USW Local 2-232
formerly PACE 7-232
Season's Greetings
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Membership Meeting
Members are urged to Attend this Meeting.
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USW Local 2-232 formerly PACE 7-232
Season's Greetings * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Members are urged to Attend this Meeting.
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President’s ReportLabor Day recalls and 401k changes at Briggs;Strattec plant to go “tobacco free” in 2001 by Greg Gorecki, President Brigg’s & Stratton Labor Day Recalls At the time of this writing, Briggs & Stratton was in the process of calling back the volunteers from layoff. All people with seniority to come back should be back by the end of September. With the exception of the twin factory that is picking up, these recalls can result in less senior employees getting bumped to different shifts, and in some cases, even laid off. If for some reason you get laid off, keep in mind that the next time to change your classification, if you choose to, is one (1) month prior to Christmas shutdown. You also must have at least five (5) years of seniority. If you do sign up to change your classification and production would pick up in your old classification, you would be recalled to your old classification first. Unemployment We received some favorable news for our employees from the State Unemployment office. It now appears, after some confusion regarding the productivity reward payout in the Pilot Program area, that those checks did not have to be reported to Unemployment and should have been treated as back wages. Our attorney (Marianne Robbins), along with State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Phil Neuenfeldt, were able to convince the State to not withhold our laid off members checks for the week the check was issued. We also received cooperation from the front office people at Briggs & Stratton, which helped to make this achievable. At the time, we had about 90 members on layoff and the loss to our membership would have been about $27,000. In the same scenario with the EVA checks that were issued, if we had to report those, it could have cost our members an additional approximately $63,000. Election Time While election time is near, many of our members are confused on the issues. The Union plans to research some of the issues that are important to not just our members, but to working families in general. We will try to organize a network to the departments at work to get you the information that is needed for our members to make an informed decision when they go to the polls. Also, if you are not registered to vote, we will try to help you register as conveniently as possible. Your steward will be getting the details. 401k Change Briggs & Stratton is changing their 401k administrators from CIGNA to Putnum. This is something similar to what Strattec did a couple of years ago when they switched from First Wisconsin to Scudder. This will become effective October 1, 2000. There will be a blackout period between September 8, 2000 and mid-November, 2000 while the transition takes place. You will be able to contribute, but won’t be able to move money around during that time frame. Once the transition is completed, our members who are in the plan will have more choices and increased flexibility. Strattec Tobacco Free Strattec has introduced their plan to be tobacco free as of January 1, 2001, with the exception of January and February, 2001, where the employees and customers will be allowed to smoke or use tobacco in the vending machine area near the cafeteria. To some of our members, this will become a very trying time. Strattec said they would offer some financial help to employees who want to take advantage of some medical help to try and shake their tobacco habit. Job Consolidation Committee While meetings have begun between the Bargaining Committee and the Company, there are more things that need to be answered before the Committee can move forward. Some salary people seem to think this is going to be a quick process. Until all the cards are laid on the table, the Union won’t be able to decide on this way or the other. It is the Union’s hope that the Company is not looking at the Job Consolidation Committee to address the shortage of hourly personnel in the Plant. It appears to us that many members that have quit, died or retired have not been replaced. When this happens, it puts an extraordinary amount of stress on other people to try and do added work brought on through the attrition. This could include working harder, causing more fatigue; working faster, where you could make mistakes, taking shortcuts that can jeopardize your safety or the safety of others, and working overtime, where long hours can result in a combination of all of the above. We have also had members, because of their long hours, get questioned because they were resting past their allotted break time and the Company wants to discipline them. Sometimes these things are directly a result of running the shop while being under-staffed (mostly with hourly people). While we have seen at least four (4) requisitions for salary jobs posted, we can only hope that the hourly requisitions will be filled soon. |
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