Strattec Corner

By Bigg Al Olivares

With all of the body movement taking place because of the Company deciding to take some of our good Union jobs out of our Milwaukee facility there have been a lot of questions as far as layoffs and our people being shuffled around. As of August 26, 2002, there are approximately 13 people out on layoff and various other circumstances.

The process of people being called back from layoff and being moved around within the plant is not going quite as smooth as the Union had hoped, but we can only hope that human resources can get it together and make the transition a little smoother for our membership.

On the same note with the layoffs, people have been receiving the COBRA insurance information along with all the other layoff information. This gives the wrong impression to some of our membership that they have to begin making COBRA payments for the full premium right away. That is not true. Depending on your seniority, you still have your normal insurance provided you keep current on your part of your payment for up to nine months.

As far as other news of concern to our membership; the Union has been having a hard time getting the Company to recognize and appreciate the schooling and experience of our skilled trades overall during these times of cutback. We, as a Union will do everything in our power to try to open the Company's eyes to the severity of this situation and stop their negligence of true skill.

On a bit of a different note, it has come to the Union's attention that some members of the middle management are not happy with the way human resources is conducting some of the transferring of workers during these (to say the least) tragic times. To elaborate; some of the middle management has had strong opinions on the definition and execution of "similar work" language and have been being quite vocal to our members on how they disagree with it.

I would like to let membership know that we fought for similar work as best we could by exposing, within the realm of reason, jobs we felt could be deemed as "similar". However, as everyone should know by now we just cannot go in and tell the Company what to do and how to do it unless it is written out in the contract.

At times we have trouble keeping the Company within those agreed upon guidelines, but we try to go in and give our members as many feasible options as possible to keep wages and jobs fairly close in proximity to their previously held positions.

To close, middle management is disagreeing with the Company, although, in this situation they have the final say. Hmmmm….What does that say about the Company's stance and how fair it really is?

In conclusion, since I turned this into an editorial, I would like to call membership up to bat. The only way we can keep our Milwaukee Union strong and America strong is to continue through the concerted efforts of locals across the country to keep fighting. The only way we can stop corporate greed from ravaging Milwaukee and the rest of the country is to get out and vote for the candidates that can get on Capitol Hill and put a choke hold on the laws that allow companies to go to third world countries and exploit their population while further oppressing their own growth and prosperity.

In solidarity, my brothers and sisters, we shall right the wrongs of corporate greed. Like in the early days of the Labor Movement, the time is again upon us to be called to arms. Not with the bats, pipes, and knuckles of the days of yore, but with the mighty power of voice. And also, by flexing the muscle of democracy and using our right to vote. By doing this we can undo these atrocities imposed upon us, the working class.

United in Solidarity,

Adalberto Olivares