August UE 506 NewsText Box: AUGUST MEMBERSHIP MEETING NOTICE AGENDA: Members will hear reports on: GE’s “Lean Manufacturing” projects and on meetings with the Officers over a proposed rate changes. Long Term Disability (LTDI) changes (See page 3) Officers meetings with the Company on general shop matters. MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS AND TIMES ARE: *Wednesday, August 17, 2005 (All meetings) 7:20 a.m. (3rd Shift) 1:00 p.m. (2nd Shift) 3:20 p.m. (1st Shift) *Note: Due to a conflict in schedules, the meetings will be held on a Wednesday this month. Text Box: FRANKLY SPEAKING Recently our State Representatives voted their selves a 16% pay increase, raising their salary from $69,000 to $81,000. In an effort to explain their actions these politicians said they “hadn’t had a pay increase in 10 years”, or “I work hard” and “this is a very tough job”. All of these are good excuses, after ten years you sure as hell deserve a pay increase. But unfortunately our representatives were not being completely truthful, every year since 1995 these politicians have received increases in their unvouchered expense accounts, which translates into raises. Some of the legislators said they were threatened by their respective parties, “Either vote for the raises or lose your committee assignments”. Hello, here is a news flash for our State Reps.; your party leaders are not your bosses. We, the people who elected you and pay your salary, are your only bosses. Our elected Public Servants held a mid-night vote to increase their salaries, not because it was good for their constituents but because it was good for them. They also tied any future increases to Congressional raises thereby avoiding any future uproar about their greed. Shame on them! And if these politicians are right, and we forget about this scam before the next election, shame on us. And lets not forget that these same representatives voted to give the local taxing authorities the ability to raise the occupational privilege tax from $10.00 per year up to $52.00 per year. Text Box: CAFTA Deal Passes Congress passed the job-killing Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) late in the evening on July 27th. The Republican House leadership allowed the vote to continue for almost one hour, far beyond the normal 15 minutes allotted. At the conclusion of the 15 minute vote period the CAFTA deal was failing by a 5 vote margin. During the subsequent 40 minutes, bribes were offered to members of Congress by the White House and corporate interests that in the end brought the voting to a close with a 217-215 victory for the CAFTA deal. Commenting on the CAFTA vote, UE General Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple said, “I commend all the UE members who worked to stop this CAFTA scheme. Unfortunately, we are confronted with increasingly corrupt Republican tactics, including out-and-out bribery and manipulation of the voting process. It was clear that Bush and big business were willing to do whatever was needed to win passage. The Democrats in Congress must also grapple with the fact that it was 25 of their own who ultimately made House and Senate passage possible. Working people deserve better than this sort of corruption.”

Home Page     Meetings     UE 506 NEWS
Text Box: Dateline Wednesday, August 10, 2005: Local 506 Stewards met at the Hall to hear an update and discuss local negotiations concerning the areas to be affected by Lean Manufacturing. The Stewards were then asked to distribute this leaflet to bring the Membership up to speed. “LEAN” RATES A LITTLE “FATTER” THROUGH NEGOTIATIONS OTHER ISSUES STILL BEING DISCUSSED As you know – During a discussion back in May, the Company stated that they believed piecework was not conducive with Lean Manufacturing. Therefore they wanted to apply a day rate code to all areas selected as major lean project sites. Immediately the Union took a position that nobody would lose any money in the converted areas. Also of concern to the Union were the extended issues like job and income security, layoff and recall rights, bidding rights and the progression schedule. In the last two months, the Union negotiating committee has been addressing those important issues and making a case for a rate higher than the one the Company originally proposed and more reflective of the current average earnings of the affected workers. Job rate – The Company was originally set to offer the Union an R-20 rate, that would have yielded far less than most assemblers and welders in the impacted areas currently earn. On July 12th the Company came across with a more realistic R-21 rate and, to satisfy the Union’s demand that no one lose money, they offered to “grandfather” the higher earners at their current rates while raising up lower wage earners. The R-21 proposal was taken back to the Executive Board on July 13th. There was a lengthy discussion not only concerning the fairness of the proposed rate, but they discussed the extended issues as well and weighed whether the Union should proceed with negotiations or tell the company that the Union was not interested. After the discussion the Board unanimously voted to continue negotiations, attempt to secure a higher rate and work to iron out the extended issues. The extended issues of chief concern raised by the Board and Officers were: What impact will Lean have on our jobs. If the processes are refined through Lean, fewer workers will be needed in the long run. Will there be a crossover rate for layoff and recall purposes to protect workers who formerly held the assembly or weld category? What will happen to the Buildings 10 and 12 R-17 defectors? What happens if a worker on a guaranteed rate is involuntarily moved in a BL’s area? Will there be a 2-year progression to the R-21 rate? In most cases, it currently takes about 6 months or less to get off break in. What average period will be used for the guaranteed rate? The Company’s unwillingness to negotiate higher rates for quality control, tool and die and skilled trade workers in the Lean areas. The Building 18C “Aux Cab” workers, currently on an R-17, should be considered as a Lean project and their rates increased as well. In the weeks that followed, the Union committee continued to meet with the Company pressing for a higher rate and drilling into the issues listed above. On August 3rd the committee tentatively agreed to the following: Establish an R-22 rate in the Building 12 (Lean Project) Rad Cab area. Once the Lean projects begin, establish an R-22 Rate in the Building 12 Main Cab Area, Stations 1, 3 and 4 in Building 10 and in the Building 5 Platform area. Grandfather existing workers so no one will earn less than their established average while raising lower wage earners to the R-22. (Continued) Job Security – As an integral part of the Lean Manufacturing, the Company has agreed to meet monthly at the COE level. This will provide the Chief Stewards and their support teams an opportunity to discuss any items farmed out due to capacity. The company has further agreed to meet with the entire Job Preservation Steering Committee on a quarterly basis. Bringing new work in the Plant will be on the agenda at those meetings to maintain employment levels. Layoff and Recall Procedure- Current 800020 and 700020 would be established as two new categories. The new assembly category will be a crossover for the current 8000 category and the new weld category will be a crossover for the current 7000 category. That means those members who currently hold or previously held the 800020 and 700020 would have bumping rights into the new categories. Defectors – Since their work is aligned with the regular production work, the Company has agreed to bring the Building 10 and 12 defectors up to the R-22 rate. Guaranteed rate retention – The Company has agreed to maintain a worker’s grandfather rate if he is moved involuntarily to another job within a Business Leader’s area. Progression – The committee is still discussing the progression issue with the company. As it stands today, all workers currently working in the specified Lean areas will be increased to the R-22 rate. We still have to iron out the progression schedule for workers bidding into those areas. Average period – The Company has agreed to pick an average period where the workflow gave everyone a fair opportunity to make their normal average. Investments – The Company invested $4 million to transform the Rad Cab into a Lean area. When questioned they said they will commit another $4 to $10 million for the rest of the specified Lean projects. NEGOTIATIONS TO CONTINUE The progression issue and some other loose ends will have to be tied up before the negotiations are concluded and we are in a position to present the full package to the membership for a vote. Despite the negotiating committee’s persistence, the Company remains adamant that they want to keep the talks centered around the production workers rates in the specified areas and they are not willing, at this time, to bring the skilled workers into the mix. Looking at the 18C Aux Cab area as a Lean Project has not been rejected but remains off the table during these negotiations. MEMBERSHIP TO VOTE ON PROPOSALS Because of the importance of this matter, a motion was made, seconded and carried at the June Membership meetings to hold one membership meeting to explain and vote on any tentative agreement that may be reached. If everything comes together in time, the Officers are looking at weekend dates in September to hold that meeting at Iroquois High School. Erie County voting machines will be utilized if they are available. GE CORPORATE PRESSING FORWARD WITH LEAN MANUFACTURING AND LEAN SIX SIGMA Reading some of the reports coming out of the 2005 GE Stockholders meeting and the Annual Report its plain to see that GE wants Lean Manufacturing and Lean Six Sigma developed in all of their businesses. In fact, many GE businesses underwent Lean Projects years ago. Reading the IUE Local 201 paper, we see that they are engaged in discussions over a Lean Project as well. As far as we know, we are unique in being the only GE location where Lean Projects are taking place in incentive areas. As we can already see from the Rad Cab project, Lean brings about tremendous cultural changes with the one-piece flow concept. Changing those areas from incentive to daywork brings about another cultural change of a different ilk. We may not be able to stem the tide of Lean Manufacturing throughout GE, but we can look out for future Local 506 Members by negotiating fair rates, reasonable working conditions and provide job security. The Officers will give an update on negotiations at the next Membership Meetings scheduled for Wednesday, August 17, 2005. Until then we will pass any new information on to you through the Stewards’ System. Printed by UE Local 506 Wednesday, August 10, 2005