We would like to welcome everyone back to work and hope everyone has a very happy and prosperous New Year. As we start the New Year we know that the company will be issuing new challenges to this plant’s CAW Membership. Should we fail to resolve issues through normal channels we will be calling on the membership to help resolve these issues. The greatest power that any Union has is a united and supportive Membership.

One of the challenges that we are facing is, the new “Attendance Policy” that the company launched while the plant was down. We understand the fact they are targeting those that they perceive to be chronic abusers when it comes to Attendance and Tardiness. The one item with the new policy that we have a major problem with is the mandatory call in. We understand the Company’s position on having the membership call in when they know they are going to be late or absent, but sometimes circumstances prevent this.

  When the policy was first mailed out, they included posters stating “stuff happens”. Well, now if you are delayed in a traffic jam, snow storm or God forbid, involved in an automobile accident, there is no forgiveness for failure to call in – even if your record is spotless. We have had a number of our members with clean records who were disciplined because they were a minute or two late due to traffic. They did not get disciplined for being late; they were disciplined for failure to call in. The Company’s response to those who do not own a cell phone is “buy one or risk losing a $60,000.00 per year job”. By the way, the Company has notified us that they will be considering banning Cell Phones in the plant. We have members who, when they realize they are going to be late after getting caught in traffic, run red lights to get to work. Please do not jeopardize your health and safety or the health and safety of fellow commuters; we still have the grievance procedure. We have had numerous meetings with the Company locally and at the corporate level on this issue with no resolve. We have put them on notice that, should we fail to resolve this issue through normal channels, we will be asking for the support of the membership to help us resolve this issue. We will notify you if action is required.

Prior to the Christmas shutdown the Company made a request through Buzz Hargrove’s office for a meeting on cost cutting measures for our plant. We were asked to sit with the Company with the assistance of our local officers and National Rep. We met on two dates. Contrary to rumors, we did not come to any understandings or agreements. Please talk to your reps instead of listening to rumors. Meetings with the Company are tentatively scheduled to start again later in January.

The Company made several cost-saving proposals. One proposal involves moving the shift start times on days and afternoons so that they can save money on third shift premiums paid to those who start prior to 6:00 am on day shift. They also proposed running a day shift and a shift that is split between afternoons and midnights. Again, this is an attempt to avoid paying the midnight shift premium because the shift would start at 8:00 or 9:00 pm. They claim that they will save money on Hydro because it is cheaper after 8:00 pm. Peak hours for Hydro are 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. They do not care about the inconvenience to you the Membership. They will save money on our heat relief program in the summer time as the temperature drops later in the day and they wouldn’t have to hand out ice and water. Running four ten hour shifts instead of five eight hour shifts was proposed. They would still have the option of scheduling Friday as they do Saturdays currently. They also proposed staggering shift start times for Skilled Trades so that they do not have to pay them when they work through breaks or lunch.

We made it quite clear to the Company that if we reach an understanding on any of the above proposals, it would have to be ratified by the membership.

They claim that these measures will save them over two million dollars per year. They waste more than this on a weekly basis. We will keep you informed as the talk’s progress.

While the plant was down for retooling the Company decided to eliminate jobs that were posted prior to the shutdown. They also eliminated jobs held as a carryover from the LH, and eliminated jobs where Members bumped to. Successful bids on LX postings for jobs which were eliminated will be rolled back. Anyone who does not have a job to go back to has until the end of January to bid to a job. At the end of January, those who are not successful bidders will bump. We are looking at getting the Job Postings started immediately. Some job postings are outstanding from August when the job postings were frozen. There are also new jobs in material handling. Vacancies were created when our members took the retirement packages or VTEP package.  Those jobs will be posted. We had a total of fifty retire and ten who took advantage of VTEP. The Company did not recall any additional workers to replace those that took the packages.

So much for having a successful launch!

The way things are going, you would think that management actually wanted to jeopardize the LX launch.

We talked to the Company about doing something special to lift the spirits of Members returning to work following the four month layoff. What did everybody get?  A town hall meeting held by the Plant Manager showing thirty minutes of commercials.  In the past when the plant manager held a town hall meeting, the Plant Chairperson was given an opportunity to address the Membership.  Not with this Plant Manager.  We were not even notified of the town hall.

What a way to start the New Year!

Communication at its best!