USW Local 2-232

formerly PACE 7-232

Representing  employees at Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Strattec Security Corp. in Milwaukee, WI

Membership Meeting 

Sunday July 25th, 2010

USW Local 2-232 Office

8500 W. Capital Dr.  LL 101  Milwaukee 

9:30a.m.

Election for Trustee at Large 

will take place during this meeting.

  Members are urged to Attend this Meeting.

Where has the year gone?

by Scott Godshaw

    I don’t know about you, but to me, this year has disappeared in a big hurry. I cannot believe it is December already and now I am pondering what might transpire in 2002 for all of our members.

    2001 was certainly an interesting year, filled with few highs and many lows and unjustified optimism. Let me see if I can capture the year in chronological order.

    The year began with Strattec having layoffs for the first time, caused by the economy, as opposed to the layoff in 1998 which was a direct result of the work stoppage at the GM plants.

    At Briggs, an agreement was reached between the Company and the Union to maintain voluntary layoff year round. The Bargaining Committee also met with John Shiely, the President of Briggs & Stratton, on January 22nd. It was a basic state of the business meeting. Shiely said, “No new work was planned for Milwaukee as of right now, with the exception of the Micro Line and demand would dictate how long it would stay here.”

    All the incumbent candidates were re-elected. West Allis Grievance Rep John Nalepinski and Burleigh Grievance Rep, 2nd shift, Jesse Edwards, were unopposed and, elected by acclamation, while Trustee at Large Vicky Black, grievances reps Barb Schuller and Mike Merrill from Burleigh and Karl Schneider from Strattec won their elections.

    At Strattec, on March 13th, the Company laid off 26 salaried people, while at Briggs’, there were already 300 members on layoff. Strattec began negotiations on March 27th, while Briggs’ sent a letter on March 29th requesting our Local to join in good faith negotiations for a successor contract.

    At West Allis, some lines were moved to Burleigh from Dept. 552, while at Strattec, there was a serious accident in Die Cast. OSHA issued Strattec several citations with fines due to this accident.

    On May 20th, Strattec membership almost unanimously rejected their contract, 385 to 4. A strike authorization vote was then taken and again the vote overwhelmingly was 382 to 6. On May 24th the Union and Company met again, but to no avail. Then on May 29th, the Bargaining Committee agreed to meet with the Company and a mediator from the Federal Mediation Service. On May 30th the two parties reached an agreement, in principle. While Briggs’ was just beginning negotiations, the Strattec membership voted at a second ratification on June 6th. This one was also rejected by a count of 235 to 202. Thus, the membership went out on strike at midnight. One person, one scab, crossed the picket line. Finally on June 20th, the Federal Mediator set up a meeting that the Company agreed to attend. This meeting led to the final proposal of a four-year contract that was approved by a vote of 270 to116 on June 22nd, thus ending the sixteen-day strike.

    On June 29th, the Bargaining Committee ended their negotiations with Briggs’ and the ratification vote was scheduled for July 8th. This four-year proposal was also accepted by a wide margin of 732 to accept and 241 to reject.

    In August, at Briggs’, the Micro Line was scheduled to go up, but due to lack of cylinders, it failed to do that. In fact, now the line is tentatively scheduled to go up on February 1, 2002.

    At Strattec, the last week of August, there were visitors from the Industrial Union of Employees of Metalworkers (IGM) in Germany. They were here to view our operations due to the joint venture between Strattec and their company WITTA.

    In September, we had a great turnout and a beautiful day on Labor Day. All had a good time and are looking forward to next year.

    Of course, I cannot write an article about 2001 without including the horrific events of September 11th. I was running my machine when the supervisor of maintenance came up to me and informed me of the tragedy. I know everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time they were informed. Our thoughts and prayers are continuing to be with the families injured, lost and dislocated by these tragic events.

    On October 1st production ceased at the West Allis Plant. More layoffs transpired and members with seniority bumped over to Department M8 at Burleigh.

    At Strattec, production remained steady with approximately 200,000 lock sets a week. All the piecework grievances were settled at Strattec prior to negotiations and at this writing, there are not any outstanding time study grievances. 

    On the other hand, at Briggs’, there was a complete assault on a lot of rates and hence a lot of time study grievances were written. It is still questionable why all these attacks happened and who the real culprit is or who is behind it.

    Insurance was a very hot issue, especially with the Compcare problem, but both companies stepped up to the plate and pretty much resolved the problems satisfactorily.

    Starting the year, we had 468 dues paying members at Strattec and 2127 dues paying members at Briggs’ with a total of 2595 dues paying members out of a possible 2739 members. (Difference due to members on sick leave and layoff). As of November, there were 455 dues paying members at Strattec and 1510 dues paying members at Briggs’ for a total of 1965 out of a possible 2513.

    What can we expect in 2002? That is anyone’s guess, but we will continue to work hard and put out quality parts with our Midwest work ethic at both companies. Again, I still do not know where this year has gone, but it certainly was an interesting year.