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View Full Version : Local 499 And 109 What Have You Done To Us Must Read!!!!


weevy
05-13-2006, 02:06 PM
Well here it is my brothers and sisters of the IBEW

We just had our meeting on Wednesday night and the contract proposals were bought to the body. This contract took a total of 5 months of our local negotiations.

After having a meeting the company Mid American Energy sent out the tentative agreement in the U.S. Mail, supposedly printed on May 11th, 2006 after the Wednesday meeting. They are very fast, sent to over 1500 members. It is amazing how fast they got it out to the body.

1. IBEW local 499 and local 109 Negotiating Commitee and Union Leaders Recommend a yes vote on this package. It is on page One in Bold Black Letters, was told Wednesday night, by Union leadership not to vote yes on this contract was very bad. But company sends out letter in mail stating to vote yes on Contract per Union leaders, Something smells like you know what.

2. Contract will cover 3 year period with a 3% wage increase for each year of the contract. Falling farther and farther behind. According to some websites Mid American Energy company had profits over 515 million dollars in year 2005.

3. Their will be a increase in shift premiums

4. If b4 this contract you worked by yourself and had to go help another worker out, you would get your regular pay, but this contract states that if you have to work with another individual on a 2 man job, the senior man will receive crew leader pay for 8 hrs, since they were bunched up on a 2 man job, that will increase the person's wage over 2 dollars a hr more or more, depending on wage classification.

5.Job Security: None really!!!!

6. Safety, Nothing really to say here, company wanted to take control

7. Will still have contractors on the property,

8. Apprenticeships, if person bids into apprenticeship, he will be at 90% of journeyman's scale, if person was a forman making more then he will be at 90% until journeyman scale is reached, whichever is lesser.

9. Fatigue pay Pretty much stayed the same, a little different language

10. Sick leave You can use 5 days sick leave to care for family member.

11. Meals will stay at $51.25 to work through your dinner or if you choose to eat on time and half meal allowance will only be $22.00 an hour, for only an hour to eat, in which you will receive 1.5x hours to eat your food.

12. Medical will stay at 90/10 ratio as of contract signing,

13. If you retire you can opt to have pension paid out in lump sum with government taxing alot of it, if you choose this route.

Here is the real meat of the contract here my fellow union brothers and sisters, this is where the rubber is going to meet the road. This is where our union leadership did us in. This is really really bad, This section is going to cover Medical Benefits and Retirement.

Here it is I will captilize this since it is so horrendous!!!!! Thanks local 499 and 109

THE STRONGEST LANGUAGE IN THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE IS THIS, IF YOU ARE 50 YEARS OF AGE, AT THE DATE OF RATIFICATION, WHENEVER THAT IS JULY 1ST IS TARGET DATE, THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STAY ON THE EXISTING RETIREE MEDICAL ACCOUNT WHICH IS THIS: YOU WILL PAY A SMALL AMOUNT OF YOUR PENSION TOWARDS YOUR MEDICAL COVERAGE WHICH IS FULL COVERAGE, MAJOR MEDICAL ETC, ALSO YOU WILL BE ABLE TO INSURE YOU SPOUSE AND RECEIVE SURVIORSHIP WHEN YOU DIE SO YOUR SPOUSE CAN STILL RECEIVE YOUR PENSION!!! AND MEDICAL!!!! THAT WILL STAY THE SAME , SO THEY SAY, PROBABLY UNTIL THE NEXT CONTRACT, THE AGE GAP IN THIS COMPANY HAS MORE PEOPLE NEAR 50 THAN LESS THAN 50 SOUNDS LIKE THEIR BUYING VOTES TO ME.

IF ON THE DATE OF SIGNING YOUR ARE UNDER 50 YRS OF AGE, YOU WILL NOT BE ELIGABLE FOR THE CADILLAC COVERAGE, BUT YOU WILL BE GIVEN THE ONLY OPTION OF THE FORD PINTO COVERAGE. THIS IS WHAT THE FELLOW BROTHERS AND SISTERS WILL GET WHEN THEY RETIRE.

YOU WILL BE ON A RMA ACCOUNT ie. RETIREE MEDICAL ACCOUNT: THE CONTRACT AS IT IS WRITTEN IS IF YOU ARE UNDER 50 YEARS OF AGE COME JULY 1ST 2006 OR DATE OF SIGNING YOU WILL RECEIVE A MEDICAL BANK ACCOUNT OF $37,000 FOR YOUR FIRST 10 YEARS OF SERVICE, ANY YEARS OF SERVICE AFTER THAT WILL BE LOST UP UNTIL SIGNING OF THE CONTRACT IN WHICH YOU WILL THE START ACCUMALATING MORE MONEY TO YOUR RETIREE MEDICAL ACCOUNT. SO FOR INSTANCE IF YOU HIRED ON AT 18 AND HAD 28 YEARS OF SERVICE IN WITH THE COMPANY, YOU WILL RECEIVE $37,000 FOR THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF ACTIVE DUTY AND WILL GET NOTHING IN RETURN FOR THE OTHER 18 YEARS YOU WERE THEIR. THAT IS WHAT A UNION LEADERSHIP BOUGHT OUT TO US. YOU LOSE 18 YEARS. AFTER RATIFICATION YOU WOULD THEN START GROWING MORE MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT. IT WILL GROW AT ANNUAL RATE OF 3% PER YEAR. COST OF MEDICALIZATION IS INCREASING 9 TO 15 % PER YEAR.

ONCE YOU RETIRE AND THE MONEY IS SPENT ON INSURING YOURSELF YOU WILL NO LONGER HAVE INSURANCE FOR YOU OR SPOUSE, UNLESS YOU GO TO FULL RETIREMENT AGE AND GET ON MEDICARE OR MEDICAD, OR SPOUSES POLICY.

IT WAS NEVER COVERED HOW MUCH THIS POLICY WILL COST SOMEONE IF THEY HAVE 25 YEARS LEFT TO GO BEFORE RETIREMENT. SCARY THOUGHT.

I THINK EVERYONE LESS THAN 50 YEARS OF SHOULD WITHOLD THEIR UNION DUES TO FUND THEIR OWN MEDICAL ACCOUNT.

This contract is absolutely a joke. The have pitted the younger people against the older people, is that what unions have become today. I sure the hell hope that isn't what is goind on.

NJlineman55
05-15-2006, 03:45 PM
When I was hired as a meter reader for PSE&G, the new guys hired after 1996 were on a lower pay scale then the older guys and would never catch up to there rate!!! Throughout the company every union passed a contract which gave new hires a cash balance pension and a 401k. When they retire they receive 0% medical coverage!!!!

I guarantee when the next contract comes up the new guys will outnumber the old guys and they will be pitted against each other. Can you blame the new guys when the company throws them a bone and takes something away from the old guys?? It isn't right but how can the new guys have symphathy on the old guys when the sold them down the river before they even stepped in the door in 1996???

sammylu57
05-16-2006, 01:28 AM
Your pretty quick to judge your negotiating committee for a man who either can't spell or is to LAZY to proof read what he has written. I have been in negotiations and I'm here to tell you that if you didn't have that f$#@'n committee in there fighting for you you would have ended up losing everything you have. If you think that you just go in there and tell the company what you want, your dead wrong. It is a long, hard, convoluted (that means complicated), fight. While your thinking about how to fund your retiree medical with your union dues remember who got you the retiree medical to begin with. It's real easy to ***** about the problem, it's takes a lot bigger man to be part of the solution. Sorry your not happy with your contract. Thankfully, you still have a vote, at least as long as you keep paying your dues. Besides, you said that the neg. team recomended a no vote. Remember. . . that committee is only as strong as the workforce that supports it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WORK SAFE, GOOD LUCK!!

GeeDee
05-16-2006, 02:20 AM
I see that you must not have read my response to your first post.... I will say it again....United We Stand .. Divided We Fall. That means we KEEP paying our dues, START supporting our locals, and STICK together though this ordeal!!

I really wonder, are you Warren Buffet? Fund your RMA with $60 a month? If not...you sure think like him!

I don't like the proposed CBA either, guess what? I voted NO!!

Now lets think and act like Union members and realize who is screwing us, it sure as hell isn't our Brothers and Sisters.



GeeDee

Orgnizdlbr
05-17-2006, 08:05 AM
Your pretty quick to judge your negotiating committee for a man who either can't spell or is to LAZY to proof read what he has written. I have been in negotiations and I'm here to tell you that if you didn't have that f$#@'n committee in there fighting for you you would have ended up losing everything you have. If you think that you just go in there and tell the company what you want, your dead wrong. It is a long, hard, convoluted (that means complicated), fight. While your thinking about how to fund your retiree medical with your union dues remember who got you the retiree medical to begin with. It's real easy to ***** about the problem, it's takes a lot bigger man to be part of the solution. Sorry your not happy with your contract. Thankfully, you still have a vote, at least as long as you keep paying your dues. Besides, you said that the neg. team recomended a no vote. Remember. . . that committee is only as strong as the workforce that supports it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WORK SAFE, GOOD LUCK!!

Well said brother!

weevy
05-17-2006, 11:19 PM
First off this post is for Gee Dee, I see you responded to my post about this union issue we are faced with. I don't agree with your comment United We Stand Divided We Fall, and let me explain my position on this.

I have been paying my Union dues faithfully for over 20 years. I have watched this local union leadership fly to the United Kingdom with upper management for the company that we are negotiating with. I find that somewhat suspect, what did you learn from that trip? We never really heard about it. That was just a couple of years ago wasn't it? I never knew local leaders would do those things, but I guess it was the 90's or sometime around their.

Secondly it wasn't long ago, I seen on local 499's website, Br. Don and BR Lynn standing their with a picture of Warren B. and holding his billfold and saying, for a few seconds I felt like Warren Buffet. And mind you, this was on a Union Website. It appears like a conflict of positions, smiling and being chummy with the second richest man in the world, that is where our leaders are of the union have parties with upper management. Flying all over the world with upper management in a corporate jet.

Now lets get down to the facts shall we, and I will try to proof read this for my other brother who is so critical of my writing skills, rather than the topic at hand.

I want to explain my position as I see it from the outside looking in. These contract talks started back in Dec 05. At first the talks were stalled because the above mentioned company didn't want to pay some of the people their wages while negotiations were on. That stalled the talks a little. But then I have to reflect back to the little blue book, known as the contract that was negotiated 3 years previously. The language in the contract was ambiguous to say the least, and the company used that against the union. The language has never been clear, hopefully this contract the negotiation commitee will not let that happen again. I could write a book on this topic alone but will leave that for another day. PLEASE MAKE SURE THE LANGUAGE IN THIS CONTRACT IS CLEAR AND CONCISE AND TO THE POINT, NO ROOM FOR INTERPRETATI0N, A SPADE IS A SPADE AND A HEART IS A HEART. NOT UP FOR DEBATE DEPENDING ON WHOS READING IT.

What is a Union: A legally sanctioned, formally organized association of workers who have united to represent their collective views for wages, hours, and working conditions.

Now that you know what a union is, here is the facts. This union negotiating commitee has not upheld to the above mentioned standard. They did uphold that standard for the people who are above 50 years of age, regardless of how many years of service they have. Their is a individual that has only 6 years of seniority but turned 50 years of age at the time of this proposal and will be covered under the current medical and retiree plan.

Now remember I have over 20 years of service and have missed fifty years of age by a couple of years do the math, If only my mommy and daddy would've gave birth to me a couple of years earlier.

Now remember with this contract if it passes I am going to loose, let me be emphatic here, I am going to loose 15 or so years of UNION Seniority!!! Because my Local Negotiating Commitee Bought This garbage out to vote on, rather than reject it totally, And then either renegotiate or call a strike.

You see my fellow Brother and Sisters, when it comes to the RMA or Retiree Medical Account the company is only going to fund this account for your first 10 years of service, and then start contributing to it after 7-01-2006, So that means I have lost a total of $30,000 dollars that is going somewhere, I wonder where, maybe to the negotiating commitee. But that would be unreasonable to think that way, since they are my Union Bro's, Now their are alot of us in this local that are in this position.

So lets do the math Union Dues For 15 years not accounted for in RMA account. On Average $40.00/mth x 12/mths=$480.00/yr x 15years for a grand total of $7200.00 Wiped away, gone. Please refer back above to what a union is for explanation. What a union is?

And don't forget their is alot of us out here under 50. I think the whole negotiation team had to be over 50

It was stated in one post this formula is going to save the company over 200 or so million.

This company had profits of over 515 million for the fiscal year 05. That is alot of money, and 222 more million and they are rolling in the dough.

What did we gain, nothing, matter of fact I am losing with each passing day. A 3% percent raise, that has been this way forever. Cost of living up 9 or 10 percent, my estimate since they don't avg food and utilities into the Consumer Price Index, something you can't wish away.

It appears Local 499 and 109 has begun the process of destroying what the word Union means. When this commitee can bring to the floor a proposal that doesn't have the ENTIRE membership's best interest at hand, then I guess it is time to reevaluate one's current status in this group.

Don't bring up this crap about commitee and how hard it is to negotiate a contract, it is totally B.S. You know what was eating at your conscious the guilt you must feel selling out almost half of the local that you supposedly are representing. I know you must've had great trepidations bringing this out. Shame on you all for what you have done. I hope you can all sleep at night, knowing that you will be covered for the rest of your lives for medical, when the rest of your under 50 crowd may not be able to do the same.

And I hope after this you can live with yourself, and your conscious mind doesn't eat you alive, because you have now made a pact with the devil in mind.

Rebut that!!!!!!

GeeDee
05-19-2006, 01:41 AM
Weevy,
I must admit I agree with you on most of the issues you have mentioned although not all.

The main item I take issue with is the fact that you get on the WORLD WIDE WEB and encourage everyone to STOP paying their union dues!

This is not what I would consider a "Staunch Union Man". I count no less than 9 posts made by you that refer to the idea of dropping out of the union or encouraging others to stop paying dues! I repeat this is not what I consider a "Staunch Union Man"

If you don't believe my statement of UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL, then what is all this gibberish about? You go on about the definition of a union and then go against everything you say!!!

Now just imagine this...we all unite...we show our strength..and then we all VOTE NO!!! This is the UNITED WE STAND I mentioned above. I think not only would the company take notice, but just maybe..our union leadership would also!!

I for one have spent many hours on the phone and in person with my Brothers encouraging them to VOTE NO!! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE if we get off our asses and do something besides ***** about our piss poor union! This is what it's all about!!


Here is some food for thought..... you mention the amount of $7200 being wasted on union dues. Now remember who you are working for....Warren Buffet...and you have no union, as you so desperately advocate...lets use your example of 15 yrs. Warren is feeling really generous.. so he decides you are worth $18/hr vs. the $27 you now make...15 yrs x 2080 hrs x $9 = $280,800. Sure makes the $7200 look like one of the best investments anyone of us can ever expect to make!! Not to mention the loss of insurance, pension, retirement etc. etc. etc.

Maybe you should think about running for office during the next election. If you truly believe that you can do a better job than what we have now..GO FOR IT...you would sure as hell will get my vote if you can get the job done that you expect the others to do!!!

SINCERELY,

GeeDee

graybeard
05-20-2006, 12:57 PM
Most all of 499 is in Iowa which is a right to work state. I already know of people that dropped out of the union but still get the same bennies as I do. Do'es that I'll show them and stop paying dues really make sense? Go to THE UNION MTGS EVERY MONTH talk to your coworkers about the contract then vote by what you think is right. You can only hope that everyone else do'es the same.
If you look at the contract there are enough carrots for even the younger guys not just the over 50. And I don't like the mail in ballot either because when you talk to everyone they always say they voted no but it gets voted in anyway.
GEE DEES right united we stand divided we fall.

Patriot
05-20-2006, 04:58 PM
Some times it becomes very futile to attend every meeting, voice your oppinion, only to get the issue brought to vote and be defeated by the majority. The majority being power plant pukes, your out numberd 5 to 1 so no issue can fall in your favor. All the screaming,yelling, jumping up and down shouting, will do a darn thing if you are faced with 5 to 1 odds.

In our local, you had better patronize the plant people, then scrape up the crumbs for yourselves.