April UE 506 News

Last week we reported the successes brought about through negotiations over outsourcing. Despite that good news, the mood at the Union Hall was not what you’d expect. Under other circumstances, saving 167 jobs might give cause for celebration however, when you consider the 47 jobs still on the outsourcing list, along with the 700 planned volume reductions, you realize that the Local’s work has just begun.

Moving forward, the Officers, Executive Board and the members of the Job Preservation Committee are looking at the reasons the Company gave for not accepting our proposals to save LV66 relays, gear cases, U-tubes and core stacking jobs, all with the intent of developing counter proposals.

A couple of years ago, the officers were invited to a special meeting of GE suppliers. During that meeting, a shocking fact was disclosed that 80% of all locomotive parts and materials comes from suppliers. To offset the massive loss of jobs looming over our heads, we have to be focused on that 80 %. The officers have already told the Company the Local intends on pushing for more insourcing. In response, the Company has agreed to set up committees to meet with our JPC representatives in those areas of the shop having some potential to bring work in.

The constant struggle to keep jobs in the Erie GE Plant goes back almost 50 years when GE announced their first major job reduction, the transfer of the Refrigeration Division down to Louisville. Since then a number of other divisions have fallen and automation, subcontracting and Six Sigma have taken a huge toll, not only Local 506 but 618 as well. Through it all, our Local has survived solely because of the sheer determination of the membership – and we will survive this latest wave of layoffs by working together to minimize the layoffs and by assuring our laid off Brothers and Sisters that we will keep up the fight on their behalf.

Kitchen’s Kabinet April 2002

Grievance activity for the year includes 155 cases for Step 2. Our caseload is higher because of the general grievances turned in over the outsourcing announcement. If we consider cases other than those concerning outsourcing, we have 25 so far this year compared to 20 over the same period last year.

Since the volume-driven layoffs began, we have grieved all situations where management has taken it upon themselves to do production work. The company answered the cases submitted so far by saying the work in question was "incidental." That response is totally unacceptable, as we do not consider any of the 700 hourly reductions as "incidental" in nature. Every one of us should question each occurrence where we see a boss with a part in his/her hand, running a jitney or performing any other work normally by hourly workers. If the answer is unsatisfactory, then find your Steward and consider filing a grievance.

The Union also continues to file grievances over the contracting of certain trades work the company claims is "new type" construction work we do not normally perform. Our position is that we may not normally perform this type of work, but the company doesn’t normally layoff the numbers of workers announced for this year. Since things are not "normal", the Union will take a more serious look at this kind of work.

As we go to press, the negotiations over the intended outsourcing are ongoing. I will reserve my final judgement but to date we have in fact had some successes. To reach this point, our committees had to do a tremendous amount of work researching information, developing ideas and preparing proposals. We are extremely proud of the members who have stepped up to do this work. During times like this, it is easier to stick your head in the sand and ignore what is happening rather than stepping up to do some hard work. For those other kinds of people who just whine and complain and find fault with everything and everybody instead of helping, we are sure glad they are a minority.

My last article explained some areas of the Layoff and Recall procedure that you should be aware of because receive questions regarding the options available to you at the time you are being processed. One question: " What is a Lack of Work Suitable and should I consider this option. A Lack of Work Suitable is identified in the Layoff and Recall procedure as follows:

Note: If an employee is not fully qualified at job rate (daywork) or off break-in status (incentive) on the job from which they are being removed because of lack of work, their suitable range will be within one class for incentive and two for daywork of the last job for which they were considered fully qualified. You will be considered for rehire on available openings in the last Class and Category of the work on which you had qualified.

Stewards should make themselves readily available during the layoffs for questions and concerns and also keep track of the members they represent as they go through the layoff process. The Steward should keep a written record of all information regarding the layoffs and displacements occurring in their areas.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED

The following amendment to Article V of the UE Local 506 Constitution has been submitted to the Recording Secretary and will be read at the April 18^th membership meetings. The proposed amendment will be read a second time and a vote will be taken at the May 22^nd meetings.

(b) Members shall not be eligible to serve consecutive terms as additional rank and file delegates to the National Convention unless there are not enough eligible members to fill the (4) additional rank and file delegate positions.

The Local 506 Executive Board met and discussed the amendment on Wednesday, April 3^rd and voted to recommend approval to the membership.

There was a lot of excitement at the Saint Pat’s Volleyball tournament, held on March 10^th, as 9 teams vied for the coveted "Stein." The wining teams and their captains are listed below.

Intermediate High Division

Intermediate Low Division

Recreational Division

On March 16^th, EASTLAND BOWL was swarming with the over 250 Local 506 Members and Retirees who signed up to make the Sports Committee’s 26^th Annual Bowling Tournament another great event. As with all great tournaments, the competition was tough and that brought out the best in most team members. The top awards went to the team and individual that follows:

1^st Place Team - Bruce’s Buddies (Bldg. 18-C) who won $355.00 with a total score of 3238 pins.
Men’s’ Actual High Game – Jack Chandley, Jr. who ended up with a 269
Men’s’ Actual High Series – Greg Figurski finishing the day with a 707
Women’s’ High Game – Sandy Lee scoring a high 229
Women’s’ High Series – Ruby Church finished with a 560

VA 5K WALK – RUN - It’s that time of the year already when the Sports Committee revs up for their largest fundraiser of the year, the VA 5K Race. Applications are now available for the annual event which will be held on June 2^nd. To date, over $2,700.00 has been collected in Sponsorships benefiting the Veterans Affair Medical Center Patient Fund.

GOLF RAFFLE TICKETS are also now available to benefit the Sports Committee and all the fine work they perform during the year. The tickets are $2 bucks each or 3 for $5 bucks. The drawing will be held at the May Membership meeting.

HOME PAGE      UE 506 NEWS     Membership Meetings