May 2006
W.O.R.M. Award
First of all, let me apologize, one of our union members pointed out that I might have implicated a union member in last months WORM. As you may have recalled, I might have said you have to be on staff. Well, not true if you are a WORM, or you are doing something wormy. I will not discriminate, union or staff! This applies to last month or any other month
Now, on with the award.... This months winner is safety, or, should I say lack there of? The companys lack of safety, I guess, is made up for, by having burgers and safety dollars instead of fixing what is wrong.
The most recent and blatant was the lockout. The reason I'm going back to this, it was brought up at our safety meeting and what was happening with it. I said it was pretty much done but the company wrote something in the investigation that should not be there, and I quote "The lockout board was too easily defeated."
I was there when people off of JHS were telling the company that this was wrong, the response was "If the board was harder to defeat, maybe he would have thought about the lockout and not defeated it"
Well, I can defeat anthing you give me if I have the time. The reason for a lockout board is not so the lockout cannot be defeated, it is to show people that the equipment is being worked on. What did they do here when there was just the tagging system?
From what everyone told me, it was safer than what we have now, so why don't we go back to it? The reason the company won't go back to the tagging system is, some of the people on staff would defeat the system all of the time!
Walkway: When I was on JHS around 2 years ago we were talking about it then, not much has changed. The company put up blocks instead of fixing the real problem, which is front of protection, and in the parking lot. What most employees wanted was the old walkway back, where traficc could sand and clean it all the time. This costs money, and the bricks are probably cheaper, but the real problem is still there.
There is so little money for safety that a Millwright safety officer had to buy sausage rolls for his crew, with his own money. The company told him they were too expensive. Well, maintenance does not get meals, but OPs do. The company is just too cheap when it comes to maintenance.
Smoking: Again the company is wasting their energy coming to this. Instead of focusing their energy on real safety issues, they are attacking smoking. The company has even gone as far to say to their supervisors that if they do not report people smoking, they will be disciplined instead of the employee. There are worse hazards out there that they are not addressing, like all the pipes spraying crap all over the place. There are more hazards, all you have to do is look around, they are not hard to find.Last week we had burgers, and in the past most people have had boogie bucks. These things are nice, but hopefully people are smart enough not to get their silence taken from them for so little. I myself have taken both the burgers and the bucks, but this will NOT buy my silence.
In closing, I would like to say this will be the last W.O.R.M. because of increasing company pressure (you can put 2 and 2 together). I would also like to apologize for any remarks that I may have said that offended anyone!
Standing Committee by Paddy Nearing
Old Business:
Code of Ethics: Paddy to take the companies proposal to executive, and get back to the company with the resolve.
Kraft mill shift start time: willl be taken to the executive metting before signing off.
Lagger Apprenticeship: too late for apprentice, the company will have to hire a journeyman when the time comes.
New Business
OT equilization IRD: IRD millwrights are asked to do M.W. work, but M.W. is not asked to do IRD. Company should train the other M.Ws to do IRD. Training for IRD will require a test to qualify, and the company is going to develop a schedule.
DOILs: union wants company to follow the collective agreement, Pg 122-123 Article XVII C-2
Pay into pension for people on union business Company to check and get back to the union
Union meeting Old Business Pulp Trigger: proposal from the company on how the fund should be handled. The union inoformed the company there is no proposal, it is part of the collective agreement.
Barry Slater: company agreed to full floaters, vacation pay and benifits (originally 1/2 for floaters and vacation). Union to see if BArry will get full pension under this new proposal from the company.
COE: the company originally gave the union a proposal for $500/yr for 5 years. The union got a new letter from the company for $5000 for the 5 years (after negotiations). The union has asked for the company to make 2 cheques, 1 for the pension fund (99%) and 1 for the local (1%). Motion to accept:passed.
Committee Reports
Apprenticeship Selection: 2 people have applied for the carpenter apprenticeship. The union asked about the apprenticeship and I was told testing should start on May 12/06.New Business
Retiring People:Jaako the Machinist(I am not trying to spell his last name!), Ron Sherman and maybe THE BEAR(I am not sure)
BC Federation Conference: move to take no action: passed
WCB Regulation Changes: there was a recommendation from Ken Erb to send someone to this conference in Prince George on Monday, May 17th. There are supposed to be some big changes. Motion to accept:passed.
Convention call for Vancouver:Convention is on October 15-19. Motion to send max. 2 people to the CEP convention: passed.
Bylaw cahnge to maternity leave (if passed by the national): motion to give Sharon D. her dues back for maternity leave. Motion passed.
Janitor: the company asked the union for a student janitor (2 turned down the job before the 3rd accepted the temporary job). The company asked the union for this, because of a temporary opening. The union agreed.
Meeting adjourned