Wednesday, May 20, 2015

State of the Union May 20, 2015

There will be Community Services meetings Thursday, May 21 in the cafeteria. Times are 1:30 pm for 2nd shift, 3:15 pm for 1st shift and 9:30 pm for 3rd shift. All are welcome to attend.

· It has been decided that the VAP (overnight drive) program will be run the following way: All 3 shifts will have one vehicle each month, rotating them from one shift to another. For example, in May 1st shift will have the Canyon, 2nd shift will have the Colorado and 3rd shift will have the Cadillac ATS. In July the vehicles will rotate to the next shift, and then again in August. So ALL shifts should be submitting entry forms (please indicate your preference, if you have one, by marking the vehicles 1 through 3). The deadline for entries is Thursday May 28. You can submit your entries in the drop box in the cafeteria. Entry forms are located there as well. In addition, we will raffle off the vehicles on the weekends to raise money for charities such as Habitat for Humanity. Details will be communicated as soon as they are finalized. We encourage everyone to participate as this is a great chance for you to drive our product and show it off to family and friends.

· We hope everyone got a chance to see the great coverage the plant got from KSDK on May 7. Great job by everyone involved in this project, and a special thanks to the Local 2250 members who agreed to be featured in this broadcast. You represented all of us well. We were told that the coverage, during the crucial May sweeps time period, had great ratings. We would also like to give a shout out to reporters Pat McGonigle and Ryan Dean, who kept the stories positive and the focus on the workers.

None of this happened by accident. The behind the scenes work was handled by craftsmen represented by IBEW Local 4. Like many of us, you may have heard their advertising while listening to the Cardinal baseball games on KMOX recently. A quick look at their website, turnoffKSDK.com tells what our brothers and sisters at Local 4 are up against. They have been without a contract since November 2013. Prior to that, in 2009, they had taken a 10% pay cut and had gotten no raises since. Recent efforts at reaching an agreement have proved fruitless. In fact, Gannett recently issued their “last, best offer” which proposed an ongoing pay freeze and elimination of all job assignments (we would call them classifications). This offer was unanimously rejected by the membership. Mediation awaits.

We mention all of this because, as fellow Union brothers and sisters, they deserve any help we can offer. Specifically, we can write letters to the station or call on their behalf and explain to them that we stand in solidarity with the IBEW and our loyalty as viewers will change if their bargaining approach does not.
If you wish to show your support you can write to:
Marv Danielski
KSDK
1000 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63101


You can also call 314-421-5055 and ask for Mr. Danielski (he is the station manager). You probably won’t get connected but take the opportunity and tell them that you will be switching local stations if Gannett/KSDK does not bargain in good faith with these skilled men and women that make their broadcasts possible.

· From the Detroit Free Press: Cindy Estrada's journey has taken her from the dusty tomato fields of central California to the bargaining table where the UAW and General Motors will forge the future of about 48,500 U.S. workers. Estrada is a daughter of southwest Detroit and Dearborn. She traces her fervor for workplace issues to conversations of former Cadillac Fleetwood workers she overheard at her father's Michigan Avenue bar. "It was a big part of my life," she said when asked about Leroy's U.S. Star Bar. "I heard many stories of how hard work was in those plants. My uncles worked in some of them."
"We just had a good middle-class life. We didn't have an extravagant life," Cindy Estrada said. "I remember my mom and dad being pretty happy. They helped us do things we wanted to do."
Two experiences shaped her pride in being a young Latina. Next door to the bar was the United Farm Workers' grape boycott office that connected her to her grandparents' experience. She would learn her early organizing lessons at the side of two of Cesar Chavez's closest disciples.
But Mexican Industries is where her UAW career began. The UAW launched what would become a futile organizing campaign. In June 1995, workers who were then making an average of $7 an hour, rejected the UAW by a 623-265 vote. "We lost plain and simple," Estrada said. It was the third failed attempt to organize.
In late 2013 and 2014, Estrada engaged in difficult negotiations covering 17,000 UAW-represented state workers. The talks came less than a year after the Republican Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Snyder signed Michigan's right-to-work law.
Bargaining broke down, primarily over terms of state workers' health care coverage. In January 2014 the state civil service commission forced both sides to accept a two-year contract with 2% raises each year, a 0.5% lump-sum payment in year one, and a standardized health care plan that raised some workers' copays and deductibles.
Estrada acknowledges there was tension during those talks, but she said the UAW tried to emphasize that it was interested in finding more efficient ways to deliver state services without slashing jobs, wages and benefits.
"I've never seen Cindy lose her temper, but she'll get angry about what she perceives as workplace injustice," said former UAW President Bob King. "She's open and flexible about finding creative solutions, but if a company is dishonest or abusive, they've got a real fight on their hands with her."
Marty Bryant, a former Dana executive who is now CEO of a North Carolina-based maker of waste handling and recycling equipment, sat across the table from Estrada during a 2010 negotiation that ended in a contract covering more than 3,000 Dana workers.
"Cindy's maybe 5 feet 2, but she can hold her own," Bryant said. "She was committed to her mission that working people deserve to make enough money to live on. At the same time she never gave the impression she was out to injure the company.
"When no one was watching or in heat of bargaining she was always the same person."
She is now on a bigger stage. Last June, UAW President Dennis Williams assigned her to lead negotiations with GM. Her success ultimately will be measured by the 48,500 UAW members at the nation's largest automaker.
Her counterpart across the table will be Rex Blackwell, a 31-year veteran of GM labor relations staff. But don't underestimate the relationship evolving between Estrada and GM CEO Barra. They meet at least once every month or six weeks, Estrada said.
Estrada spoke highly of the CEO's management style and vision. "She really does want to work on changing the culture," Estrada said. "She's a problem solver and a very smart woman. So far, my experience with her has been nothing but positive."
Estrada who lives in Whitmore Lake with her husband, retired UAW official Frank White, and twin 11-year-old sons Jason and Jesse, draws a parallel between her job as mother and her role with the UAW.
"Every time I make a decision in my house without involving my family, yes, it's easier in the short run, but in the long run it doesn't lead to building of a strong healthy family," she said. "It's the same thing in a workplace. If management is always making decisions absent workers, they're not always the best decision and it doesn't promote a healthy environment."

Tom Brune
UAW Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119

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