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Communication From Lew Dopson, Union
Sub-District Director
Company and Union negotiators met on Friday, August
13, 2010 to continue negotiations. The Union presented a
COMPREHENSIVE COUNTERPROPOSAL which successfully resolved all but one
last remaining issue. The only open issue is on the COMPANY'S
contracting out proposal. The Union requested the Company modify
its proposal so that it would be clear that outside contractors would
not come INTO THE PLANT to perform PRODUCTION WORK. We also
informed the Company that if it agreed to this one modification, the
MAJORITY OF THE UNION NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE
WOULD RECOMMEND RATIFICATION. The Company said it
needed time to consider the proposal. The UNION has not heard back
from the Company on the counterproposal. On Wednesday, August 18
International Union Sub-District Director Lew Dopson formally requested
a meeting with Victaulic CEO John Malloy in an effort to resolve the
final outstanding issue.
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8/6/2010 - Changes to proposal (Click here for PROPOSAL)
are as follow: 1. Lump sum ratification bonus of $1500 removed
and replaced with:
"August 9, 2010 - 3% wage increase"
"January 31, 2011 - 3% wage increase"
"January 30, 2012 - 3% wage increase"
2. Additional language in Article VI Section 6.5:
"Consecutive days absent covered by a doctor's excuse will be
counted as only one occurrence."
3. Voluntary Separation Package addition to 3rd paragraph:
"Employees may choose to take their payment as either a lump sum
or weekly pay continuation."
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USW Labor Day Picnic and Parade Everyone is welcome!
Sunday, September 5, 2010 Parade begins at 11:30am under the Hill
to Hill bridge in the park lot at Spring and Main Streets in Bethlehem
and will end back at lot. Picnic will follow parade at the
Steelworkers Building. Tickets for picnic are on sale for $10/per person
to be refunded after parade. Call (610) 867 3772 Be sure to call
soon - no tickets will be sold at picnic! Unions wear you colors and
bring flag! |
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Rapid Response:
- Put this on your shopping list. Buy some Sylvania
Super Saver energy-efficient halogen light bulbs,
- help save an endangered American industry and some
Steelworker jobs!
The incandescent light bulbs in use for more than a century since the
days of Thomas Alva Edison will begin to fade away in 2012 under new
federal regulations designed to increase energy efficiency. The
Energy Independence and Security Act, signed into law by former
President Bush on Dec. 19, 2007, requires that light bulbs sold in the
United States use 25 percent to 30 percent less energy than they do now.
As a result, the familiar incandescent light bulbs, which fail to meet
efficiency requirements in the law, will be phased out over a few years.
You can expect 100-watt bulbs to disappear from markets in 2012. The
75-watt bulb will be gone by 2013. The smaller 40- and 60-watt bulbs
will phase out by 2014. As the technology changes, major
manufacturers are relocating production from the United States to China
and other countries. Osram Sylvania, however, has decided
to introduce a new product, the Sylvania Super Saver halogen bulb, and
make it at existing facilities, including a USW-represented glass plant
in Wellsboro, Pa.
Wellsboro currently produces the envelope or outer glass portion of
incandescent light bulbs that are assembled at Osram-Sylvania’s plant in
Saint Mary’s, Pa. It also makes bulbs for Christmas ornaments. USW
Local 1001, which represents about 110 Wellsboro employees, had been
warned that the new efficiency standards will jeopardize its main
product, the incandescent bulb. But the new halogen bulb, if it
takes off in the market, could help maintain employment at Wellsboro as
the incandescent bulbs are removed from sale. “It will at least
help us make status quo,’’ said Barry Mortimer, a member of Local 1001
and the local’s Rapid Response coordinator.
The new Super Saver halogen bulbs can be made on existing equipment and
do not have some of the potential health hazards of its main
competition, compact fluorescent bulbs. The most common
alternative is the compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) distinguished by its
curly glass casing. CFLs are made largely in China with toxic mercury as
a key ingredient. Making CFL bulbs requires workers to handle
mercury in either solid or liquid form because a small amount of the
metal is put into each bulb to start the chemical reaction that creates
light. Breaking a CFL bulb at home requires an EPA-approved cleanup
procedure. Mercury is recognized as a health hazard by authorities
worldwide because its accumulation in the body can damage the nervous
system, lungs and kidneys. It poses a particular threat to babies in the
womb and young children. The American-made Super Save halogen bulb
has no mercury, meets the government’s energy savings standards and
supports USW members. If you break one at home, clean up the broken
glass and throw it into the trash.
“Osram-Sylvania is encasing halogen inside a glass capsule and then
putting that in a traditional-looking glass bulb made at Wellsboro,”
said Barry Mortimer, Rapid Response Congressional Coordinator.
Mortimer said the bulbs are currently in production but not yet widely
available in stores. They can be purchased in Menards and BJ’s in the
Midwest and should be available in other big-box hardware stores later
this year. We can expect to see the bulbs available at Lowes in mid
March and April. In the meantime, Mortimer said they can be
purchased on line at http://www.sylvaniaonlinestore.com/c-26-halogen-supersaver.aspx.
A standard shipping fee applies no matter the order size.
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