choice.
26:11
Roy Cooper's been a, you know, he's a moderate governor, and he's had really
26:16
good success in swing districts in this state. He's never lost an election.
26:22
Yeah, never lost an election. But I mean, sometimes these things matter.
26:25
But I will say the most striking thing, I think, about the change,
26:30
you know, obviously we look at polls all the time.
26:32
Those presidential polls have tightened so much in such a small amount of time.
26:38
Looks like they're just one or two points difference at this point,
26:42
if not tied in many of the polls.
26:44
I saw just earlier before coming in here that I guess Harris is leading in Wisconsin,
26:50
Pennsylvania and Michigan by four points, according to one poll that came out
26:54
there. The polls are kind of all over the place.
26:56
I mean, it's very tight, no matter. And it's scenic.
26:59
Scenic's never made a presidential endorsement. And we rarely do,
27:03
you know, national endorsements of, you know, U.S.
27:08
Positions, but sometimes.
27:10
However, the thing about a presidential race is if you're looking at any other
27:14
race on the ticket from the governor's race on down, the presidential candidates
27:19
can play a huge role in how different folks do.
27:22
And I know the polling for the governor's race in North Carolina.
27:26
Most of those polls show Stein over Robinson at this point in time.
27:31
And, you know, you have to wonder if Harris does swing that many.
27:35
Yeah. Yeah. So our last episode, we'll go back to that. We did.
27:40
We talked about how close that governor's race.
27:43
I was kind of surprised that it was that close at that time.
27:46
And now it just came out Friday. A Carolina Journal poll had Stein up five points.
27:52
So maybe there has been kind of some movement on that. Yeah,
27:55
538 had several polls that showed a little more daylight between the two of them.
28:00
However, they're still pretty much within a four point margin of error. So who knows with that?
28:06
Here's North Carolina, though. We're so strange.
28:09
So the Democratic candidate is leading in the governor's race right now.
28:14
But for Lieutenant Governor, Hal Weatherman seems to be leading in polls.
28:19
It's a closer margin than some of the other races at the top.
28:22
But he seems to be leading, which is very similar to 2020, where we ended up
28:28
with a Democratic governor, Republican lieutenant governor.
28:30
We really are such a purple state. Now, who is he facing?
28:34
Rachel Hunt. Rachel Hunt. Wrong.
28:37
Right. And, you know, Helms and Hunt would be really different. Yeah, yeah.
28:43
But that's a fascinating race to watch. Yeah.
28:47
Hal Weatherman is, I think, as visible as anybody on the campaign trail.
28:51
That's what I was going to say, that you haven't heard much at all about either
28:56
candidate except that Howe is a little more out there.
28:59
But that's his style. I mean, that's always been his style. He's a little more.
29:02
He goes everywhere. And you would think that Hunt would have the name recognition.
29:06
Right. Maybe as we get closer, we'll see more Hunt signs and should be a little more visible.
29:11
And certainly the eastern part of the state that may especially make a bit of a difference.
29:15
Who knows? But the council of state races, the Republicans for the rest of the
29:20
council of state positions seem to be ahead right now.
29:23
But the thing is, most people don't seem to know who's running for what,
29:28
don't know these candidates yet.
29:29
And the question is, because the presidential race is just getting so much of the oxygen in the room,
29:36
is the money from the parties going to trickle all the way down to these council
29:41
of state members to where they can get their names out there in a big way?
29:45
And to bring that full circle, that's why scenic is important.
29:50
We can make a difference in all of these races. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
29:53
And our political action committee is going to be making all of their decisions
29:57
with regard to their endorsements very, very soon.
30:01
One thing we learned, I learned pretty quickly coming to work here,
30:05
was senior members vote.
30:07
Religiously. Well, it was like 93 percent turnout the last time.
30:11
So we're a force to be reckoned with. That would be the goal.
30:15
Well, if you think about it, they're not only voting because,
30:18
you know, it's the right thing to do. They're a North Carolinian.
30:22
But a lot of these folks, because, you know, the legislators,
30:26
the governor, they're their bosses.
30:29
You know, they're the ones that will determine ultimately their benefit enhancements,
30:34
their job security, salary increases.
30:38
So they're able to have a we're all able to have that voice.
30:42
But it just always seems to me that as a state employee, if you don't do it,
30:47
then you're just not looking out for your best interest.
30:50
So I've always been tickled that our folks are going out there and making their
30:55
vote count. Yeah, they have a more vested interest in it than anybody.
31:00
Just imagine if you could vote for your boss. I wouldn't like for that to be
31:05
widespread beyond state government, John.
31:08
That's a silly idea. I would vote for you, Artis. I would still vote for you.
31:12
We talked about on the last episode, the Gen Z Takeover episode,
31:15
how much we all loved you. And y'all were, yeah, that's what made y'all adorable. Suck ups. No.
31:19
Brown losers. Appreciate that, Sam.
31:23
Allie was the one who started it. So it was a member who started the Wheel of Art train.
31:28
A particular affinity for you, it seemed like. She wants to be your security
31:32
guard, your cheerleader.
31:33
Come bring it. I need security.
31:37
So the convention is coming up. Every year, Scenic holds a convention of our
31:42
delegates who make our decisions once a year in sunny Greensboro,
31:47
North Carolina, which we never see the sun for a whole week.
31:50
At the Curry Convention Center, it's always a lot of fun, and it's coming up
31:54
less than a month from now, and Sam and I are working hard to make sure everything
31:58
comes off without a hitch.
31:59
But what's going on at the convention for you, Lynn?
32:03
So, you know, in addition to giving out our membership awards and hearing from,
32:07
you know, the committees that we support, Retiree Council gives the Bob Hopper
32:12
Awards, so people always are excited to hear about that.
32:16
But the Growth and Expansion Committee this year established a scenic convention scholarship.
32:23
So that means the application process has already been completed.
32:29
They've already judged.
32:30
But that means that five people from, it's supposed to be each region,
32:35
but we had an exceptional, two exceptional people from the same region.
32:39
So we went ahead and picked two from that area. So five new people will be going
32:47
to convention, folks that have never been what we call active.
32:52
In scenic are going to be going. And we're excited about that because the hope
32:57
is that they'll go, they'll catch the fire, and then they'll go back to the
33:02
workplace and talk about scenic, get more people involved,
33:07
find out what's important to the younger state employees,
33:10
the issues that they're interested in.
33:12
So we can start looking toward, we've got right now, 25% of the workplaces get ready to retire.
33:20
So, I mean, we have to look at what state government's going to look like,
33:24
because that's what our membership is going to look like.
33:27
So we have to get involved with those folks that are coming into the workforce
33:32
to find out what is important to them.
33:35
Yeah, that's a recurring theme around here. We have to get more and more people involved.
33:40
Association like Scenic always has to do that. But I know last year,
33:44
it seemed Seemed like there were a lot of new faces there.
33:47
Yet we had close to 100 new delegates last year. Yeah, and so that's like one in seven, one in eight.
33:53
So we also have some members who've been coming to 60 and 70 of their conventions,
33:58
and we love to see them, too.
34:00
And we're going to be highlighting a few of them on the podcast.
34:04
Yeah, that is some dedication to come to that many conventions.
34:07
That's amazing. We're really thankful to have some folks that dedicated.
34:11
And when you think about it, it is literally the week after Labor Day.
34:17
Yeah. Yeah, the week of.
34:19
So these folks have literally not done anything that week.
34:24
And it probably worked around convention for their vacations and that type of thing.
34:31
So for you. Yeah, it's it's that's dedication for sure.
34:35
One of my favorite parts of convention is always seeing Jay Skinner come up.
34:39
And he always comes up to the A.V.
34:41
Thing and gets his earpiece so he can hear.
34:44
He's what, 93, 94? It's somewhere around there. J.E. Skinner is a former scenic
34:49
president from the eastern part of the state.
34:52
It's just such an inspiration. He's an amazing, amazing man.
34:57
He gets around well, too. And a wonderful wife who's always with him.
35:02
Betsy. So, you know, he's just one of our most adored members, J.E. Skinner.
35:07
The convention is a fun time to reunite with folks, meet new folks, learn some new dances.
35:13
I know you learned the wobble there, right? Please. That was years ago.
35:17
And she's still doing it. Yeah, but I have added so many dances.
35:21
And now she gets everyone to do the wobble with her.
35:24
Right. We're going to have to branch out, though. It's a requirement.
35:26
Do some more. The biker shuffle. Maybe Gen Z can show me. I love the biker shuffle.
35:30
Love that one. It's one of my favorites.
35:32
Yeah, we dance. We dance a lot at conventions.
35:34
But we also do work. Work hard, play hard.
35:37
But what is coming up podcast-wise for the convention?
35:41
I know that at convention we are going to have at least one podcast where we
35:45
have some members on with us.
35:47
I know Allie wants to do a podcast episode with you.
35:50
Perfect. Yeah, we're going to be doing some interviews on the floor,
35:54
interviewing and talking to some people, getting to know what they're excited
35:58
about and what their experience has been at convention.
36:01
Need to hear from the members. I love it. Yeah, I was thinking about maybe like
36:05
doing a little thing, doing a show maybe the Wednesday before with maybe some
36:09
officers as well, just talking about what they want to come out of the convention. That'd be perfect.
36:14
Our president decides the theme of the convention and runs the convention and
36:19
the other officers are with the president on the stage and it's their time to
36:23
really be there and present to the...
36:26
It might even be the debut of the video versions of the podcast.
36:30
You never know. Stay tuned. Speaking of convention, that leads into my Wacky
36:37
Weird Question of the Week.
36:41
Music.
36:46
So my question this week is, what do you remember about your first convention, scenic convention?
36:51
When was yours, Lynn? Like when you were 12, 13?
36:56
No, no, it was, but thank you. It was in 1994, and I remember it was the last
37:02
year we were in Charlotte.
37:04
After that, we moved to the Greensboro Corrie Convention Center.
37:09
And I think the one thing I remember about it, because I was just a baby at
37:15
that time, was it was so positive, so fun, so upbeat.
37:21
Everybody was there to help state employees, excuse me, to decide what we were
37:26
going to lobby for the following year. our policy platform issues, electing new officers.
37:33
And, you know, I can honestly say that 30 years later, it's still that same
37:38
level of excitement for me.
37:40
Yeah. I think mine was 2012, and my wife was pregnant.
37:46
And I left, she was very pregnant. She had our daughter the next month.
37:51
And I remember drawing her a picture. I have a stepson, he was like six at the time.
37:56
And we drew a picture of them there waiting on me. It was, so we still have that picture.
38:02
But I was just amazed at how big an event it was.
38:06
I'd never really been in part of something like that and how much work went
38:09
into it as a staff member.
38:11
So yeah, it was definitely eye opening and it's been like that ever since.
38:16
Do you remember your first? Yeah, 2001.
38:19
And what struck me was, and I think Lynn said it a few minutes ago.
38:24
The work hard, play hard was a very real thing. I couldn't believe how much
38:29
business was actually done on the floor.
38:31
I didn't have a concept of what it would really look like. There is so much
38:35
business that goes into,
38:36
like you said, Lynn, deciding what the policy platform, you know,
38:40
what the legislative platform is going to be, what our bylaws will look like
38:44
as an organization for the coming year, all the things like that,
38:47
that you don't really think about, but you have to, that business has to get done.
38:51
And we are truly member-run, so that's the only time to do it. It's a convention.
38:55
But at night, everybody does get together. People don't just go to restaurants
39:00
or, you know, go to their rooms or whatever.
39:03
People really do congregate. It's kind of, it's like a giant small town. It's really fun.
39:09
What about you? When was yours? Two years ago? Two years ago. 2022.
39:13
2022. Yeah. What do you remember?
39:16
I remember running around a lot. There was a lot of photos to be taken,
39:19
a lot to be able to post and share with our members when it comes to photos.
39:25
I kind of threw Santa to the fire with the photos because I didn't know if she
39:30
knew. That was right after you started, right?
39:32
It was three months after I started.
39:34
And I didn't know if she knew how to do photography or not, but we just took
39:39
a chance. And she did a great job.
39:41
She's been doing a great job ever since. She kind of took over all of our photography
39:45
needs. So it was also right after Corey had left.
39:49
So we were supposed to have a videographer and a photographer there.
39:53
And I was, you've done great on both fronts and podcasting.
39:58
Well, that kind of wraps it up for me. Do you guys have anything else you want to talk about?
40:02
No, no. Thank you very much. I'm so glad you, you got on here and you broke,
40:07
broke through your nerves and then you can just be a regular guest now, right?
40:11
Every, every week we were going to have Lynn. Oh yeah. Yeah. Thanks again.
40:15
She'll be out in the field from now on. She will not be seeing us.
40:19
Whenever we tell her that we're going to be recording a podcast,
40:22
she's just going to say, okay, I have an event to go to.
40:25
Well, thanks for coming, joining us this week, and we'll see you next week.
40:28
Music.