Agenda: President Fusco will report on the UE General Executive Board meetings held in May. The officers will give an update on local bargaining issues and report on a June 7th meeting held with GE Corporate Union Relations concerning Health Care. Delegates will report on the June 12th UE District 6 Council meeting. Pertaining to Legislative Action, the officers will report on a May 27th meeting with Erie area labor representatives and two members of Senator Specter’s staff.

New medical cards are on the way, Highmark Blue Cross has announced that the new cards will have a randomly generated identification number, called your Unique Member Identifer (UMI). Your social security number will no longer appear on your medical card. These long awaited cards should start showing up in July.

Shutdown will be here in three weeks. If you are off work due to illness during shutdown, you will no longer have to take your vacation pay. You will have to let payroll know if you want to be paid for the Shutdown week.

Statistical Average - In a recent tentative agreement reached with the Company if you are taken off your regular piecework job to perform other work you will be paid your statistical average. In other words, if you report to work, go to your work station to do the job you would normally do and your boss tells you, today I want you to do another job instead, they’ll owe you an average payment. The language is tentative, pending agreement on the language and approval by the membership.

There has also been a tentative Agreement reached on Bidding Rights when on break-in. If you are a pieceworker, still on break-in, and a job that you previously held comes up for bid, you will be able to bid on that job. Prior to this agreement only Dayrate workers had the ability to bid in this manner.

We extend our Sympathy to the family of Don Rodgers. Don was a recent retiree who enjoyed running, biking, swimming, and cross-country skiing. He represented the UE Local 506 Team proudly in the QUAD, and the Edinboro triathlon and placed first in his class in many of those events. His wife Sandy, a retired 506 Member, survives Don along with three daughters, Kim, Robin and Denise and his son 506 Member Scott Rodgers.
He will be sadly missed. Rest In Peace Uncle Don.

Grievance activity YTD stands at 35 cases filed to step #2. During the same time period last year the Union had filed 85 grievances. Several of those cases concern the Union’s request for additional stock keepers to support the increase in production. Our position has not changed on this subject. We believe the company should hire enough support for the production workers so they are not taken off building the product, which after all pays the bills.

This same argument must be made for the Plant Service support as well. The Union believes the company is spending too much money on contractors to perform work our maintenance could be doing if we had the manpower. Some contractors work cheap but the sort of maintenance work needed here does not get done cheap. Plant services has not hired to the extent production has and yet the plant and equipment run harder with the fuller schedule we have. The old adage applies here, " don’t cut your nose off to spite your face".

There is some confusion over new language in the 2003-2007 Contract concerning when paid personal time counts toward overtime. You will not find the new language in your contract book, it is written as Appendix M in the Memorandum of Agreement. The language states that employees who utilize four or more hours of Sick & Personal pay in a given day within a work week shall have the corresponding hours included in hours worked for the purposes of determining eligibility for overtime pay in the same week. This change in practice will be also be described in the UE/GE Interpretation and Application Manual, Article XXVII, Section 3, pertaining to rates of pay. Remember, if you take less than four hours it does not count towards your OT.

This is the first year GE will experiment with a split shutdown, one week in June and one week in December. Not sure the concept will make sense when the schedule we see shows the higher number of units needed later in the year. I guess only time will tell. However if you are taking time off at shutdown I hope you have a safe and pleasant time.

ECONOMIC FAST FACTS

UE National President John Hovis, speaking on April 24, 2004 at the Kucinich Town Meeting held in our Hall, started his speech with an old adage, "Repeat a lie loud enough and often enough - it becomes the truth. Certainly true of Bush economic advisors when they talk about the economy being strong." John continued by dispelling that myth with his top ten list of facts and figures:

GE Comprehensive Medical Plan Deadline: This will be our final reminder, if you are enrolled in the original GE COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL PLAN (CMB), don’t forget to submit your 2003 medical claims by June 30, 2004 or risk losing reimbursement.

HCP Referrals Not Necessary After July 1st: This will also be the final reminder before July 1st when members enrolled in Health Care Preferred, HCP will no longer need to secure referrals from their Primary Care Physician, PCP, to see another "network" provider. Please note that if you do not use a network provider you’re benefits will be paid at a lower rate. To find out if a provider is in the network log onto www.highmarkbcbs.com or call 1-800-542-7794.You will receive further details in a letter being sent out by GE.

New GE Transportation Health Care Lead and Manager Announced: On May 12, 2004, the officers met Beth Hallgren, the new Group Health Lead for GE. Beth, who is headquartered in Cincinnati, will assume the Health Insurance end of Ronal Mangine’s former duties. Mangine retired earlier this year.

Welders Contact Law Firm: According to Attorney Ben Costello, there has been a steady flow of calls regarding the manganese notice published in the May 506 NEWS. The Yablonski, Costello & Leckie law firm have been fielding those calls, answering questions and providing advice to members who believe they might have manganese related health problems. The firm will be conducting a seminar for interested members in the near future. If you missed the first notice you can learn more by calling 1-800-964-2667.

STD Benefits Available For Employees Undergoing Invasive Tests: Many of us were unaware that certain "invasive tests," including colonoscopies, are covered by Short Term Disability, STD. The waiting week does not apply so the benefit will apply for each day you are off due to the test. GE Employees receiving epidermal injections and of course outpatient cancer treatments are also eligible for STD Benefits. If you have a test scheduled or if you are unsure whether a particular test or procedure is covered under STD, call the Disability Center 1-800-392-0789.

VA Hospital Services To Remain In Erie: In a letter dated May 7, 2004, Senator Arlen Specter states, "I am delighted to announce today, contemporaneously with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will not close hospital care or inpatient surgery beds at the VA Medical Center in Erie, Pennsylvania." That’s good news for the UE Local 506 Members who participated in the two rallies supporting the Veteran’s cause.

506 JACKET TO BE RAFFLED

One X-Large UE Local 506 embossed denim jacket will be raffled off at the end of the 1st shift, June 18th Membership Meeting. Chances for the raffle will be available at each meeting during the day. The jacket, donated by American Products, is USA Union-made.
All proceeds will go the Legislative Action Committee (LAC) fund. Good luck!

SPORTS SHORTS

A short note on the June 6th VA 5K - The Local 506 Sports Committee raise over $5,000 for the VA patients’ recreation fund. Over 156 participants took part in the event that was held in ideal weather conditions. (photos)    (results)

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