United Steelworkers Local 2737-13

Since the beginning of this year, the CAT Team has been trying to raise money through various means.

In January, we held a 50/50 Raffle where a total of $24 was collected. The winning ticket, worth $12, belonged to Bobbie Trolio, who donated the winnings back to the fundraising effort.

Beginning in May, we started selling Kicker Boards to raise money for upcoming negotiations and a summer picnic. The first board applied to the OH Lottery Kicker drawings on May 25th and May 28th. The drawing on May 25th was won by Bill Menapace (1st Shift Die Shop) and the May 28th drawing went to Roxanne DeMattio (2nd Shift PSA).

The next Kicker Board applied to the June 8th and 11th drawings. The drawing on the 8th was won by Nan Hartley (1st Shift PSA) and the 11th’s drawing was won by Burt Cable (1st Shift PSA).

Our most recent board was drawn last week. On June 29th, the drawing was won by Shawnda Downing (1st Shift PSA) and the July 2nd drawing was won by Larry German (2nd Shift PSA).

Additionally, a second 50/50 raffle was drawn on June 10th. Total collections reached $166 and Bert Maxwell purchased the winning ticket receiving $83.

The funds raised so far will be used to pay for our Summer Picnic which will be held on Saturday, August 21st at Tall Timber Lake (http://www.woodstalltimberlake.com). Ongoing fundraising will pay for basics foods (hot dogs, hamburgers, condiments, plates, napkins, plasticware, buns). Once that goal has been achieved, we will try to raise funds for beverages. Visit the lake’s web site to learn more about activities available. In addition, there will be a live band (Badstone) from 8-11 pm that evening.

Current fundraising efforts include a new Kicker Board for the drawings on July 20th and 23rd and a 50/50 drawing which will be drawn this Saturday at this month’s first semi-monthly CAT Meeting.

Tickets for admission to the picnic are also now on sale. We’ll be trying to get one or more people selling them on each shift, see the postings on the bulletin boards to find out who has them. Tickets sell for $5 each and, if purchased before August 7th, include admission to Tall Timber Lake. Anyone purchasing tickets after that time will also have to pay the Tall Timber admission fee of $5 per person.

After reviewing the facts and concerns with the members in attendance at the special meeting held Saturday, October 3rd, a motion passed unanimously to proceed with arbitration.

We will be fighting to preserve and ensure our rights to insurance for all members who have attained seniority as outlined in the current contract. If you were unable to attend the meeting, feel free to contact any of the officers for more information.

After the debate about the insurance dilemma, members and officers discussed a few additional items including safety and contract planning.

It was announced that after the monthly steward/officer get-together to be held Saturday, October 10th, the Union will begin accepting nominations to fill the remaining seat on the negotiation committee, along with one or two alternates. These positions will be announced at our November regular meetings. Once the remaining seat and alternates are determined, we will be able to assemble our Communication Action Team by January of next year.

The Union’s Leadership made it clear that negotiations are not expected to begin before this time next year but that the extra time will ensure that every member’s concerns can and will be heard by the negotiation team.

Check with your stewards or officers on, or after, October 12th to find out how to nominate someone. A posting will also likely be placed on the Union notice boards in the plant break rooms.

As you probably know, on June 1st, Lauren layed off an additional 11 Union employees, including 5 voluntary lay-offs. However, by the end of last week, they had already recalled two of those through at least the end of June.

This morning, HR officially notified the Union that they would be recalling an additional 15 employees for two weeks, possibly longer if sales improve. Additional positions have been or will be added on each shift to accommodate the recall, which will amount to roughly 5 people per shift. However, two of the added positions will be re-filled with employees who were recently (within the last 180-days) bumped. The recalled employees will fill all vacant positions for two weeks. The company will notify the Union if the recalls will last longer and the positions will be posted for bid as required by the CBA.

Feel free to contact myself, another officer or any shop steward if you have any questions. If we don’t have an answer, we’ll get one for you.

On Monday, April 27th, all units held elections for unit and local offices. The newly elected officers will be sworn in at the monthly meeting in May.

The newly elected officials for Unit Offices at Lauren MFG are:

Unit Chair: Don Blackwell

Recording Secretary: Kit Walker

Grievers: (2) Chris Gardner & Jamie Herron

On Monday, March 23rd, at our regular monthly amalgamated local meeting, nominations were made to fill officer positions for the next three years. The election will by held April 27th, 2009 at the times and location(s) designated by the postings at each shop. If you’re still unsure of when and where to vote, contact one of your unit officers. NOTE: See the article ELECTIONS AT UNIT # 13 for voting times and location.

All nominees have accepted their nomination unless “UNCONFIRMED” appears next to their name. Offices where only enough people are running (or less) to fill the available number of seats for that office will not appear on the ballot.

A person may hold only one Local Office but may hold multiple Unit offices.

Unit Chair: 1 Position

• Don Blackwell
• Melissa Campbell
• Jerry Graham UNCONFIRMED

Unit Recorder: 1 Position

• Kit Walker
• Bobbie Trolio

Griever: 2 Positions

• Chris Gardner UNCONFIRMED
• Jamie Herron UNCONFIRMED
• Don Blackwell

DATE:
April 27th, 2009

LOCATION:
Lauren Mfg. Upstairs Training Room, 2228 Reiser Ave., New Phila., OH 44663

TIME:
7:00am to 8:30am and 3:00pm to 4:30pm

At the start of 2007, we had 1 grievance which carried over from 2006 which we later withdrew.

Throughout 2007, we had a total of 18 grievances filed with 5 of these still pending arbitration. The list below summarizes 2007′s grievances and their current status.
This is just for the blog system, so this won’t show up.

1. Employee Termination – Still waiting for arbitrators decision
2. Employee Termination – Resolved
3. Personal write-up – Won before arbitration
4. Class Action regarding temps relieving for breaks – Settled before arbitration
5. In-line cold-splice with PSA – Withdrawn after Step B
6. Alleged improper overtime administration – No action after Step B
7. Failure to use proper Union Representatives – Won before arbitration
8. Failure to give proper bid rate on new week – Won before arbitration
9. Employee Termination – Pending arbitration February 6th
10. Employee Termination – Won at Step B
11. Class Action regarding posting of mandatory overtime by Market Unit – Pending arbitration
12. Employee Termination – Won before written Step A
13. Class Action regarding usage of temps in Union positions other than those allowed by contract – Pending arbitration March 12th
14. Class Action regarding Direct Dealing – Pending arbitration
15. Failure to ask for overtime – Won before Step B
16. Failure to pay 4 hours on voluntary overtime with no assignment – Won after Step B
17. Personal write-up – No action after Step B
18. Class Action regarding usage of probationary employees on mandatory Saturdays before utilizing voluntary overtime procedure – Pending arbitration

So far, there are no new grievances in 2008.

At this point, I’d like to note that, beginning this year, we’ve changed our grievance numbering scheme to make it easier to keep track of the next grievance number. Since we now have two Grievance Representatives, it has, in the past, been a hassle trying to coordinate what grievance number is next since we used the simple system of Grievance # – Year (i.e. 01 – 07).

For this reason, we will now be numbering them a little bit differently: Year – Grievance Rep. Initials – Grievance Number

We hope that utilizing this new system will make it easier for us since we don’t have to track back and forth for which grievance number is next. Instead, we may have some duplicate grievance numbers, but they’ll be set apart by the Griever’s initials. Examples: 8.DB.01 or 8-JH-01, etc.

I’ve recently moved the blank grievance forms in the break rooms to a folder at the bottom of the Union notice boards in each room. If the folder in either room is empty, please let me know so I can get some more in there.

* UPDATED to remove names from grievance report on 9 Feb 2008

The Steering Committee held its second meeting on Sunday, January 13th at our Union Hall.

We reviewed feedback we’ve received on the floor, scheduled our next meeting and set a rough target for first meeting with the Company.

So far, the following members have attended Steering Committee meetings:

• Nan Hartley
• Vicki Shonk
• Tom Akins
• Don Blackwell
• Geoff Downing
• Melissa Campbell

Our next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 27th at 9 am at the Union Hall.

If you’re not sure how to get to the hall, it is located directly beneath the Recruiter’s Office in downtown New Philadelphia. You can enter the hall from the rear of the building.