LOCAL 506
UNION
NEWSVolume 56, Issue 10 Friday, December 9, 2005
SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS
Chief Plant Steward
- Former Local 506 President and Building 18C Chief Steward Randy Majewski took over the office of Chief Plant Steward after a special swearing in ceremony held on Tuesday, November 29, 2005. Randy replaced retired Chief Plant Steward Jim Jaroski as the result of a special election that was held on Thursday, November 17, 2005. Although this will be a new position for Randy to hold in Local 506, he brings with him the experience he gained while serving as Local 647’s Chief Steward (Bldg. 64 – Leland Corp.)Sergeant at Arms
– As a result of the November 17, 2005 elections, Denny Martin will take over the office of Sergeant at Arms from Dave Grutkowsi who also recently retired. Denny has been an active member serving as steward in the DC and Plant Service Divisions and Denny helped to establish the first Local 506 Election Committee.DISTRICT SIX-EASTERN REGIONAL DELEGATES ELECTED
- Seven Local 506 Members were elected on November 17, 2005 to serve as delegates to the UE District Council 6 meetings and, after the conversion in April, to all Eastern Regional meetings. Along with the officers, the following four elected delegates and three alternate-delegates will be voting on your behalf throughout 2006:2006 District 6/Regional Delegates
Dave Adams, Building 10
Matt McCracken, Building 42-7
Mark Pierson, Building 5
Roger Zaczyk, Building 10
2006 Alternate-District 6/Regional Delegates
Dave Allen, Building 10
Dennis Fisher, Building 5
Dennis McLaughlin, Building 6
SPORTS SHORTS
By Denny McLaughlin, Chairman
The Sports Committee’s held it’s annual "Turkey" Volleyball Tournament on
November 20th at the Iroquois High School Gym. Several volleyball
teams vied for top seed in their respective divisions. The winning teams in
each of those divisions and their captains are listed below:
Intermediate High - The Top Gobblers captained by Nancy Morrison won top honors
Finishing in second and third, respectively, were The Turkey Spikers and Turkey Hunters.
Intermediate low - The "Mother Pluckers", captained by Dan Postlewaite, took top honors.
Finishing in second, third and fourth places were, as follows: Horn of Plenty, Tom’s Turkeys and the Cranberries. A Big thanks to all the participants and volunteers!
An additional note, keep the last weekend in January open for the annual VA/VS Bowling tournament…More details will be forthcoming! Also, This is your last chance to buy the Sports Committee’s "Basket of Cheer" Raffle tickets. The drawing will be held right after the 1st shift meeting on December 15, 2005.
FRANKLY SPEAKING
As the year 2005 comes to a close we have an opportunity to look back and to look forward to the next year. 2005 was extremely busy at the Erie works; there were 880 tier-two locomotives built, and OHV produced a record number of wheels. We also saw 566 new employees hired in ’05, and there was plenty of work for everyone. The membership approved an agreement on "Lean Manufacturing" creating two new dayrate classifications of Welders and Assemblers, and even though there have been some problems with the implementation in certain areas, we are confident that these problems will be ironed out after the holidays. An important chapter in this Locals history closed this year with the passing of two good friends as former Business Agent Adam Fioravanti and former President Bud Cooney passed away - they will be sorely missed.
Next year will be busy on all fronts. The Job Preservation Steering Committee will be re-structured in 2006. The task of the JPSC will still be two-fold, to maintain the existing work and to explore opportunities to bring in new work. The JPSC is comprised of five sub committees, Weld, Assembly, Dayrate, Trades, and Machining. An Executive Board member will continue to head each committee and they will be assisted by two rank and file members that know the product and the processes. If you would like to be a member of this important committee please see your Chief Steward. The production schedule calls for over 900 locomotives, another big year in OHV, and hopefully the Wind Energy division will start full production early next year. With all of this on our plate for 2006, I predict it will be a hectic year but, working together as we did in 05, we’ll make it another safe, prosperous and "hopefully" peaceful new year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
ODDS AND ENDS
"Ouch", we’ve all felt our little stingers from management over the years but a supervisor in Bldg. 10, known as "Mini Me", wins the award for inflicting the most pain. It seems 3 recent SERO retirees, each with over 35 years of GE service, spent their last day as expected, casually saying their good byes and then ducking out early to avoid any fanfare. What they didn’t expect was to be docked pay for that last day. I guess that’s "Mini Me’s" way of paying tribute for their many years of service. He receives this year’s "Bah Humbug" award.
Look for the new Membership Cards to arrive in the mail sometime in the latter part of January. Compared to the less than colorful existing cards, we think everyone will be pleasantly surprised with the new design. Please carry the card with the rest of the important plastic in your wallets. You’ll need to show it when attending meetings and voting in Local 506 elections.
SERO correction - Man did I mess up! Last month I wrote that the final cutoff for a SERO was 34. 233 years of Pension Benefit Service (PBS) as of 12/31/2004. The actual number was 35.227 years of PBS. I blame the typo on my wishful thinking.
Newer Members that do not have vacation and who are not asked to work during the December Shutdown week, should sign up for PA State Unemployment Benefits. To open or reopen a claim either call the UC Service Center at (814) 871-4311 or use a computer and sign on to www.state.pa.us (keyword "unemployment). A reminder, you must also file a follow up Bi-weekly claim to complete the application process.
STEWARDS CORNER
By CPS Randy Majewski
I would like to thank the membership for letting me serve again, this time in the capacity as chief plant steward. The goal for 2006 will be to educate the new members on the history and tradition of Local 506 and to set up fundamental Steward training for any interested member. I’d like to ask the members to be patient during the transition period between the retirement of Jim Jaroski and my taking office. We have over 80 grievances at Step Two waiting to be heard. We will be scheduling numerous step two meetings with the company in the coming months to clear some of these issues up.
Finally, I would like thank Jim Jaroski for the help in making this a smooth transition and I would like to wish all Members of Local 506 and your families and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Stewards Sworn in at December Meetings (photos)
