news letter

December, 2005 Bedford, IN 47421 Phone #279-1113 Home Page http://www.iue-cwalocal84907.com LOCAL INTERNATIONAL NEWS Union Meeting The next regularly scheduled Union meeting will be held Wednesday, December 7, 2005 at the UAW Hall in Bedford, IN Meeting times are: Day Shift: 4:00 pm Night Shift: 1:00 am (Tuesday after work) Midnight Shift may attend either of the above meetings. From the desk of the President I understand the frustration you all are experiencing over the failure of the Arbitrator, Local, International and Company to resolve the COLA grievance. The CWA General Council, CWA Research Department, IUE-CWA Conference Board, along with Attorney Joe Alman are attempting to identify and resolve the ruling issued by Arbitrator Edwin Redner with the Company. On 12/02/05 I was advised that on or about 12/16/05 the CWA Research Department will have an accounting breakdown of the arbitration decision and that they, along with the Legal Department will proceed with the necessary actions to finally resolve the grievance. We are all looking forward to seeing this issue being settled fairly and correctly. Thank you, David Baker President IUE CWA Local 907 Scholarship Info IUE-CWA is now taking applications for its 2006-2007 scholarships. IUE-CWA offers 17 scholarships, worth between $1,000 and $3,000 to deserving members and their children and grandchildren. These are in addition to the CWA Joseph Beirne scholarships. NOTE: Applications will only be taken on-line. Anyone wishing to apply must use the following: www.iue-cwa.org in order to apply. These scholarships are a benefit of membership and should be taken advantage of. A college education is very costly, but typical scholarships often cut out deserving middle-class students because their families earn more than some arbitrary amount. These scholarships are available based on union membership and interest, not finances. They will help members to stretch their paycheck to cover all the other expenses they face. If you, your child or grandchild, plan on attending college, please apply. All applications for the 2006-2007 awards must be submitted no later than March 31, 2006. If selected as a winner, you will be required to provide a photograph of yourself and proof of GPA before a check can be issued. Again, applications will only be accepted on-line at www.iue-cwa.org. The scholarships are as follows: James B. Carey—nine $1,000 Paul Jennings—one $3,000 George Hutchens—one $1,500 David J. Fitzmaurice—one $2,000 Willie Rudd—one $1,000 Sal Ingrassia—one $2,500 Bruce Van Ess—one $2,500 Robert Livingston—two $1,500 There are different qualifications for these scholarships. A copy of the full information sheet will be posted in the Union glass bulletin boards for your information. Also, you will find all the details on the website. Take some time and check into the possibility of being qualified to apply for these scholarships. It could save you or your family some money!! IUE-CWA Fights for jobs IUE-CWA is fighting for the jobs, wages and benefits of 8,500 members working at Delphi Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Oct. 8. Currently, Delphi is using $950 million in loans to continue paying its employees and suppliers. In a major victory for IUE-CWA, the union has been named as one of only seven members of the creditors’ committee that will determine who gets paid and how much. Delphi wants to slash the number of IUE-CWA-represented workers to 3,000 through layoffs, retirements and selling or closing six of the 10 facilities where they work. “It’s going to be a tough fight,” IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said. “The bankruptcy law in this country—like our broken labor law system—favors large corporations over working families.” Clark said that makes events like International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10 especially timely. “It’s important that we stand with all of our union brothers and sisters in demanding that our laws begin to put human rights first,” he said. “We’re talking about people’s lives.” Among the draconian cuts Delphi wants: A drop in wages to $9 to $10 an hour for production workers, cuts in dental and vision coverage, reduced holiday and vacation time, workers to pick up a bigger share of health care costs and frozen accrual of service credited toward a pension as of Jan. 1, 2006. Delphi’s proposed contract also would eliminate all job security provisions, successor clauses, the job bank and any right to strike. “We will move forward cautiously and deliberately,” IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Henry Reichard said, warning the company that the end result must be “jobs worth having.” He added, “This can’t just be a wish list. Delphi has an obligation under the bankruptcy code to provide documentation.” Through its national agreement, eight local union agreements and two agreements the division holds outside of the national pact, IUW-CWA has one of the seven largest claims in the proceedings. The union has engaged additional legal counsel specializing in bankruptcy, and through the creditors’ committee, “IUE-CWA is well positioned to ensure that our members’ sacrifices to keep Delphi competitive will be heard by all the major players,” Clark said. “Contrary to popular opinion—and the media spin—Delphi’s problems cannot be laid solely at the feet of its union workers. Our story must and will be told.” Reprinted from CWA News Grievance update Second step The most recent second step grievance committee meeting was held on Thursday, December 1st, 2005. Nine grievances were resolved. There are currently about thirty grievances in the second step process. Third step The most recent third step grievance committee meeting was held on November 17th, 2005. Thirty-seven grievances were processed. There are 153 grievances left in the third step stage at this time. The next third step meeting is scheduled for December 8th, 2005. Name the newsletter We have a winner! The winner of the “Name the Newsletter” contest is Ray “Radar” Fleetwood. Congratulations Ray! The prize he received is a $40.00 gift card from K-Mart. K-Mart was chosen because of Wal-Mart’s blatant reluctance to allow union protection to its workers. Thanks to all who participated in the contest. Your input and participation is very much appreciated. The new name will show up on the header of the January 2006 newsletter. Watch for it! Debbie Daughrity presents Ray Fleetwood with a $40.00 gift card from K-Mart for the winning newsletter name. WALL OF HONOR Hopefully you have all had the opportunity to visit the Wall of Honor display on the north wall (outside the facilitators’ office) originally designed for the Veteran’s Day celebration and honor day. This is a beautiful display, which the facilitators’ put together. It has been such a success and the response has been so great that it has been decided to continue displaying the board for an additional length of time. Rex Knight has taken on the task of overseeing the board and its’ contents. Scott Barnes visited the board and expressed his appreciation and his desire to continue it for some additional time. It is always the right time to honor our veterans. If you would like to contribute a photo of a veteran to be added to the collection, you may do so by giving it to any facilitator and Rex will see that it gets put on the board. Also, if you do not want to leave that particular photo, Rex will make a copy and return the original to you and display the copy. When the board is eventually taken down, if you want your photo returned, please let the facilitators know now to make sure they are given back to you. Add a photo or just visit and admire the collection, but let’s give our veterans their due and honor them. Flu shots available for Visteon Bedford plant employees While we realize that this newsletter will be distributed in the middle of the distribution days and times, we wanted to inform you that the medical department has finally received the flu vaccines. The vaccines are available to all active employees on a first come, first serve basis. However, there are some guidelines that must be followed if you wish to receive a flu shot. You will not be able to receive your shot on Company time. You will need to go to the medical department before or after your shift, depending on the shift you work. You may have a wait time. According to Jackie Dodd, RN, Senior Occupational Health Nurse, the medical department is still understaffed. Hopefully, this problem will be resolved soon, but in the meantime…we may have to wait. The days and times the vaccines will be available are as follows: Monday, 12/05/05 and Thursday 12/08/05 from 6:30 am to 10:00 pm. Tuesday, 12/06/05 from 6:30 am to 5:00 pm. The medical department does not anticipate dispensing all the available vaccines during the above times and dates and will notify the workforce of the dates and times the remaining vaccines will be available. ELECTION COMMITTEE Under your present administration and pursuant to the CWA Constitution, the Executive Board has decided to set up an election committee to preside over future elections. The proposed plan is to have ten members on this committee, with six being the main members and four being the alternates. This position will be lost time only and all ten members will be trained in order to have consistency at our elections. If you are interested in being a member of this committee, please remove the form below, fill it out and turn it into any steward or officer before January 15, 2006. The selection of the final committee and their training will be completed in the early spring before our next election in April. ELECTION COMMITTEE Please consider me to be a member of a permanent election committee. NAME: ___________________________________ DEPARTMENT: ___________________________ SHIFT: ___________________________________ Completed forms may be given to your Shop Steward or any other Officer of the Local. Job tracker Is your community losing jobs overseas? Working families now have a first-of-its-kind tool to determine which companies in their communities are exporting jobs with a new online interactive database service by WORKING AMERICA, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, Job Tracker enables visitors to access information on more than 200,000 U.S. corporations and their subsidiaries reported to have moved jobs overseas and can search the database by company name, ZIP code or industry. Within seconds, detailed results are culled from a database that draws from, more than a dozen sources, including U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance records. Visit Job Tracker at www.workingamerica.org. Happy holidays Christmas is just around the corner! Everyone is busy doing his or her last minute shopping, greeting long-lost family, etc. Don’t get so caught up in what you are doing that you forget about those around you. The Officers of our Local, joined with the staff of our newsletter would like to take the time to wish each and every one of you a happy and safe holiday season.