UE 506 News- May 2002
Note: Due to scheduling conflicts, the May meetings will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2002
The first order of business will be the selection of tellers to oversee the election of four Rank and File Delegates to the 67th UE Convention.
UE Director of Organizing Bob Kingsley will speak at each meeting.
Members will vote on a proposed amendment to the Constitution and the
officers will report on recent events.
MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS AND TIMES ARE:
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 (all meetings)
7:15 a.m. (3rd Shift)
1:00 p.m. (2nd Shift)
3:15 p.m. (1st Shift)
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT - SECOND PRINTING
This is the second printing of the following amendment to Article V, section 12 (b) of the UE Local 506 Constitution. The proposed amendment will be read for the 2nd consecutive month and a vote will be taken at the May 22, 2002 meetings.
Article V
Add beneath Section 12(a)
(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.
EXECUTIVE BOARD RECOMMENDS ACCEPTANCE
The Local 506 Executive Board met and discussed the amendment on Wednesday, April 3, 2002 and voted to recommend approval to the membership.
Kitchen’s Kabinet
As we get closer to the hotter days of summer, the shop temperature rises and the company finally turns the steam off, hopefully. That may sound like the weather report but it is far from that.
What the company is up to lately is, it appears a return to the dictatorial, autocratic, and authoritarian relationships of the past. Lately the reaction for having accidents or violating safety regulations is draconian at best. These days, it seems cooperation is defined by how far one side can push the other.
Two workers were recently given warnings and weeks off for supposedly violating safety procedures. The fact that neither of these workers, their bosses or the Union was made aware of the new level of discipline (until the violation occurred) is what stinks in these particular cases. This company is wrong to hand out such discipline without someone, other than a chosen few in upper management, knowing the rules had changed. What could be worse? At one point, the company even stated that one of these workers was facing possible discharge. This situation is unacceptable and the Union will take necessary steps to rectify what went wrong here.
Relationships are built on respect, honesty and trust. Those words are probably found in many places in the company’s integrity policy book. The differences between words and actions are monumental.
The more disturbing part of recent company actions is their stance the actions were necessitated by their concern for our safety. Really! If you were concerned about your workforce would you take action in the dark? Would you have discussions about changing strategies in a closed circle of a few? Or would you include the very people who have established the plant’s safety program to be the so-called success they put on posters at VPP seminars. Wouldn’t you think education might be a way to address your concern for your workers?
Who would have thought that the years of maintaining a safe work place was the result of punishment instead of education for violators? What the heck, it worked for years when, to make a point, the lords of the land put their subjects into "stocks" in the public square for all to see.
The Union will not tolerate a return to the days of the "stocks." GE should look to resolve this ill-advised and ill-conceived action.
WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVED
Despite the inclement weather, a large number of people attended a Worker Memorial service on Sunday April 28, 2002. The event, normally held at Perry Square, was moved indoors to the Erie City Council Chambers. The Memorial is held annually to commemorate workers who lost their lives while on the job. This year was extremely tough for Local 506 members because of the loss of our brother Dale Erickson. Central Labor Representative Pat Bruno III read a list containing the names of all 9 Erie County workers who lost their lives in the past year while Chief Robb tolled the bell in honor of each deceased worker. The Second Baptist Church Mass Choir followed with hymns.
In his remarks to the audience, Pat also paid tribute to the hundreds of workers who lost their lives on September 11th. Erie Mayor Rick Fillippi and AFL-CIO Field Mobilization Director Paul Lemmon served as guest speakers. After the memorial, the sky opened up just long enough to place a wreath in front of the Workers’ Monument in Perry Square.
Shown in front of the Workers Monument and wreath are (L-R foreground) Sean Lynch
and Donna Cramer. (Standing in the back row) Don Way jr., President Randy Majewski,
Denny McLaughlin, Art Crawford, Dan Kelly and Business Agent Pat Rafferty (not shown)
Here’s the latest from the very active Local 506 Sports Committee:
The VA 5K Race will be held on Sunday, June 2, 2002. Applications are now available and offer numerous age groups in both the walk and the run. Commemorative T-shirts will be awarded to everyone who pre-registers by May 24th. The Application fee is $15.00
Over $4,200.00 has been collected for the V.A.M.C. Patient’s Fund. The money was donated by a group of dedicated businesses and organizations that support this event every year. The sponsors and registrations fees will enable local veterans to attend the National Disabled Veterans Wheelchair Games in Cleveland, Ohio July 8th through the 12th.
It takes a lot of volunteers to conduct the VA 5K Race so the Sports Committee could really use your help for a couple of hours on June 2, in the morning. Please contact Roger Zaczyk @ 875- 6227 or Karen Rubay @ 875-5304.
When you pick up your 5K Race application, you can also pick up an application for the *July 12, 2002 Golf Tournament (*Last Friday during Shutdown). The tournament will be held at Crabapple Golf Course this year. There will be a 1:30 shotgun start.
Sports Committee Golf Raffle tickets are on sale. The 1st prize will be 4 rounds of golf at the Riverside Golf Course (with cart). 2nd prize will be 2 rounds of golf at the Riverside (with cart). The drawing will be held after the May 22, 2002 1st shift membership meeting.
PRESIDENT’S REMARKS
Taking A Stand by Randy Majewski
The recent events of the past several months have given me
some thoughts on where we stand as a union.
When the Warn Act notice was given out on January 24, 2002, it was met with
much dread and anger. The volume reduction was expected but the numbers were
thought to be too high. The source of the anger was, of course, the
outsourcing angle. But with much help from the membership and the executive
board we were able to save 167 jobs. As we have said before, we are looking
at other avenues to save or replace the other 47 positions.
The one thing that came out of this crisis was the comments made by a wide array of brothers and sisters. It seemed some older service employees had the opinion that since they had heavy service they would not be affected by the reductions. On the flip side of the measure, the younger service employees took the road that, "Well since I don't have a lot of time left here, I'm going to get as much out of this place as I can".
If this was the prevailing and majority mode of the Local,
we would soon cease to exist.
Hey look, nobody ever said you had to love every brother and sister in the
Local, that's not possible. But when we are on the field of battle with the
company we are as one. When you walk off the field you can go your own way,
you don't have to socialize with any union member if you don't wish.
Unionism is also all the time, not when it only applies to you or to your
issue. Many times I have not agreed with the majority, but went along with
the decision because that's the membership speaking. No matter what else, we
represent the members of Local 506 and that is our first priority. Nothing
else matters, this is our turf and nobody or nothing else should matter -
politics, cliques, whatever.
As far as criticizing leadership, that's fine. I will be the first one to encourage leaders to be responsible for their actions, but also the accusers to be the same. If you don't know the rules see your steward, or your chief steward, or a board member and get the right story. Bad information can create a bad situation and a needless one that could have been avoided. Not one member, not one officer, not one board member is bigger than the union. We are the union. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.