Thursday August 17, 2006 Northwest Apologizes for Insulting Employees
As if losing your job wasn’t bad enough, Northwest Airlines added salt to the wounds of IAM members facing furlough by handing about 60 employees a booklet containing an inconsiderate list of ideas on how to save money while they’re out of work. District 190 Organizing Drive Leads to First Contract
District Lodge 190 in Oakland, CA successfully concluded negotiations on a first contract for ten new members at Hedricks Collision Center near Fresno, CA. Wal-Mart Stumping for Corporate-Friendly Republicans
Looking to ensure Republicans continue to look out for their best interests, corporate giant Wal-Mart is mailing 18,000 “voter guides” to its employees in Iowa, which holds the first presidential primary in 2008. The guide attacks a number of potential Democratic candidates for president who continue to support groups that oppose Wal-Mart’s everyday low wages and dismal treatment of their employees. Machinists At Freightliner Win Retraining BenefitsLaid off Machinists at Freightliner LLC in Portland recently won government retraining benefits after Machinists District Lodge 24 representative Joe Kear petitioned the U.S. Department of Labor to certify that a trade-related lay-off had occurred.Shortly after 130 Machinists were laid off at the truck manufacturing plant three days before Christmas 2005, workers saw work moving to a Freightliner plant in Santiago Tianguistenco, an industrial park near Mexico City, Mexico. Although all workers who were laid off have since returned to work, the Labor Department certification means that workers are entitled to benefits for any layoffs that occur up to two years after certification -- through April 6, 2008. If layoffs occur again, workers would get a number of retraining benefits with no delay. Benefits include job counseling, up to two years of unemployment insurance benefits, a health care tax credit that pays two-thirds the cost of COBRA health insurance, a moving allowance if the worker needs to relocate to get a job and up to $20,000 to pay for school or up to $ 10,000 in wage subsidy to employers willing to do on-the-job training.
Vancouver Machinists Set to Strike at Vancouver AirportWith a 98 percent strike vote, IAM Local Lodge 16 members are ready to strike at Vancouver International Airport due to the employer’s unwillingness to bargain for a first contract.“If the employer continues to evade bargaining, all 250 members of IAMAW Local Lodge 16 are prepared to go on strike,” said Mike Clegg, District Lodge 140 General Chair. “We’ve been trying to bargain for the better part of 12 months, but have seen no willingness from Securiguard Services Inc. that they are ready to meet with us,” he said. Local Lodge 16 members provide security services around the perimeter of the airport, which includes checking suspicious packaged items and validating the identity of airport personnel to prevent any non-employee intrusions. The IAM applied for certification for the 250 workers in April 2005. The company fought the process tooth and nail until the workers were granted representation in March 2006. The same has held true for the bargaining process. Issues being brought forward by the Union are scheduling, working conditions, shift preferences and favoritism – the same issues which caused the workers to seek a union. |