October 2003 UE 506 News

WELCOME BACK!!
It's been a couple of tough years for them but we are happy to report that all laid off Local 506 Members have either returned or have been contacted to return. As could be expected, the returning members, listed below, are happy to be back and many have already stated their appreciation for the support and sacrifices the active members made on their behalf over the past two years

DENNIS AKAM	BRYON HELMAN	CORY PERSONS
PAUL ALLESSIE	MARYELLEN HERMANN	JEFFREY PHILLIPS
BLAKE BACCUS	MICHAEL HOOPSICK, IV	ROBERT PICKENS
TINA BARNES	SANDRA HOUSER	JOSEPH PINETTI
PHILIP BAXTER	EDWIN JASKIEWICZ	SCOTT POHL
PIERRE BELL	KEVIN JONES	TYRONE PORTER
DAVID BILLE	SHAWN JONES	DONALD RHODES JR
WILLIAM BISBEE	LEE KATCHEN, JR	JOSEPH RICHARDSON
PAUL BLISS	RAYMOND KERN	MATTHEW RIEDEL
PHILLIP BOBOSHKO	CHRISTOPHER KING	LOUIE ROSSEY
CAROL BORTZER	CRAIG KINSEL	CRYSTAL ROSSMAN
SHAWN BRIODY	GILBERT KOSKO, JR	DEBBIE RUDENSKI
KRISTIN BROTHERSON	THOMAS KOSTREBA	THOMAS SCOFIELD
THOMAS BROWN	JAY KRAMER	JOSEPH SEGGI
ANNETTE BURNS	CHRISTINE LARSEN	STEVEN SHERRED
DANIEL CARCIC	DAVID LASHER	GREGORY SILAY
LESTER CALDWELL	LEEANN LATTANZIE	DOUGLAS SNYDER
DAVID COPE	KENNETH LEWIS	DARRELL STEBBINS
NANCY DAHLKEMPER	MARILYN LOGGINS	MARK STURDIVANT
PETER DANIELS	GEORGE LOVE	ANTHONY SZOSZOREK
JEFFERY DANOWSKI	DAVID LUKE	MARGARET TODD
KEITH DIXON	WILLIAM LUTTERBAUGH	VERNA TRUDEAU
BRIAN EAST	CLIFFORD LYLES	JAMES TROJAN
JOHN ENDERS	GERARD MAJERSKY	BRYAN TURNBULL
DONALD ENGMAN	FRED MARCHINETTI	DAVID TUSZYNSKI
MADELINE FILIPPO	THOMAS MASON	PATRICK WALKER
MARK GABBARD	CELINE MASTERSON	BRADLEY WARFIELD
EDWARD GANZA	CHRIS MCCULLUM	DAIN WASHBURN
SAMUEL GEE	PHILLIP MCCLINTON	RENEE WATSON
BOBBY GOULD	ELIZABETH MCCRAY	JUDY WEAVER
PATRICK GRAHAM	ANN MCLAUGHLIN	DAMON WILCOTT
DANIEL GRIFFITH	NETTIE MERSKI	MANUEL WILSON JR
PAUL GRUBBS	MICHAEL MILLIGAN	RICHARD WINKELMAN
DANIEL GRZYWINSKI	GERALD MOYER	JAMES WRIGHT
BRIAN GUZOWSKI	WILLIAM NASH, SR	JAMES YORK
DEBRA HAMMER	BARBARA NOVAKOWSKI	DALE YURCAN
LARRY HARKLESS	KURT NOVAKOWSKI, II	RICHARD ZELINA
STEPHANIE HASSETT	KENNETH NUNEMAKER	CHRISTINE ZUZAK
	WILLIAM PAYNE
	TIMOTHY PENFIELD

Workers at the TEMCO (Electric Materials Company) in North East Pa., members of UE Local 684, ratified their first contract by a wide margin on Friday, September 26, 2003. The ratification of the new agreement ends a fierce three and a half-year battle -

A protracted battle that saw numerous Labor Board charges against the company and the company’s anti-worker lawyer (who the company got rid of). The Labor Board also ruled that a number of workers, unjustly fired, had to be brought back to work, with back pay.

Congratulations to Debbie (JUNKYARD DOG) Gornall and the rest of the organizing team, (Along with a large number of 506 members who spent countless hours encouraging our sisters and brothers in Local 684) and special thanks to the determined members of UE Local 684.

Currently, we know there are 75 people from the Erie plant going out the SERO Window 70 from UE 506, 1 from UE 618, 3 from the IFPTE (draftsmen) and 1 from the Guards Association. The current pension benefit service (PBS) needed stands at 34.344 years. The National contract calls for 600 SERO retirements. All 600 must occur by October 31, 2003. If you are scheduled to retire at the end of October, and you know that you’re not interested, PLEASE don’t wait until the end of the month to inform the company. Otherwise you will cost a sister or a brother the opportunity to retire, and weaken the Unions arguments for early retirements.

Recalls - As of this writing, there are still six people with re-call on the street, three of those people have medical restrictions that the company is trying to accommodate. One employee is in the military until October 31, 2003. Certified letters have been sent to the other two employees, in an attempt to contact them.

The grievance activity remains constant going into the fall season. Over 140 cases have been submitted to the second step of the process this year. There is no one single area of concern in the current cases, however several grievances have been filed over management altering incentive workers request for payment vouchers. Management has the responsibility to contact you if there is a discrepancy in your vouchers, not just alter them as they see fit.

One case concerns the company using R20 test workers to perform I20 incentive work. In a similar grievance, the Union protests the company not bringing in the correct stock room workers to support an area for weekend work. All of us should police this type of problem. When you are asked to work overtime ask the boss and check with your Steward to ensure you are being asked to do your own work. Stewards should know what work is being done on overtime and who exactly will be doing the work prior to the work being performed. In the past we have asked the Stewards to review, with the boss, overtime records early in the week to make sure the right people are working. Waiting until after the work has been done or waiting trying to catch the boss doing it the wrong way makes no sense. On this issue the Union should be pro-active not re-active.

We had a Step 2 meeting on September 17^th and 31 cases were discussed. We reached resolves on 22 of those, requested 5 go on to the Step 3 and 4 were held for further discussion. Another Step 2 meeting is scheduled for October 9^th with around 25 cases set for discussion. The Union has also requested a Step 3 meeting and right now there are eleven cases on that agenda.

A reminder to the Stewards, please contact those recalled and possibly new hired workers to make sure any questions they have regarding their benefits (vacation, holidays personnel days etc;) and the companies contractual obligations (progression, break-in, night bonus etc;) are being addressed. We fought too hard to get these workers back and it would be a shame if they are forgotten or ignored now that they are here. If they have questions you can’t answer, take notes and pass them on to the Chief Steward or the Union Hall for the information.

To those workers returning and to those recently hired please take an active role in your Union - Attend membership meetings! The Union’s abilities to resolve issues that come up, big or small are directly related to the strength of the membership and our strength is our rank and files involvement. Thanks.

On October 3, 2003 the Company made a formal announcement that they intend to shutdown Powerhouse operations in two phases. The first phase would see the combustion fired turbines shutdown on December 1, 2003 eliminating 18 to 20 workers. The Company said they would purchase electricity to replace the Powerhouse turbines but continue to use coal for the boiler operations.

The second phase of layoffs would come in the 4th quarter of 2006 or whenever the government regulations under Title 5 kick in. According to the Company, Title 5 requires stricter environmental controls that would cost 25 million dollars to come in compliance. According to the Company no permanent layoffs are expected as a result of their plans.

The Officers have requested Decision Bargaining under the provisions of Article 23 and have made informational request concerning the Powerhouse announcement.

The Job Preservation Committee (JPC) met with Company representatives on September 26, 2003, as agreed to in Article 23 language. A meeting held on August 13, 2003 with Local 506 and UE National Officers and GE Corporate Relations representative John Curtin set the stage for the September meeting, and future JPC meetings, by establishing the Unions priorities and expectations.

Attending the most recent JPC meeting for the Company were Bill Fitzgerald and the Union Relations staff. In his opening statement, Fitgerald said the numbers look good for next year partly because were getting international orders that weren’t necessarily expected. He explained that the Russian market has a lot of potential and so far, as they put our products through the paces, the’re impressed.

Regarding the Company’s future plans, Mr. Fitgerald said they are looking for, "A decade of runway." In other words looking at each Division to see if they are equipped to handle anticipated needs for the next ten years. He said that several Division were ready, while others need capital improvements which the Company is looking at.

The Union’s Committee brought up several suggestions to promote job stability and potentially bring new work in to the Plant. One issue, laid out by JPC Chairman Dave Kitchen, cited the need to move our members into new technology jobs. Dave also asserted that the Company shouldn’t limit the type of work we do. "We have Wind Generation, but let’s not limit our involvement to assembly," Dave stated.

The Company and the JPC discussed solutions to problems like Trades work involving PAR projects and improving the situation to help the understaffed truck drivers by hiring more. The JPC asked the Company to look at expanding the duties of the Computer Repair staff by including software duties as well as work on leased equipment. The Committee also covered specific Traction Motor and other Propulsion Division projects.

In it’s review of the meeting, the Committee felt it was a good step in beginning to change the culture in the Plant, not only to protect existing jobs, but to promote new jobs for the Plant by better studying our skills and capacities. All in an effort to bring currently outsourced locomotive parts and equipment in-house, hiring trades workers to meet existing needs and looking to our members to perform work created by technological advancements. Attending the Job Preservation meeting for the Union were Dave Kitchen, Frank Fusco, Pat Rafferty, Mike Jelinek, Dale Stubenhofer, Steve Harris, Frank Barnes and Dennis Crawford.

Current Section D: Retirement refunds will be paid to members in good standing at the time of their retirement, including disability retirement, and to the beneficiary of a member who dies before retirement.

Reason: In recent years, Efforts to raise money for the Retirees Watch Fund have not adequately funded the program. Therefore, if adopted, this change will allow Local 506 to continue providing watches to all eligible members through disbursements from the Strike Defense Fund.

The following language is not an Amendment, this change will not alter the Strike and Defense language in any way. The change will simply be made to correct an error

Nomination cards will be posted and elections for Departmental Stewards and Alternate Stewards will be conducted during the first two weeks in November. Any member who has been in good standing for at least six (6) months shall be eligible to run for either office. The term of office will be two years. Stewards and Alternate Stewards will be installed during the December Membership Meetings.

The duties of a Departmental Steward include attending meetings and representing the members in all grievance cases and differences with their area manager. Elected Stewards will have deferment from layoffs providing they follow the provisions of the UE Local 506 and UE National Constitution and the policies and principles of the Union in accordance with established practices. Members interested in running for the Steward or Alternate Steward position should familiarize themselves with Article X and Article V of the UE Local 506 Constitution.

Golf Tournament - Fox Run Golf Course was the setting for this year’s Tournament, hosted by the Local 506 Sports Committee on Sunday, September 14th. The weather started out miserable, but improved throughout the day, turning into a great summer evening - A good time was had by all.

Annual Turkey Tournament - The Sports Committee is looking forward to November 23rd, the tentative date for our Annual Holiday Volleyball Tournament. The committee is seeking teams to participate, so if your interested let them know. A special invitation goes out to members who recently returned from layoff. Come join the fun and the competition.

Hat Sale - The Sports Committee has hats for sale, both black and the coveted "camo" style. See your Chief steward for details.

"Basket of Cheer Raffle" - Ah yes, what would the holiday season be without the Sports Committees annual raffle. The tickets have been printed and should be available by the time you read this. The drawing will be held after the 1st shift meeting in December.

The optional insurance plans, where we bear the full cost, are experienced rated annually to determine the rates for the next year. These Plans include Long Term Disability (LTD), Dependent Life (DLI), Personal Accident (PAI), A-Plus, Security Life and retirees’ Medicare supplemental insurance plans.

The Company has announced that the rates for Long Term Disability (LTD) will increase substantially in 2004. They state that money received, when Met Life demutualized, had been used to maintain lower rates in recent years. That reserve has now been depleted, therefore the rates are scheduled to go up.

The traditional Dependent Life Insurance rates are also scheduled to increase substantially. With the introduction of the new Flexible Choice Option, we suspect that the Company used data that unfairly weighted the old plan. The Union has sent a letter to Corporate GE questioning the new rates. The 2004 rates for DLI and all other "experience-rated" insurance plans are listed below:

Long Term Disability Insurance for hourly employees with less than 14 years of PQS. The weekly contribution rates will be :

For hourly employees with more than 14 years of PQS the weekly rates will be:

* To remove ineligible dependents and reduce your weekly contribution, call the GE Enrollment Center at (800) 252-5259.

Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) monthly rates for each $1,000 Unit of Coverage will be:

Rates for Security Life and A Plus Life Insurance will remain unchanged for 2004.

Retirees will see their contributions for the Pensioners’ Hospital Indemnity Plan (PHIP) increase from $7.75 to $8.50 per person per month.

The GE Medicare Insurance Plan (GEMIP) (formerly United Health Insurance Care Plan) will decrease from $ 82.00 to $81.00 per person per month.