UPDATE 1/5/2008

The terms of the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Recorder, and the Executive Committee will end in early June of 2008. Nominations for the next three-year terms will occur in May 2008.

Local Union Vice Chairman Brian Grant continues him treatments and subsequent recoveries for those health issues that require his continued disability absence. His current prognosis and treatment schedule will require that he remain on disability for most of the remainder of his term in office. Brian has made the decision that, because of these factors, and in the best interests of his commitment to serve the membership, he will leave his elected position and allow another member to fill this position until the elections. 

Consequently, Brian has submitted a letter of resignation for the Vice Chair position effective January 1^st, 2008. Brian will remain a Shop Steward and member of the Safety Committee. We continue to wish Brian a complete and quick recovery.

On January 4^th,a posting went up on the Union bulletin boards announcing this vacancy. The notice requests members interested in filling the remainder of this term to submit letters of interest to the Executive Committee. These letters can be mailed to the Local office address on the posting or dropped of at the Union Hall. Any member with questions about the scope of responsibilities of the Vice Chair can address such inquiries to John Schreiner.

The recent Goshen cable failure confronted all of us with a very serious situation relative to our commitment to deliver our product and service to those customers. This situation was compounded by the fact that it occurred on Christmas Eve and service restoration processes were to begin on Christmas Day. Accessibility to much necessary personnel and equipment was thus hampered.

As is often true in these types of service emergencies, many Company decisions were made somewhat “on the fly.”

We extend our thanks to the many 503 members who worked long hours under very trying conditions to restore this service, especially to those who gave up their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

While the Union appreciates the requirement of expedient rest oral of service, we do not necessarily concede any of our rights and protections under the collective bargaining agreement. Any member with a question or concern about this process should contact a steward or officer of the Local.

By the next Labor Management meeting we expect to receive a date for receipt of the Pay for Performance payment.

UPDATE 12/21/07

We would like to wish all of our members a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. 

UPDATE 11/2/07

The company has put an indefinite hold on filling the line gang position. They have raised a number of issues regarding the job functions related to this posting. We hope to have them resolved shortly.

On the bonus:

We finally have an agreement from the company that not only does the “Pay for Performance” article exist, but it is also ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE PAID OUT.

Please see the word “PAY” in the article title for clarification.

Payments are supposed to be semi-annual. The company admits that it missed this point. Payments for 2008 will be made in the July 2008 and January 2009. Because the problems initiating the payment process for 2007 have taken us quite near the end of the year, we will receive all of the 2007 payment at one time in January 2008.

We appreciate your patience throughout this process. Please be assured that the officers have been as frustrated and incredulous as you have been.

Meal Money:

On Nov. 2 we received word from the company that all codes and confirmations were in place to apply the $1 increase and secure the retroactive payments. Both should be seen in the next week or two.

The Contract:

We also received word on 11/2 that all proofing of the contract was complete and it had been forwarded to the printers.

We don’t mind reminding you again that when dealing with management, if you think you might need a steward, you already do.

UPDATE 10/17/07

The company has posted a line tech position to fill the spot created when Jim O’Dell retired. We have been informed that effective 11/5/07 Curt Peters will be the new member of the line gang.

We have also been advised that there may be a posting for an IR tech.

The “two-hour minimum” rule in the current agreement seems to have been resolved. The problem seemed to be how the payment would be coded and entered into payroll. This rule involves a minimum payment for scheduled overtime.

Once again our thanks to Marianne Lahtinen for her work on this matter. If you notice a mark on her forehead, it is probably from running into the walls that the company kept putting in front of her.

We have agreements with the company on overtime charging procedures. These should be in effect now. We hope to have a copy of this agreement posted on this site shortly. We also have an agreement on overtime sharing between the CST and IR groups. This also should be in effect. Likewise, we hope to have a copy of this agreement posted here soon.

We continue to have problems securing payment of two issues in the new contract:

• Meal money increased form $18 to $19 dollars. This is supposed to be in effect now and retroactive payments are supposed to be made back to the date of contract ratification. Neither of these has occurred.
• The contract provides that a bi-annual bonus payment be made to our members, calculated from various service indices, with a minimum amount payable. We are approaching November and have still not received even the first payment. We have received some cooperation and a long list of reasons from the company, but as you may have noticed, no payment.

We are assessing further action on these matters.

Please also see the officer’s column for further information.

UPDATE 9/19/07

We would like to congratulate The Lukiansky family on the birth of their 2^nd child.

 Eric William Lukiansky---9/6/07 at 807a. 8lbs, 1oz.

UPDATE 8/24/07

Many of you have probably noticed that overtime charging procedures seem to vary from unit to unit. We have had talks with the company about developing a uniform system across the bargaining unit and creating a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) covering this. This document would become part of the collective bargaining agreement.

At our last Union meeting we received some great input and ideas from the members. The result of this has been a proposed MOU submitted at the August labor-management meeting. We hope to have this in effect in the next few days. We’ll give you all the details as soon as that occurs.

As members in the CST and IR units know, the company has rather freely distributed work between the units. This has raised issues in the sequence of call used in distribution of overtime for this work. We recently had a craft meeting with members of both units and had a good exchange of ideas and developed a potential resolution. In the ensuing days we spoke to many of the members of both groups and a very clear majority of those expressing a preference are willing to go with the plan as developed at the craft meeting. Consequently, we have submitted that plan to the company as a proposed MOU covering overtime sequence of call in these two units. No other units would be affected by this MOU. This proposal is somewhat involved and the company asked for time to consider it. As with the previous MOU, we will withhold details until the proposal is accepted or returned to us for possible modification.

"Remember, when you cannot remove hazards from your workplace, you must prevent the hazard from coming in contact with your body and causing harm".

The above statement is from a company safety text.

We have recently heard from a number of members regarding the unavailability of bug spray. We don’t need to tell the outside folks what the recent hot weather has done to the temperament of the local wasp population. This spray is a necessary tool to make your workplace safe and prevent a potentially serious health issue. If you have questions regarding this issue, see your steward.

We continue to pursue the elusive “pay for performance” payment that contractually should be paid twice a year. As we are in the ninth month of the year, we figure the first payment is a bit overdue. We are expecting to be given a payment date in the next few days and will get it to you as soon as we do. This also goes for the one-dollar increase in meal money.

There was a recent question about sleep time due to employees. Please understand that this is a bargained for feature of the contract. It is also a potential safety issue for those involved. We strongly suggest that when you are due sleep time, you take it.

UPDATE 7/24/07

• It is with some regret and yet our very best wishes that we hear of the imminent retirement of Jim O’Dell.  In this industry you will encounter very few people having spent over thirty years as a lineman.  Well done, Jim.  We wish you our very best.
• This month’s “Finding Money in the Couch” award goes to Marianne Lahtinen.  She discovered and brought to our attention that meal money had not been increased as per the new contract.  She also probably headed off some future payroll problems by proactively pushing for clarifications on the new two-hour minimum payment rule.  Thanks, Marianne.
• We have had some fruitful discussions with the company about filling the soon-to-be vacant lineman’s position. We hope to see a posting soon.  If you’re interested, keep an eye on the bulletin boards.  We will update this site as soon as we know more.
• The issue of contractors on our property remains very active.  We are investigating this latest version of the company giving our work away at a significant cost.  Please see your stewards or officers for more info.
• The Telecommunications Bill did not come to a vote on the NYS Senate floor this session.  While this is not necessarily a positive or negative at this point, it is important that our legislators know we have not lessened our concern nor stopped watching them.  We have found a quick way for members to automatically send updated emails to their legislators.  Just go to this link and sign up: http://www.speedmatters.org/action/join.html    

UPDATE 7/22/07

Congratulations to all of our new appointed union representation.   (See Officers Page for more details).  Also, thanks to everyone that show up the July 19^th Union Meeting.  We had some good feedback from the members and we are current acting on some of these issues.  Again, feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you have.  So far the feedback has been great and we will do our best to address all of your concerns. 

UPDATE 6/24/07

There seems to have been some ambiguity about what the company monitors on network attached PC’s and laptops. We have researched this and come up with a short list:

EVERYTHING
EVERYTHING, and
EVERYTHING.

Please be careful.

The Company may NOT require you to take personal time in lieu of them implementing their absence and tardiness program. Your vacation and personal time were bargained for in the contract. They are to be scheduled by you with the company subject to the limitations of the calendar year and of other employees concurrently being off on the same day.

Please see the Officer’s Column and the Weingarten Rights sections of this website for more important information relative to this.

There are open positions at Shop Steward and on the Executive Committee. If you are interested please contact John Schreiner, Brian Grant or Lisa De Stefano. Help us make your Local what you know it should be. 

UPDATE 6/8/07

Co-Sponsor the Telecommunications Reform Act

Our legislators have not yet sponsored this bill. Click the link to
tell him or her to co-sponsor this important legislation.

UPDATE 6/6/07

·        Props to Jackie Polman for her work on the payroll’s failure to apply the general wage increase to standby pay.  Jackie discovered the error, did the math to prove it, and made the important contacts with payroll to put them on notice.  The missing payments were made last week.  Thanks again to Jackie.  And we’re also thankful that payroll doesn’t file harassment grievances.

·        The issue re: dispatch to 363’s area is evolving as we speak.  We will be updating the stewards with the latest developments.  Most importantly, when working in unfamiliar surroundings, remember your safety and security are of utmost importance.