Chief Plant Steward Jim Jaroski will be retiring on November 1, 2005 on a SERO leaving a vacancy in that Office. Nominations will be taken at the October 20, 2005 Membership Meetings and an election will be held in conjunction with the November 17, 2005 Membership Meetings.

Sergeant at Arms Dave Grutkowski will be retiring on November 1, 2005 on a SERO also leaving a vacancy in that Office. Nominations will be taken at the October 20, 2005 Membership Meetings and an election will be held in conjunction with the November 17, 2005 Membership Meetings.

FRANKLY SPEAKING

New Hires - 453 new hires year to date. In recent weeks we have seen employees hired from the GE Lighting Plant in Conneaut Ohio, and the Small Motors Plant in Fort Wayne, IN. All of these employees have been hired in accordance with the Article XXIII language dealing with preferential placement. There have been questions raised about these employees’ service and seniority dates. There is a difference between service and seniority. Your service date is used to calculate your vacation and S&P days, and it is also used to calculate your pension service and some other GE benefits. Your seniority date is used to determine the order in which lay-offs or recalls occur, bumping rights, job posting procedure, and shift requests.

When an employee from another GE facility is hired in Erie, that employee brings their GE service date with them for benefit purposes, if that employee has never worked in Local 506 they will not be granted seniority rights. The only exception is the reciprocal agreement Local 506 has with Local 618, that agreement was approved by the membership a number of years ago and exists because both Locals are considered the Erie bargaining unit.

We don’t want to miss the opportunity to extend a very happy retirement wish to Chief Plant Steward Jim S. Jaroski. Although Jim was here for only a short time, he distinguished himself as a tough negotiator during the company’s Lean manufacturing rate talks. It was a pleasure working with Jim and we wish him the best of luck ice fishing and canoeing during his retirement.

T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE - The LAC will begin selling the new UE 506 T-shirts at the October membership meetings; the cost is $10.00 per shirt.

RATE PROPOSAL ADOPTED

On Saturday, September 17, 2005, Local 506 Members voted to accept a proposal that will establish an R-22 Daywork Rate for select major assembly areas in the plant. The areas, with the exception of the Building 12 Rad Cab line, will convert from piecework to the new daywork rate as soon as the company advises the union of it’s decision to implement "One Piece Flow" manufacturing in that area. The Rad Cab line has already implemented one-piece flow and therefore those assemblers are already working at the R-22 rate.

JOB AND INCOME SECURITY A MUST

One of the key elements of the new agreement was a firm commitment to explore opportunities for job preservation and job creation at the COE level. Although Local 506 has been successful in preserving and creating jobs through the Job Preservation Committee, with the introduction of the Lean/One Piece Flow manufacturing, the Officers and Board felt the company should make a deeper commitment to protect members who may be affected by an accelerated production flow. During a recent meeting with William Conaty, GE Corporate Senior Vice President, Human Resources, the officers expressed the importance of this language as the company implements "Lean" throughout the GE chain.

Tentatively, the Building 12 Main Cab line and Station 3 in Building 10 are next in line to undergo one-piece flow manufacturing. As with any new concept, we believe there will be issues that arise and growing pains. However, as we gain experience from working in this new environment, we’re sure Local 506 members will keep matters in check using the tried and true style of rank and file unionism that has worked well for us over the past 68 years.

The Local 506 Election Committee will be posting nomination cards for Departmental Stewards and Alternate Stewards. And the committee will be conducting elections 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, representing the members in all grievance cases and working out 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.

Our own Chief Plant Steward Jim Jaroski is one of the fortunate eligible candidates for a SERO opportunity. Jim has been a Local 506 Member since May 1969, and, other than a stint in the military, he worked as a machinist in Building 2 until he was elected Chief Plant Steward in March 2005.

Over his many years in Building 2, Jim served the Union as an alternate-steward then steward and as an alternate-divisional chief steward then divisional chief steward. Jim became a familiar figure in that division and well known for being outspoken and tenacious in his pursuit to resolves the member’s issues and grievances.

Jim wishes to thank the membership "a lot" and to "Be Safe". Jim has also offered to do all that will be necessary to help his successor out, even after he retirees.

The Officers, Executive Board Members, and on behalf of the entire membership, wish Jim a happy, "safe" and long retirement.

BENEFITS UPDATE

In the past, the GE Annual Enrollment deadline was at the end of October, this year you will have to make your selections by Friday, October 21, 2005. During the Annual Enrollment you have an opportunity to:

Anyone having questions regarding these benefit options can call the GE Enrollment Center (1-800-252-5259), log onto benefits.ge.com or refer to their GE Benefit Handbook.

Also don’t forget! You only have until October 21^st to elect your option to carry over unused 2005 hourly sick and personal hours. If you do not call, any unused hours days credited for *2005 will be paid out early next year. (*Days you banked before 2005 are not affected). Call (800) 432-2099 today to select your option – If you don’t call you will receive an automatic cash payment in February 2006.

Floating Holiday– Just a reminder that you must use your Floating Holiday before the end of the year - It will not be carried over to 2006 and there is no pay in lieu of taking it.

UPMC MEETING SCHEDULED

What? We have an insurance option other than the Company Benefit Plan (CMB) and Health Care Preferred? Yes we do and it’s the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Plan (UPMC). UPMC is billed as an Alternative Health Plan Option but most members know very little about this alternative so we have arranged to have a UPMC representative at the Local 506 Hall on Monday, October 17, 2005 to review the plan with any interested member or retiree. The schedule for the meetings is as follows:

Recently adopted amendments to the National Constitution will see our own District Six combine with Districts One and Seven in April 2006. The new territory will be dubbed the Eastern Region. Therefore District delegates elected in November will also serve as delegates to the Eastern Region once that is formed. The nominations of delegates to all 2006 District Council Six and Eastern Region meetings will be taken from the floor during membership meetings on Thursday, October 20, 2005 at the UE Local 506 Hall.

The District Six constitution provides seven delegates for Locals our size. The 506 officers, by virtue of our Constitution, hold three of these positions. The names of nominees for the four remaining delegates and for three alternate-delegates will be placed on a ballot and a vote will be conducted during the November membership meetings. The four candidates receiving the highest vote totals will be seated as District Six and Eastern Region delegates. The remaining vote totals will determine the three candidates who will serve as alternates. In case of a tie vote, a run-off election will be held during the December 2005 meetings.

Home Page     Picture Archives     Tee-shirt Archives    Local 506 NEWS