May UE 506 News
The news of pending layoffs is always discouraging for every one of us. As discouraging as it is we continue to hammer away with a positive attitude on bringing in new work to offset the potential loss. Recently the Officers along with the Job Preservation Steering Committee members met with the new Plant Manager Bill Fitzgerald and his staff. The meeting, held at the Union Hall, was arranged to introduce Mr. Fitzgerald to the committee and at the same time express our resolve on the job security issue. Mr. Fitzgerald committed himself to the process as well and agreed to establish a point person in each area to be responsible for interacting with the committee on this all-important subject. We look forward, optimistically, to the discussions.
YTD we have 27 grievance cases filed, as compared to 35 cases last year at this time. A Step # 3 grievance meeting has been scheduled for the 30th of May and what’s unique about this meeting is that it will be held in Erie. As far as anyone around here can remember, this will be the first time grievances at that level will be heard in Erie. There are nine cases on the agenda for that meeting, most of which concern Central Maintenance subcontracting issues.
One other case involves issuing a warning to a new hire for poor attendance. You may not know it but the Company holds new hires to a different standard than longer service employees. GE considers anyone with less than six months service a probationary employee. The Union doesn’t agree with the term probationary employee and we feel new hires should have all the same rights and privileges as longer service employees. The Company takes advantage of language in the contract, which prohibits the Union from arbitrating discipline cases for employees with less than six months service. The Union’s disagreement with the warning, other than feeling it was not warranted, lies in the fact that the new hires are not told of this discriminatory practice that holds them to a higher standard. The company makes sure the new hires understand the fact that they get paid less money when compared to longer service employees who perform the same work (daywork only). And the Company has no problem letting new hires know they have to endure longer progression schedules and receive fewer benefits - but what the Company doesn’t tell the new hires is that they are moved through the progressive discipline procedure quicker than the rest of us. As far as were concerned it’s a bad practice and it should stop!!!
OFFICERS REPORT ON LAYOFFS
On Tuesday, April 24, 2001 GE announced that they would eliminate 450 jobs due to sagging locomotive orders. This was the second notice this year as the Company had previously announced the layoff of 200 GETS employees on January 25, 2001.
GE’s most recent layoff announcement has been the primary subject of discussions on the shop floor, in the media and throughout the community and, as you would expect, the layoff issue has been the primary focus of recent meetings between the Union and the Company.
To minimize the impact and the depth of the newest round of cuts, we will stick to the game plan we used to successfully protect the 153 hourly jobs targeted for layoff in January. Of those members who could have lost their jobs in the first wave of layoffs, only one member couldn’t be placed, and that was due to medical restrictions.
POLICY ON COMMUNICATING LAYOFF NOTICES
For several reasons, it has been the Union’s long-standing policy not to publicly release information regarding layoffs. After all, it’s the Company who makes the call to lay employees off and it’s the Union’s role to work as hard as possible to prevent or mitigate the layoffs or, as a last resort, to make sure all benefits and rights under the Contract are fulfilled.
We stated that there were several reasons we generally do not make public comments regarding layoffs. One other significant reason is the fact that there is usually a high degree of volatility concerning layoff numbers. For example, earlier this year "conventional wisdom" would have dictated that we should have reported 700 members were likely to be laid off by now. By March, our best information was that there would probably be 600 jobs lost. One week after that number was paired down to 450 jobs we received word there was a possibility that some orders may be pulled into this year’s schedule. On the day this article was written, May 9th, we discussed the numbers once again only to find out they had been reduced.
As you can see, it would not have been prudent to report the early numbers we were hearing. The extent of layoffs facing us this year would have been greatly exaggerated and the effect on our Members far worse than we expect now. However, we aren’t completely out of the woods as the Company plans to hand out some layoff notices on Tuesday, May 22, 2001. In light of that fact, the Officers and E-Board, in conjunction with the Job Preservation Committee, will continue to look for ways to offset the job loss through the plan we laid out in the February 2, 2001 leaflet
-INCREASE PENSIONS-
An April 19th Gate Rally brought past and present UE Local 506 and 618 Members together for a common cause - to press GE for a substantial pension increase and an annual pension cost of living adjustment. Rally speakers, UE-GE Conference Board Secretary Steve Tormey, Local 506 President Randy Majewski and R.A.G.E. President Charley Fry, stressed that employees who spent all or most of their working lives at the GE deserve to retire with the dignity they deserve and which is only afforded to them through decent pensions and insurance benefits.
ODDS AND ENDS
R.A.G.E. Chairman Charlie Fry tells us that during the recent GE Stockholders meeting CEO Jack Welch was asked if he would be joining a GE retirees group upon his upcoming retirement. When he responded that he would, Kevin Mahar, President of the Lynn, MA Retirees Council, told Welch, "If that’s the case then their dues structure was going to change to 1% of the GE retirees pension." That would be about $7.00 for the average retiree and even though I didn’t do the math, 1% of Jack’s pension would probably fund a small country.
T-shirt Sale! Put on a few pounds over the winter months? Well that’s not entirely bad! We’ve got a limited supply of large locomotive contract shirts left and we’re selling them at the unbelievable price of "2 for $5 bucks" while they last. Our inventory includes (5) 2XL, (21) 3 XL and (9) 4 XL shirts. All remaining T’s will be available at the membership meetings.Congratulations go out to the son of Local 506 Member Richard Hulsinger , Building 2, for winning the AFL-CIO sponsored Thomas D. Melms Memorial Scholarship. P.R.
506 MEMBERS SUPPORT TOURNAMENT FUNDRAISER
UE Local 506 Member Ray Kibbe has recently concluded his "Tenth Annual Bowling Round-Up." The tournament, which benefits the Second Harvest Food Bank, raised $2,828.00 this year, raising the three-year total to $9,686.00 and since every $1.00 donated to Second Harvest yields a $17.00 value to purchase food, the tournament proceeds yielded $48,076.00 in purchased food for the pantry.
A number of Local 506 Members were rewarded for their participation in the fundraiser by taking cleaning up in many of the top awards. The results are as follows:
Steve Green – 1st Place Non League
Steve Hyzer – King of the Round up
Rich Allen – High Game Scratch (278)
Joe Clark – High Series Scratch (729)
Joe Clark – High Average Game (243)
Ray attributes the continued success of the Tournament to his wife Karen, the 55 Tournament Sponsors and his Brothers and Sisters from Local 506.
MAY MEMEBERSHIP MEETING NOTICE
UE staff member Mike Wilmore and a member of Local 684 will report on the status of negotiations with Temco.
The Officers reports will include the latest information on layoffs and on the work of the Preservation Committee. Members will also hear details on an upcoming Labor Solidarity March and support rallies for 1199P and UE Local 684 (TEMCO).
Under committee reports, delegates to the recent FTAA protest demonstration in
Quebec City will explain their experiences.
Building Committee Chairman Mark Pierson will report on the need to replace several of the Hall heater/air conditioning units.
Sports Committee Chairman Roger Zaczyk will give details on the upcoming VA 5K Run/Walk and the Local 506 Golf Tournament
MEMBERSHIP MEETING DATE AND TIMES:
Wednesday, May 23, 2001
7:25 a.m. (3rd Shift)
1:00 p.m. (2nd Shift)
3:30 p.m. (1 Shift)
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