Taking On Taking On - Teamsters Local 25

More documents

Recommendations

Info

1279_Local25_Spring07.qxp 4/6/07 11:21 AM Page 6 Business Agent Reports classifications. The members voted for the proposed changes and the company has signed off on these changes. I would like to thank Chief Steward Lenny Campbell and all of the other stewards who took part in this process. They do a great job policing the contract. At UPS, I have been attending the supplemental negotiations along with President O’Brien. As you all know, it’s a battle every day with UPS. Why would negotiations be any different? I will say that the union panel of negotiators is standing together and will fight for what the members deserve. I will be attending the International Union’s Business Agent Skills In Survival training program in Washington, D.C. in April and hope to get some great training and skills to apply in my job going forward. I would like to end my report by thanking all my stewards and all stewards in this local. You are on the front lines daily policing our contracts and without you we could not survive. Business Agent Tom Mari I will be starting contract negotiations with the Town of Boxford Police Department, DSM NeoResins, Brookline 911 and the Somerville Housing Authority Police Department. I am currently in negotiations with Goodyear Tire at its locations in Stoneham and Malden. These negotiations have been difficult because the company wants to take our members out of the Teamsters health and welfare funds and put them in the company plan, which is an extremely substandard plan. The committee and I have made it very clear to the company that we will accept nothing less than Teamsters Local 25 health and welfare plan. We did this by taking a unanimous strike-authorization vote. I commend the members for stepping up to the plate during this process. I also have ongoing negotiations with Tewksbury nurses and the Tewksbury administrators, UMass Boston Police and UMass Lowell Police. At DHL, once again the company has had to pay approximately $2,000 in grievances for layoff call-back violations. These grievances should be minimized after the annual bid was finished because most of the laid off members have been recalled to full-duty status. The City of Cambridge and I have settled an arbitration case. The City violated the contract by hiring someone off the street before hiring from within. The member who was bypassed is being promoted to the same job title, same pay, and same hours as the job she originally applied for. The best part of her new job is that it had been a nonunion position, but is now a Teamsters Local 25 job. I want to thank all my stewards for doing a great job every day in the workplace. Business Agent Robert Fabrizio Negotiations for Kuehne + Nagel in Franklin, Massachusetts, one of the world’s leading logistics providers, has concluded with a new three-year contract that was ratified on January 18, 2007, by a unanimous vote. The members are pleased that after five months of tough negotiations, they finally have a contract they can work with, and can now move forward. A new three-year contract for Signature Flight out of Boston’s Logan Airport, which services all of the private aircraft that come into Boston, was ratified on January 13, 2007, by a 21- 3 vote. The contract includes increases in wages, better health care coverage, a new shift differential and a signing bonus. I have several contracts that are coming up for negotiations that expire this June. I had a proposal meeting in mid- March for Lindenmeyr Munroe in Franklin, Massachusetts. Later in March, I had a proposal meeting for Milton-Cat in Milford, Massachusetts. I have several more contracts that need to be negotiated. One is the Medford Public School Security Guards, which expires at the end of June. Another is a first-time contract for the Town of Cohasset 911 dispatchers. I look forward to working with the members as I negotiate these contracts. I, along with several members of the maintenance department and some stewards of Stop & Shop in Freetown, Massachusetts, have started talks with the company regarding the H.K. Crane work, which is being outsourced. The members of the maintenance department were promised the work of maintaining the cranes when the Freetown facility was being built, and after the one-year warranty expired, our members and I feel the company should fulfill its promise. I have several arbitration cases going forward. One is with a fired Stop & Shop employee, and three cases involving Joint Venture (the Ride). Two of those cases involve three-day suspensions that the union feels were unjust, and the other involves a member who was terminated after coming back 4 | The SPOKESMAN | SPRING 2007 | www.teamsterslocal25.com
1279_Local25_Spring07.qxp 4/6/07 11:21 AM Page 7 from an injury. I would like to take this time to thank Steward Peter Ouillette from Milton-Cat, and Dave Wilbur, steward from Lindenmeyr Munroe, for the leadership that they demonstrate on a daily basis. I look forward to working with both of them in their upcoming contract negotiations. Business Agent Dave Pietroforte Negotiations are ongoing with the Town of Acton 911 dispatchers. The first proposal meeting was held the week of March 8, and dates are being sent out for the start of negotiations. GD Mathews has finally sent out the retroactive checks for four of our members dating back almost two years. The retroactive pay totaled more than $4,000. Negotiations are under way for the Produce Center, which includes nine companies. The first proposal was held in early March. Dates have been sent out to start talks with the company. At U.S. Foods in Everett, Massachusetts, Chief Steward Paul Mathi and I settled three arbitration cases and have had them withdrawn. I continue to work closely with all my stewards at U.S. Foods and we have had great results because of this. Thanks also to Joe Cheever, John Evans and Don Leboe. Costa Fruit has had many issues over the past month. My stewards and I are working together to fight hard on the members behalf. This includes taking on grievances and problems in the workplace. I thank them all for their support. The City of Everett has had many issues concerning grievances and problems in the workplace. My four stewards and I are working very hard to educate our members on the contract and to let them know we are all together when they need us. We had seven women from the City of Everett file grievances with the union about time owed them when they were recalled back from their layoffs. They were not put back to their original start dates. Thanks to the workers’ persistence, the City agreed to put them all back to their correct date of hire. All seven received four to seven months in accrued time for vacation because of this. I thank them all for their help. I would like to welcome two of my new stewards from the city of Everett, Paul Pasquariello at facilities, and Beth There Is Power In A Union There is power in a factory, power in the land, power in the hands of a worker But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand There is power in a Union Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers' blood The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud War has always been the bosses' way, sir The Union forever defending our rights Down with the blackleg, all workers unite With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands There is power in a Union Now I long for the morning that they realize brutality and unjust laws can not defeat us But who'll defend the workers who cannot organize When the bosses send their lackies out to cheat us ? Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child There is power in a Union By: Billy Bragg Frongillo at 911. At Ris Paper, with the help of my steward Bob Dean, everything is running smoothly with few problems. I want to welcome Dan Dellucci, who was elected alternate steward at Ris Paper. Congratulations, Dan! www.teamsterslocal25.com | SPRING 2007 | The SPOKESMAN | 5
Page 1 and 2: 1279_Local25_Spring07.qxp 4/6/07 11
Page 5: 1279_Local25_Spring07.qxp 4/6/07 11

Taking On Taking On - Teamsters Local 25

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?