SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER
Union Membership Meeting Notice
~Thursday, September 14, 2006, at 7:30PM in Union Hall,
~Friday, September 15, 2006, at 10:00AM in the Union Office,
~Tuesday, September 19, 2006, at 7:30PM
~Executive Board
3049 South 36TH ST (rear of Bldg) (Union Hall Map)
6923 Lakewood Dr W, B-1
Longshoreman’s Hall, 627 14th AVE (Longview) (Longshoreman's Hall Map)
Thursday, September 7, 2006, at 3:00PM (Union Office)
Sonya Ogden, Rec.Sec./Newsletter Editor
Pattie Clark, Union Sec./Online Newsletter Editor
President’s Report
Isaac O. Tate, President/B.A.
president@atu758.org
Update on Union Issues: As your President/Business Agent I have been swamped this last month with the relocation of the Union office and the fall-out from the Pierce Transit Management shake-up, member representation meetings, meetings with Management regarding general working conditions that affect all members, and contract negotiation meetings for our members in the Longview/Kelso area whom are employed by Paratransit Services Bremerton to the south of us. However it is my intent to address the following issues at the September 12, 2006 Labor/Management meeting: No smoking signage, photo infractions (discipline), random drug testing record keeping and selection process, Pierce Transits ride around policy (operator assault), Pierce Transits leave of absence policy and possible implementation of “dress down” Fridays. We’ll keep you posted- Be Safe.
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Lane Chase, Vice President/A.B.A.
V.president@atu758.org
The New Office Well, we are almost completely moved to the new office. There have been a number of hurdles to overcome, in fact there are still several we are working on. Probably the most vexing one is since the move our computer network seems to have a mind of its own. Some of you may be asking why new offices? Well there were a number of reasons for this move. The reasons were not only financial, but also included considerations for demands for space and maintenance. The draw backs of the old office began to far outweigh the reasons for staying. Without getting to technical the landlord was in the process of changing how our lease would be structured, (from modified gross to triple net) which would have resulted in a significant increase in out rent, and cost to our members. Also the landlord was also demanding a sizable security deposit after we had been there over 15 years without one and did not want to make any repairs or improvements to the space we had. An example of his not making repairs, it took four months to get a light repaired and over two months to get the heater fixed. The new offices became available and the Executive Board approved moving forward with purchase of the new office. This action by the Executive Board will have several advantages for our membership:
- The new offices will provide the local with equity instead of a pile of receipts.
- Paying off our own property makes us more financially stable.
- By purchasing our non-profit status should make us property tax exempt and produce a savings.
- The new office puts our payments at a fixed amount instead of an ever increasing one.
- After initial purchase/setup costs, the price of buying becomes more affordable as time goes by.
- The cost of renting always increases and you are at the mercy of the landlord.
- The new office has 800 square feet of space upstairs for future growth with 0 additional purchase cost.
- All exterior maintenance is included with the purchase of the office.
These are some of the reasons for making the move. One of the main responsibilities of the Executive Board is to supervise and direct the management of the union. The Executive Board made this move for the benefit and future of you the members.
ASRB: Accident Safety Review Board meets on the 20th of this month and the fair is also happening. So if you’re planning on attending the review you should request time off early. If you can’t attend you may want to think about any additional info you might want presented and get it submitted.
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Sonya Ogden
Recording SecretaryMove to “Your” new Union office
This last month has been very busy with just the normal Union activities and in addition we moved the Union office to a new location. There was much discussion and looking at both rentals, lease agreements and the possibility of purchasing a place of our own. The place we were, wanted to raise the rent to a level that did not reflect the facility. The Management at the Gravelly Lake office was not keeping up the building, with no improvements in years. We had leaky ceilings, plumbing problems and most of all the steps leading up to the second floor were cracking and separating from the concrete columns. It was time to move on. A place was found and was purchased on your behalf and for the betterment of all of us. The new location is at 6923 Lakewood DR W B-1 Tacoma, WA 98467. The new office phone number is 253-474-3123, all cell phone numbers remain the same. For Pierce Transit members the office is on the 220 route, two blocks north of the intersection at 74th and Lakewood DR, across the street from the Meadowpark Golf course. For members coming from the south of I-5, you need to take the 74th ST exit and go left/west to Lakewood DR then take a right and we are two blocks on the right. It is the responsibility of all Union Officers to do what is best for members as a whole. The General Officers and the E-Board Officers of your local were in concurrence on the benefit in purchasing of this property. Look for information to come regarding an open house.
WSLC On August 21st thru 24th, 2006 I attended the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) with E-Board Officers Lamarr Bond and Deborah Brown in Wenatchee, Washington. The convention opened up with President Rick Bender speaking on the recovery of losing Unions last year at the AFL-CIO convention due to some unions splitting off. Last year the WSLC lost 30% of the budget due to the split. President Bender stated that the budget was almost 100% recovered. There were some unions that still have yet to rejoin or will not rejoin the WSLC. This years WSLC convention theme was Opportunity Knocks, which is tied into the 2006 Legislative session coming up in the fall.
I attended the workshop on Organizing & Wal-Mart. The meeting was focused on why Wal-Mart needs to change its business practices. The one goal was to state that Wal-Mart shoppers are not bad they just need to be informed of the way Wal-Mart runs its business and thru information they can make choices and influence Wal-Mart owners and managers on ways to change their business practices. Wal-Mart is guilty of leaving thousands of families and children without company health care, discrimination of women (over 2 million women are involved in a discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart), Wal-Mart is guilty of violating child labor laws and paying poverty-level wages, Wal-Mart still continues to exploit undocumented workers and last Wal-Mart negatively impacts our communities, especially in small towns where they lose up to 47% of their retail trade and that the community wages in that area decline at least 5% for all workers. Wal-Mart continues to harass and/or closes locations that attempt to organize a Union here in North America, but has recognized China’s Labor Unions which is a major competitor with our higher wage manufacturing jobs. There are reasons why the merchandise, i.e. toys at Wal-Mart is so inexpensive. They are mainly manufactured in China where the labor there is so easily controlled and taken advantage of. Please visit the website www.wakeupwalmart.com to learn more.
Wednesday the session was dedicated to initiatives and resolution discussion and voting. All proposed resolutions that were discussed at the convention were voted in favor of supporting. Resolutions are important to all state union workers. The resolutions if passed are the issues that the leaders of the WSLC advocate in Olympia this coming fall on our behalf. The one resolution that was submitted by ATU L-587 is called Support “Transit Now”. This resolution was proposed based on King County Executive Ron Sims who has proposed a one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) increase in sales tax in King County to support and increase transit services. Another resolution that is important to all of us is the regarding the “Rule of 90”, which would allow TRS, PERS and SERS Plans II and III members to retire, without penalty, if their years of service and age add up to 90.
The following initiatives were discussed and all were recommended to vote NO from the WSLC: I-917, I-920 and I-933. All three of these initiatives if passed would have a negative impact on Washington State Union workers. I-917 is being promoted by our “friend” Tim Eyman. If I-917 passes nearly $3 billion in transportation funding for much needed congestion relief and safety projects across the state would be eliminated. I-917 is the one initiative that would affect Transit workers. For more information on all the initiatives please visit the WSLC website at www.wslc.org or any of the above mentioned items will be available in the monthly correspondence which will be present at the September Union cycle of meetings.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Executive Board Report Come One Come All join our ATU - 758 Women’s Caucu
Sister Ginny Stevens and I are establishing a Women’s Caucus here at ATU 758. We invite all our brothers and sisters interested in helping and dealing with women’s issues at this local to come and join us. I have written the by-laws in a draft form to be reviewed and approved by ATU 758 elected Officers and Executive board. Our meetings will be held on the first Monday evening of every other month. When approved by this local’s officers the first meeting will be scheduled for October 2, 2006 at a place and time yet to be determined. If you are interested in joining us please write your name and contact information on the sign up sheet that will be posted on the union bulletin boards in buildings 4, 5 and in the Maintenance lunch room. Thanks to all those already interested, we hope to see more.
The 2006 Convention of the WSLC theme this year was Opportunity Knocks. President Rick Bender, Secretary-Treasurer Al Link, all the officers and staff of the WSLC AFL-CIO did a great job of organizing and running this Constitutional convention. The convention was held in the beautiful, quaint town of Wenatchee WA. Delegates from all over the state and Canada were present representing unions and trades from public transportation (ATU had a strong delegation presence) to health care, state workers, construction, engineering, electrical, fire fighters and many more. One of the key note speakers was Senator Maria Cantwell who supports labor and working families as proved by her voting record and support for all of us. There were many resolutions presented and passed. There were several very informative work shops covering a variety of topics from L&I, Organizing Wal-Mart, Creating Good Union Jobs and more! I hope all of our brothers and sisters are registered to vote and that each one of us exercises our rights to vote in this country. Here are some websites you can check out to see some of the issues that will be on the ballots as initiatives that are not in the best interest of all who live and work in WA State. Please check these sites out and get as much info as you can so you will be an informed voter.
I-933 www.NOon933.org This initiative would allow anyone to build anything they want anywhere they want and if denied they would be compensated by local governments with our tax dollars. It sounds good on paper but read all of it. If a commercial business purchased property next to your home they could establish a fast food restaurant, grocery store, gas station etc. Please check this out.
I-920 this measure would repeal WA State laws imposing tax, currently dedicated for the education legacy trust fund, on transfers of estate of persons dying on or after the effective date of this measure. It would eliminate 7900 student slots in our colleges and universities and eliminate financial aid. For more information contact rachelbianchi@comcast.net
I-917 Tim Eyman is back trying once again to put a $30.00 cap on vehicle registration fees. This measure would limit vehicle registration charges to $30.00 per year...Regional transit authorities would be required to retire outstanding bonds pledging motor vehicle taxes as security for repayment. This is not good for Public Transportation. Don’t put your job in jeopardy. Vote no on I-917. Check out info@no917.orgDeborah E. Brown, Executive Board Officer-Service Supervisor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This year the 2006 Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) conference was in Wenatchee. The Theme was “Opportunity Knocks”. There were many great speakers; all from Washington, except for a few. Governor Christine Gregoire was unable to attend because of a scheduled family vacation. A letter was read from her office expressing her greetings. The conference was August 21-24; the topics discussed were President Bush, congress, Washington D.C., COPE, unemployment, labor, politics, social security, work shops, committees, resolutions (the delegates vote on these), construction trades and health care.
Each day started promptly with Flag Salute and Invocation. On the first day Mayor Dennis Johnson spoke and welcomed us to Wenatchee. He was followed by many other speakers. I volunteered for the grievance committee; however, there were no grievances for this conference because everything ran smooth. I was chosen for an escort with 19 others for 8th district candidate, Darcy Burner (D). She is running for State Representative for the 8th district. The 8th district is in Benton County. On the second day there were more speakers, followed by workshops. On the final day, we had more speakers followed by resolutions. The main event speaker in the evening was U.S. Senator Marie Cantwell. She spoke about a lot of issues including social security and her up coming re-election. After she left the podium, I met with her in the lobby to extend my greetings. For entertainment, our final speaker was a comedian from San Francisco, Will Durst.
This was an excellent conference. I was able to network with a lot of other delegates from other unions and share ideals. There were 300 delegates and 100 guests for a total of 400 that attended this conference.
Other News: Jerry Beckendorf is having his third annual Bowling Fundraiser on Sunday, September 24th 1 to 4pm at Pacific Lanes 7015 South D ST; $50.00 per bowler includes three games of bowling, shoes, food and beverages at the event. For more information call Nadine Glass at (253) 272-4263. I also have some registration forms for those who are interested.
Lamarr Bond, Executive Board Officer, Position I
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Grievance Update Syl Pelesasa-grievance settled “all” Operators “late” date of incident-Narrows Bridge shutdown-lates/misses was removed: Thank you to sister Pelesasa for making this possible.
Rex Longen-Arbitrator “denied” our grievance-have yet to receive decision documentation-will follow-up upon receipt. Decision final.
In Memory Retired Transit Operator Felix Manzanares, Passed away September 4, 2006.