Category: Uncategorized

Are You A USW “NEXT GENERATION” Leader From This Local?

Ken Neumann (Union Bio)

Canadian National Director
Canadian National Director

National Director for Canada

Born and raised in rural Saskatchewan, Neumann was a teenager when he first joined the USW, at Local 5890 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Later, Neumann’s activism and leadership flourished within USW Local 4728 in Regina, where he began as a steward and eventually was elected president of the local. He was an instructor, organizer and then president of the USW Regina Area Council before being hired as a United Steelworkers staff representative in 1977. Neumann earned a personal reputation for strong service to USW members in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

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Grievance Resolutions

Union and management met earlier today and resolved 4 grievances that were pending arbitration.

 A one day suspension reduced to a written warning.

Three written warnings withdrawn by the Company and removed from the affected members personal records. 

Also discussed were Kronos grievances regarding time keeping and coffee pots/radios. There was no movement by the Company on their position to either of these and arbitration dates remain scheduled.  

The Union is awaiting responses from the Company on other grievances that were discussed and we have been assured those will be forthcoming within a week.

Other grievances recently resolved were for a member who has been paid overtime while contractors did bargaining unit work. A member has been paid for time missed after wrongfully being sent home for not completing a 6S form. A scheduled arbitration was resolved for a previously employed trades member regarding payment for rate increases in the current CBA who did not receive his proper raise. Your Local is working hard to resolve all grievances in advance of arbitration.

Solidarity Wins! 

 

Job Evaluation Pilot Committee

Will be meeting on Feb 8th at 9am. Our focus will be the evaluation of O&T jobs and any outstanding issues that need to be addressed. The Union has been prepared and committed to meeting regularly with the Company and will continue to make every effort so the committee can complete its mandate.

Solidarity Forever!

Scheduled Arbitrations

Grievances:

11/14-025 Brodeur (Termination) April 8-9

11/14-073 Weinbender (Suspension) April 22-23

11/14-074 Blue (Suspension) April 22-23

11/14-046 Group (Removal of coffee pots/Radios) May 7

11/14-093 Group (Kronos Card Readers) June 4-5

11/14-094 Group (Kronos 15 minute punch in/out time) June 4-5

11/14-095 Group (Kronos $25 Card replacement fee) June 4-5

11/14-096 Group (Kronos Donning/doffing of PPE) June 4-5

11-14/0104 Group (Trades Raise for Electronic Tec. Machinist, Instrument Man) June 12

07/11-0544 Group (O&T, Bargaining Unit Work) June 13-14

07/11-0567 Group (O&T Bargaining Unit Work) June 13-14

Your Local is working hard to resolve all Grievances in advance of arbitration.

Solidarity Forever!

USW Supports Provincial NDP Leadership Candidate Cam Broden

The USW North & South Sask. Area Council’s along with District 3 Director Steve Hunt, the WOS and SOAR met with the provincial NDP leadership candidates Erin Weir, Trent Wotherspoon, Cam Broten and Dr. Ryan Meili this past Friday evening in Saskatoon for a three hour question & answer form. Each candidate put forth their reasons for running and answered a wide range of questions and at times to criticism about how the party has handled certain issues in the past while in goverment.

On Saturday morning Steve Hunt, the Area Council’s and the Committee’s convened a caucus to discuss who the USW would support in the leadership race. It was not an easy decision, as each candidate displayed their oustanding credentials, ideas and determination to lead. After much discussion a ballot vote was taken a unanimous decision the Steelworkers in Saskatchewan have chose to support Cam Broten to be the next Leader of the provincial NDP.

The election will take place Saturday March 9th, 2013 during the provincial NDP convention that will be held at TCU Place, Saskatoon. To be eligible to vote, you must become a member of the provincial NDP party before Friday January 25th, 2013. It is only $10.00 to join and you can sign up by going to the following web site.

http://saskndp.ca/leadership-2013

Good luck Cam, you have the Steelworkers support & solidarity!

On behalf of the Executive & Staff of Local 5890, I want to warmly wish our members all the best this holiday season as your share it with family and friends. May you find peace, joy and harmony throughout. Have a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year!
Corey Liebrecht

COLA Adjustment

The CPI figure for October 2012 was released on November 23, 2012. As per the Collective Agreement the following calculation will apply.

October 2012 124.8

July 2012 123.9

Difference 0.9

(Divide by .063 per each 1 cent) = $0.14

Effective with the first pay period after the release, COLA will increase to $0.75 per straight time hour worked from $0.61.

 

Kronos Swipe Card Grievance Update

After meeting with Human Resourses (HR) this past week, the four grievances submitted by the Union have been denied. We have given the Company till Nov. 19th to forward any resolutions at which time the executive will meet and make recommendations to the membership on how to proceed.

In Solidarity!

New Inspector Rates (Spiral Mill)

These rates came into effect August 25th 2012 but were not updated by HR & Payroll till Nov. 7th. Any members that are working at these jobs listed below or have worked one of these jobs since August 25th should keep track over the up coming pay periods (starting Nov 23rd) to see if your rate has been adjusted and any back pay owning has been corrected. If it has not then we recommend you see your supervisor at that time.

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Support = Strength

Participation in this Local by the membership has never been stronger. Attendance at monthly meetings is up. Many new Stewards are taking training. We have a Women Of Steel (WOS) committee breaking ground. Our social media sites such as this one and our Facebook page are popular. We even have the involvement of our Steelworkers On Active Retirement (SOAR) lending their support. Brother’s & Sister’s, your participation at any level in your Local makes us stronger. Lets continue to make this happen.

Solidarity Forever!

Corey Liebrecht, President

Early Shift Change

It has come to our attention that some area supervisors in the plant have been trying to discredit your Local Union Executive and myself in claiming that we are misrepresenting our membership in regard to early shift changes. Let me assure our members that your Union has NOT in any way asked the Company to remove early shift relief in any department. We know for a fact that some of our members have indeed enjoyed the practice of early shift change before 6am for many years. We have expressed to the Company on a number of occasions that our members have been quite happy with this arrangement and would like it to continue.

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New Shop Stewards

On October 18th & 19th the Local held a Level 1 shop steward school. We would like to congratulate the following members  and welcome them as new stewards.

  • Chris Massier
  • Doug Demin
  • Ryan Mackenzie
  • Scott Mackie
  • Jim Cassano
  • Mike Smith
  • John Schmidt

Monthly Membership Meeting

A reminder to all Brother’s & Sister’s that the monthly membership meeting is on Monday Oct 22nd 2012 at 7:30pm sharp. It will be held downstairs at the Regina Union Center 2709 12th Ave. This is your Union. Participate in it and show your…Solidarity Forever!

Women Of Steel

Our National Women’s Conference “Working Women, Working Union” will be held November 14-16, 2012 at the Holiday Inn, Toronto, Yorkdale.

The conference theme this year is “Working Women, Working Union”. We will reflect on the progress to date on achieving equality – is there a union advantage? We will identify the steps women and women’s committees are taking to move the equality agenda forward and together develop strategies to organize and engage women to advance our objectives at the bargaining table and through political action.

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Steelworkers Supporting The United Way

Brothers & Sisters once again displayed their support for the community this morning during a shift change at Evraz with a successful kickoff breakfast to a month long fund-raising campaign for the United Way that was said to be the most successful ever. Your donation or pledge supports 32 different charities or can be directed to a charity of your choice. Last year our members gave $51,000 locally to this cause that was matched dollar for dollar by the Company. Your support does make a difference.