Christmas party

Christmas party

2010 Mabstoa christmas party 

Where 

Villa Barone Manor

737 Throggs Neck Expressway

Bronx, NY 10465

Time

8 PM onward

Day 

Saturday

Date

December 11, 2010

Outsourcing Jeep

Chrysler has been bought by Fiat, now the CEO wants to build Jeeps in Italy. In the name of ‘profit’ we here in why did you join the union are dismayed that our brethren UAW are quiet. We do not believe that silence is a sign of acquiesce that would allow Jeep to be built overseas cheaply at the expense of its membership. We here in why did you join the union say no to the Fiat CEO idea on the other hand when Mercedes Benz owned chrysler they were much better because they did not build Jeeps out of Germany, and they did not want to destroy the middle class.

Profit should not supersede the membership, and if this idea becomes a reality it may be too late for the UAW to act. It is obvious the new CEO will close some domestic plant which he will deem unprofitable - this idea must be tackled at its infancy before maturing into reality. 

Outsourcing of the Jeep should not be allowed, the UAW plants will be closed and that in turn would harm the membership and increase the number of the unemployed. The CEO’s idea is to manufacture Jeep cheaply. In the 1990s Boeing and General Motors had their ideas of pursuing outsourcing which were stopped by strikes which in turn defeated those ideas to materialize. We would like to remind UAW if those strikes were successful then they would have accomplish the goal of overcoming Boeing and GM. Now is the time to stop outsourcing the Jeep to teach a lesson to the Fiat CEO that membership comes before profit.

We hope the leadership at UAW is not at sleep at the switch, and we would like to believe they are AAA(Alert And Alive) in protecting their membership. They have to keep on going where everyone else is giving up because we cannot afford to see families forced to welfare based on the idea of profit.

Mix baggage

The concept that our Local 100 has to join with other labor forces in order to advance our cause and benefit the membership sounds like a good idea and no one can object to that. The underlying message is that the current leadership under Samuelsen feels that it can not accomplish any goals single handedly and is not effective thus lets join with others. 

Lets define the goals of any union: one is to increase the wage for the benefit of the membership, two control the work practices, three protect the membership. Whether joining forces with other labor forces will accomplish those goals is debatable. However we will give Samuelsen a chance, even though the writing is on the wall.

The other issue is seeking public support or educating the general public within the realm of the political action committee and breaking away from the old style of providing funds for a politician in order to advance our cause. We agree with the latter part but object to the other.

Seeking public support or educating the general public is completely a waste of time, resources and energy. This of course is simply arrant nonsense and maybe the current leadership is trying to lead the membership astray with the Limbaugh Leap of probably finding scapegoats who don't have press or spokesmen to spin the truth. We do not recall in the history of the labor movement that such a task has ever been undertaken and we here in why did you join the union disapprove and are skeptical of this.

It is clear the current leadership is moving away from the traditional bread and butter which benefits the membership. What Samuelsen is most guilty of here is promoting the assumption that public support is nothing short of a miracle. But why shouldn’t he believe it since all of his yes man and hangers on have reinforced this myth and have egged him on with this. It is obvious Samuelsen realizes the membership are shortchanged and is being influenced by his chums. What is missing from this unremitting propaganda is the simple observation of the little boy in the table who cried out ‘But the king isn’t wearing any clothes!’ Basically someone who can call out the truth for it is.

We would recommend the following to Samuelsen, we say yes to join forces with others, yes to not giving funds to politicians but no to educating the general public because it is making our head hurt from all of the rhetorical gymnastics.

Flu

The influenza season is upon us and it is a known fact that some members will be infected by the virus and that will make them unable to show up for work. Now the question is will those who did not show up have enough sick time banked to cover those days that they were absent?

Office of Personnel Management has issued final regulations that will take effect January 3, 2011 which will allow employees to take 13 days of sick leave to care for family members who were infected or exposed to the flu or other serious communicable diseases. However there is a catch because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will decide which outbreak qualifies for sick leave. It has to be noted that last year the CDC found the H1N1 influenza outbreak did not qualify for a sick leave. In their view an employee can go safely to work if a member of his household has contracted the flu.

In addition employees will be allowed to be advanced up to 30 days of sick leave to care for family members injured on military duty.The beauty of this regulation is in the ‘Employee’s Return to Work - Agencies cannot require a medical release form from the employee's physician - however there is a catch.  If the employee's position requires a medical examination and the employee refuses the exam, he or she may be disciplined, up to and including removal’. Based on that we would recommend that all titles should not require medical examination and that should be haggled in the contract of 2012 so that the membership can be eligible to this bonanza.

We here in why did you join the union appreciated efforts of that ‘one individual’ who asked the Office of Personnel Management to provide up to 40 hours of additional paid sick leave to employees with serious infectious illnesses. We were happy that he was noted in the federal regulation however we were disappointed that he did not get his wish. Imagine if that request was granted what a beneficial impact it would have. This request was considered outside the scope of OPM's regulatory authority. A statutory change would be required to create such a new entitlement. However, under current authorities, employees without sick leave may invoke their FMLA entitlement (a serious infectious illness would likely qualify as a serious health condition) and may be granted annual leave, advanced sick leave, advanced annual leave, or leave without pay. If they have exhausted their available paid leave, they could request donated leave under the voluntary leave transfer and/or leave bank programs.

‘Ask, and ye shall receive’ in the contract of 2012. We the membership of Local 100 have the control of our destiny nothing is impossible and we will dictate the terms of the contract. We here in why did you join the union, have a favorite quote from Eleanor Roosevelt ‘no one can make you inferior without your consent’. We will look square into Walder’s eyes and tell him the membership of Local 100 are better than him.

2012 on my mind

Local 100 must put Jay H Walder on a tight leash especially since he has embarked ‘We will attack the MTA’s cost structure, looking at every aspect of our operation to find better and less expensive ways’. Those were his words at the January 15, 2010 - Association for a better New York’. 

In Walders mind he is transforming the MTA and he clearly states ‘And I intend to take it.’ In addition ‘there will be layoffs’ we find this troubling to the membership thus in the contract of 2012 we must be AAA(Alert And Alive). If Walder thinks he is good, then we are better and we are not going to surrender our rights or benefits.

Given that some degree of cooperation is required for anything to be produced there is a gigantic and infinite conflict that remains between Walder and we the blue collar workers. We cannot lose sight of the fact that our relationship is adversarial, since Walder’s goals can only be obtained at the expense of the blue collar workers. 

There is no common goal that could ever unite us with Walder’s flawed philosophies since he has utilized a high conflict path as he has utilized in London. We here in why did you join the union would caution Samuelsen about Walder because he views us as a commodity that should be purchased as cheaply as possible and used only as long as Walder whims and wishes in the name of keeping labor cost down. We say no to that philosophy, it may have worked in London, however it will not work in New York because we will not be a commodity.

Walder views us blue collar workers strictly as a variable cost. Implying that workers can be laid off at his discretion, which he has done so. We will never forget the layoff of 2010, and we will never forget our fellow laid off members who have to endure this holiday season being unemployed. The thought of how their daily lives struggle goes on but it will not be forgotten. We will work tirelessly for Walder’s removal, so he can go and enjoy his villa in France. We here in why did you join the union view Walder’s management style as poor and as a very authoritarian approach that should not be tolerated.

Caution to Samuelsen

Jay H Walder in his report of January 2010 ‘making every dollar count’ is flawed and in totality hostile towards the blue collar workers especially for the membership of TWU Local 100. Walder stated that his goal is to reduce the cost of providing service.

We here in why did you join the union would like to point out that on page 7 of the “Work Rules: To successfully reduce costs, our unions must be active partners. We will be asking our labor organizations to work with us to identify opportunities for savings. Our intent is to implement improvements such as cost-saving technology, streamline processes and create opportunities to provide better value to the customer and the taxpayer – while maintaining those rules that provide the essential protections employees deserve.”

We would like to warn and remind Samuelsen of Jay H Walder who was given billions of dollars in federal stimulus money in 2009. What did he do with it? Nothing except give layoffs to over one thousand fellow co workers who are exemplary and hard working employees. We cannot fathom what is in the mind of Walder and we would care less. However we know what is on our mind, and we here in why did you join the union say no to Walder’s work rules. We are not partners and our relationship is clearly defined as employer and employee. We are not going to be fooled with the “partners” rhetoric.

Since our goals as blue collar workers are in the opposite direction than those of Walder’s objectives for ‘low or no cost’  by paying as low wages as possible. We the blue collar workers objective is to obtain higher wages. Secondly the Walder authoritarian management style must be limited. We here in why did you join the union would work hard to get Walder removed because he will never slash his own salary, or take a pay freeze. However he wants us the blue collar workers to accept them in addition to taking a worse retirement deal while he has his luxurious sendoff package.

Dropped ball

One Nation Working Together 10.02.10 - Join thousands of union members and allies, as we march in Washington, D.C. this Saturday, October 2, to demand good jobs and an economy that works for all Americans. 

That was the call of duty, however the results have forced a new reality upon us. One wonders why the elections of 2010 have showed poor returns for the democrats thus emboldening the republicans with taking over the house. Clearly they are itching for a fight before even getting into the house. However we wonder what went wrong and why our labor movement was not up to the task?

Instead of ‘demanding good jobs and an economy that works for all Americans’ we are faced with threats of pay freezes and job cuts from the republicans. We here in why did you join the union believe it is time for the infusion of new and energetic blood. The current leadership has failed the blue collar workers and the future is uncertain especially with the republicans beating the drums of war against the blue collar and unions.

We cannot go forward and make believe that nothing has happened because the future holds hostilities towards our pay, work rules, health care benefits and pensions. Thus it has warranted a review of our dismal performance and we should take a hard look at ourselves. We here in why did you join the union feel that some members of the leadership have shortchanged the membership and therefore those empty suits must be antagonized.

Well we know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to believe nothing has happened is wrong and living in a class bubble will suggest we have to accept failures and the thought of that is vile. As we move forward we imagine Local 100 to be like an automobile, if some parts of the engine are not functioning then they must be removed, discarded and replaced with new parts that will function well because we have to think about tomorrow. It is Samuelsen’s duty to take those empty suits to task for their shortcomings on the bread and butter of the membership and we will not shy away from confrontation to the benefit of the membership. That should be Samuelsen’s job and goal for the members of Local 100. We will not accept mediocre performance while the membership livelihood is at stake.