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 Report Vote November 7th Election
of President and Congressmen important to future for workers by Greg Gorecki - President This is the last 7-232 Reporter you will receive before the November election. We have tried to supply you with enough information from the stewards to allow you to make an informed decision on a presidential candidate. We hope you will take advantage of this and get out to vote. We also face some other important races in the Senate and Congress. Two races that should be near and dear to our hearts are the congressional races in the 4th and 5th District where we have had two congressmen that have responded to working peoples’ interest. Jerry Kleczka and Tom Barrett are both seeking re-election and I feel they deserve it. The Kleczka race is of personal interest to me because I have had the privilege of dealing with Congressman Kleczka on several issues and he has always been receptive to labors’ needs. He has a lifetime voting record of 86% of voting the way labor supports bills. His dedication to authorizing and supporting bills have driven me to become an active volunteer for his campaign because I believe in his commitment to helping the middle class working people. I think we need to remember things like when Pabst decided to move out of Milwaukee and leave their retired employees without health insurance. Kleczka was one of the leaders in pursuing the benefits for those employees. After 4 or 5 years of fighting, this year those members received some relief. Back in about 1995 when companies were moving work out of the Milwaukee area to the southern states and upping our tax dollars to train people down in the South to do our jobs, it was Kleczka and Barrett that we called on for help. Again, they were both there to champion our fight. I ask each and every one of our members and their families and friends that live in the 4th and 5th District to support Jerry Kleczka and Tom Barrett. This is one way for us to show them that we appreciate what they have done for us in the past and hopefully, will continue to do in the future. American Income LifeLast month I had the privilege of meeting with the group from American Income Life. They have a very knowledgeable staff and were anxious to learn about our Union. American Income Life is the insurance company that offers free accidental death insurance to our members. Our Union has been doing business with them for at least 20 years. Our contact people there have been Joe Manone and Laurie Onasch-Shaw They have always assured us that our members would be treated with respect when they came calling on them and from their track record it is very true. They are one of very few union insurance companies. Therefore, if you fill out the card they send you and return it, they will come out to your home and show some insurance plans that they carry that could be of some help to you. If American Income Life comes to your home and you have any questions on anything, you can feel free to call Laurie, our designated representative, at 262-502-9777. At StrattecWe have been trying to address some issues with management on vacation issues and some trouble spots in certain departments. Thus far, progress is moving very slow, almost to the point of being non-existent. It seems that when the Company has issues that they want addressed, they have an all out push, but when we want to have issues from the floor dealt with, it doesn’t seem to be enough time or they have conflicting management schedules. It appears that the Company is not addressing issues on the floor that are important to our members. The Bargaining Committee will keep trying to push issues that have been put on the back burner by the Company. PICThe P.I.C. Committee (Partners In Change) met with the Company and expressed our concerns with some management styles on the floor. While Strattec’s upper management has professed their commitment to P.I.C., in some areas it has not trickled down to all of the management people dealing with our members. In my opinion, P.I.C. was supposed to be a change in the way you deal with problems. While it may have worked in some areas, other areas have had a very negative influence on our members. In my opinion, in order for this to work, upper management is going to have to do a better job of selling the program to middle management or it could end up jeopardizing the program. In a discussion with the Company and the Bargaining Committee, the Company stated that we couldn’t tie everything that is negative in the plant to P.I.C. What the Union tried to convey is that when our members are not being treated with respect on the floor, it makes for some poor attitudes on the floor and people choose not to get involved. Further discussions were being scheduled at the time of this article being written. Briggs & StrattonWe have a backlog of arbitration cases that the Company and Union will meet on to try and reach some settlements before proceeding to arbitration. We have had a number of grievances that have come out of one particular area and thus, the backlog of cases. After raising the issue to the divisional vice-president, he has given us his word to try and make things run more efficiently and open the communications with the Union. M1The Company has admitted that a number of the jobs in M1 would not be going back up. With the department devastated by permanent job loss, the Company did agree to honor the job elimination language in the Contract. Those members with high seniority who have had their job eliminated will be transferred under the elimination language. Not everyone will get the transfer. Some employees will be getting called back to M1 when the anticipated production increase happens in January of 2001. If that does not happen or more permanent job loss takes place before that time, the Company has said they will get back together with the Union and re-visit the job elimination language for M1. Die CastDie Cast Division has told the Union that they anticipate a substantial loss of internal work due to the fact that Model 19’s are dropping production along with some other reductions from MED. This raises their drive to bring more outside work in to replace the internal work they lost and possibly surpass the orders that they previously had. Along with this, we were informed that a strong possibility exists that the Die Cast Division will also start up a machining department. If this happens, they might be looking for some set up people that have CNC background. |
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