Rex Longen: Arbitration, second round of meetings is scheduled for April 3rd and 4th, 2006.
New Pierce Transit CEO candidate forum will be Thursday, February 9, 2006 from 8:30 am to 3:20 pm. Come meet the new CEO candidates in the Rainier Room.
Shop Steward Training: A.T.U. Local 587 in Seattle is holding new Shop Steward Training for new Stewards. They will be held February 16th and 17th, 2006 at the Union office in Seattle, 9 am to 5 pm. If interested in attending, please contact the Union office at 253-588-3651 by Thursday, February 9, 2006.
Due to attending the A.T.U. Northwest Conference this last weekend in Phoenix, Arizona and then coming back and catching up on local issues, I was unable to compile an extensive newsletter report. Please look for more information from me in the March newsletter.
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Don McKnight
Financial Secretary/Treasurer
I have been very busy in 2005 learning my new duties as Financial Secretary and trying to provide the type of accounting documentation you desire to give you a better perspective of our finances. January is a month of taxes and audit. If you think doing your own income taxes is taxing try adding the local’s taxes to your own. It is both trying and challenging. Our local is in the middle of our annual audit so last years books are with the auditor now. Finances can get kind of dry and boring. There really isn’t much I could share with you specific to our finances in this forum. Feel free to ask me in person about the specifics or better yet attend one of our Union meetings and take a look at the reports. While you’re at it bring another member with you. It’s your Union and your money, get INVOLVED!
As your Financial Secretary/Treasurer as well as a PT supervisor I’m frequently torn by incidents taking place in our working environment. The discipline really gets tough to take because on one side I will always advocate for our member but on the other side as a supervisor I also have a job to do. To that end I’ve decided to add a piece to my report called “Prevent the Discipline”. I do not intend this article to be another company publication or lecture but my desire is to educate our members about current discipline trends in an attempt to keep the disciplines to a minimum. Some times the discipline comes out of confusion because we do the same thing different ways depending on different circumstances. Let’s turn the Asst. Managers (and Union Officers) into the Maytag man with nothing to do in the way of disciplines.
Prevent the Discipline
Vehicle Securement: The only place Operators are allowed to step off the coach while it is running is in the bus lot while you’re with the coach. It doesn’t matter if you’re within 8 feet outside the bus lot.
If you step off the coach to adjust your mirror, restart a stopped wiper blade our empty your trashcan you are subject to be disciplined. Let’s stop this form of discipline from happening in the future. Discipline costs us all time, money and grief.
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Sonya Ogden
Recording Secretary
Attendance Award
Congratulations to Retired Operator Walt Waisath who is the winner of the 2005 Union Attendance Meeting award. Although Walt is a retiree, he is very active and regularly attends Union meetings and is the one of the delegates for your local to the Pierce County Central Labor Council (PCCLC), plus he volunteers his time to help me out at voting times. Every January at the charter PM meeting (the second Thursday of every month) we do a drawing for the yearly attendance award. I hand write every member’s name on a slip of paper who has attended a Union meeting the previous year, put it in a bag and then I have a member come up and draw out a name.
Did you know that we also have a monthly $50.00 drawing for members who attend the monthly meeting? If we have a quorum that month, at the next E-Board meeting I will have a drawing for $50.00 to a member who attended the previous month’s meeting. What is a quorum? Per your local’s by-laws page 11 article 10 section 2: An accumulative total of twenty (20) members from both the Thursday charter meeting and the subsequent Friday and Tuesday meeting in Longview to include the presiding Officers, shall constitute a quorum to conduct business of the local Union. How often do we have a quorum? Basically only during election and contract times. It is kind of like Easter and Christmas church goers, only go during major events. All other times we do not normally have a quorum and the E-Board recommendations that were given at the E-Board meeting prior to the Thursday night charter meeting are passed.
Operations Commitment
Thru the 2005 contract negotiations and the Joint Labor Management meetings it is my understanding that Pierce Transit has committed resources the next couple of years to “fixing the system”. As an Operator you know the system has problems. Through customer complaints, Operator’s filling out incident reports and/or the golden rod scheduling/route forms and the continuing voice of the Union, Pierce Transit has realized that there are problems and issues that need to be addressed.
With the new shake-up coming up, it is very important that you continue to fill out the required forms for suggestions and/or problems with the routes and schedules. Instead of just complaining about the problems with the system, please address your concerns with the routes and schedules thru the proper channels. Pierce Transit needs it in writing. Please take the time to fill out a golden rod colored schedule/route forms (available on Operators lobby wall), or an incident report and you can also take your paddle and make a copy of it at any of Transit’s copier machines, make corrections and/or suggestions on it, attach it to an incident report turn it in and get paid for it. If you want to see changes for the better, please take the time to contribute suggestions and your concerns.
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Executive Board Report
Unions Held Steady in 2005: In 2005, 12.5 percent of U.S. workers were Union members, unchanged from the previous year. The unionization rate for government workers was 36.5 percent in 2005, essentially unchanged from 36.4 percent the previous year, while the rate for private-sector workers was 7.8 percent in 2005, compared with 7.9 percent in 2004. Overall, the number of union members grew to 15.7 million in 2005, up from 15.5 million the prior year, as the U.S. economy added more than two million workers (Source the Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2006).
Unions Rejoin Local Councils: Last summer, a group of Unions broke away from the American Federal Legislator Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) to form a rival labor federation, called “Change to Win Coalition”- a group vowing to focus more on organizing something they say the AFL-CIO hasn’t done. Recently, Unions that split from the AFL-CIO are starting to rejoin. Rejoining is a hope of being politically more effective in larger numbers.
The return of the Unions that split is critical to the health of area and state labor councils, which represent labor at the legislative levels, provide Unions with services ranging from help with organizing to support during strikes. This legislative session, the Washington State Labor Council’s (WSLC) agenda includes requiring large employers to provide health insurance and championing higher unemployment insurance benefits. (Source the News Tribune, January 20, 2006)
Upcoming Dates/Events
- Feb 1-5 Tacoma Home and Garden Show (253) 759-2121
- Feb 4 Lunar New Year Asian Celebration (206) 382-1197
- Feb 8-12 Northwest Flower & Garden Show (206) 789-5333 ext 226
- Feb 14 Valentine’s Day
- Feb 18-19 Spokane Golf Show (509) 466-0510
- Feb 18-20 Festival Sundiata African-American Celebration (206) 329-8086
- Feb 20 President’s Day
- Feb 22-26 Evergreen Sportsmen’s Show (360) 805-6700
- Feb 23-26 Wintergrass Bluegrass Music Festival (253) 428-8056
Lamarr Bond, E-Board Officer/Shop Steward Operations Position I
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I would like to thank every one who came out to support the vote for Safety Committee members. Thank you! I thank you for your vote. If you have any safety problems please use the safety forms located on the safety board near the Managers offices. Also we are about to start a new shake-up. After you've had the chance to run your route and you find problems with run time or any problem at all with the route. Please take one of the gold route and schedules forms to write up any problems or comments about your route. You can turn in the completed form to dispatcher so it can be forwarded scheduling.
A.T.U Golf Tournament: Barry Aiton, Don Taylor and myself (Tyrone Ross) are putting together this year’s golf tournament. We hope this will be the best tournament ever. So far the golf tournament will be on Sunday, July 9, 2006 at the Whispering Firs Golf Course, McChord Air Force Base. More information and registration will follow in the coming months. Check the Union Board for future information and registration forms for the Golf Tournament.
Thanks in solidarity! Tyrone Ross, Executive Board Officer II
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2006 ATU LOCAL 758 GOLF TOURNAMENT
July 9, 2006
at Whispering Firs Golf Course
McChord AFB, WA
253.982.2124
For Information please contact:
Tyrone Ross 253.861.0425
Barry Aiton 253.941.9873
Or the Union Office at 253.588.3651
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