Burleigh/Men. Falls Plant

By Jesse Edwards, Barb Schuller & Mike Merrill


Jesse Edwards	Barb Schuller	Mike Merrill

We have more bad news to report regarding layoffs at the Burleigh Plant. There will be a reduction of one additional machine operator in M-5. Five machine operators will be laid off in M-3. Department 765 will lay off 3 machine attendants. Department 716 will lay off three machine attendants. Die Cast had a layoff last week and this week they will be laying off three machine attendants, one pieceworker, three potmen and three janitors. With this layoff, there will not be any more janitors in Die Cast. Also, in Die Cast, they combined the two tool cribs. And they consolidated all the L.G. 21 truckers (forklift drivers) to one Department – 176. This resulted in a layoff of a crib attendant and three drivers. The remaining drivers are very upset with management about cutting to bare bones and relayed their dismay to no avail at a meeting held on February 22, 2001. The new CNC machining department in Die Cast will be Department 198. The only disturbing part of this is the machine attendant job will be a L.G. 20, not a L.G. 18, like the rest of Die Cast. We will address this, along with our Union Compensation Analyst Tom Bishanell, when the job is up and running.

If there is a recall in your department from layoff, whether on voluntary or involuntary, the Company will call back by seniority.

We will be meeting with the Company soon about the alarming number of outside contractors hired to do skill trade work. The work should be done by our trade people whenever possible.

There have been a lot of rumors about the motor lines continuing to ramp down. As of this writing, the Company insists that the run rates will remain the same.