february - IAM Local Lodge 839

PAGE 3 FEB RU ARY 2009
President’s Corner
February 2009
We are into our second month of the New Year,
and things are moving at the Local Lodge. New
committees have been formed and will be electing
Chair and Co-Chair positions at their meetings
in February. There are still a few openings
left; if you are interested in signing up for a
committee please call or stop by the Local
Lodge.
Delegates to the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor
Federation were sworn in at the January 22,
2009 meeting. New delegates were also sworn
in at the January meeting of the Union Label
and Service Trades Council. These delegates
have begun work on the 28 th Annual Chili Feed
and Bingo fundraiser to be held on Saturday,
February 14, 2009.
District 70 Delegates took their oath of office on
Friday, February 6 th and have nominated and
elected their E-board members.
Let’s talk about layoffs and shortened work
weeks. We’ve heard the rumors going around
about how Cessna officials contacted the Union
and wanted to implement 3 day work weeks and
the union said “No”. Well, as usual, this is only
part of the story. The truth is Cessna’s bargaining
agreement does not allow for short work
weeks. The hours of work are spelled out in the
contract. Cessna was not willing to put out
fewer WARN notices if the reduced work weeks
were allowed and could not guarantee that any
jobs would be saved. Upholding the contract
and membership concerns are always of the utmost
importance.
A focal group for communication has been
formed at the Local and is meeting bi-weekly.
We are working on a “Negotiations Survival
Handbook” for 2010. The book can also be used
for family and friends who are being laid off from
one of the other aircraft facilities. The book will
contain useful information on how to prepare yourself
for negotiations, community outreach programs,
insurance and medical benefit assistance,
debt consolidation information and other helpful
hints to cope with stressful circumstances. Organizing
remains our number one priority. This focal
group creates flyers and other forms of media
to help everyone organize the non-members. This
is a top concern because we need everyone to become
a part of our membership so that we can
stand in solidarity in 2010. Videos have been created
and should be viewed on our Local Lodge
website at www.ll839.org . These videos are personal
views on why everyone should belong to our
union.
If you have questions about the union that do not
concern in-process grievances or contract questions
(which have to be handled through the Inplant
Reps), please feel free to contact me at
kpetersen@ll839.org
In Solidarity,
Kathy Petersen
P.S. To the brother at Hawker Beechcraft: please
accept my retraction about your Local not owning
a building. I stand corrected.
Call for Pictures
The Communications Focal Group is
compiling a “Negotiations Survival
Handbook” for 2010. We are searching
for pictures of the Boeing strikes of
1989 and 1995.
We are asking all of you to search your
homes to see if you have any pictures
of any of those strike activities. If you
find any, please bring them by the local. The originals
will be returned to you.
If you would like to help on this Handbook or help create
flyers for organizing and building our membership, this
group meets the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month.
The next meeting will be on February 19th at 3:45 and
lasts an hour.