Labor News for February 8, 2008

“FIREPOT”

 

THE NEXT UNION MEETING IS ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2008 AT 5:00 PM

THIS IS A SPECIAL NOTIFIED MEETING FOR THE PURPOSES OF SELECTING AN OPTION FOR THE NATIONAL PENSION FUND

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS to Brother Jeff Fisher and his wife Becky on the birth of their daughter, Allyson Kaye born on Friday January 25th at 9:01am!  Allyson weighed in at 8 lbs, 6 oz and was 20 ¾” long.

 

WE WERE SADDENED TO HEAR that Brother Bill Gerhardt, Sr. passed away on January 23, 2008.  Bill worked many years at Snyder Metal Products and finished his career with the Kimmel Company. He had tremendous knowledge of field Installation. Anyone that worked for or with Bill would probably tell you that they learned a great deal from watching him run work and from working along side him. Bill also proudly served his country as a Vietnam Veteran. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Gerhardt family in this time of loss. Bill’s hard work ethic will be with us always.

 

SPECIAL NOTIFIED MEETING; At February’s Union Meeting we will review the two options offered by the National Pension Fund. We will have some facts and figures and we will select, by vote, from one of these two funding options. There is a default option and an alternative option. We will also conduct our regular order of Business.

 

THE WORK PICTURE REMAINS SLOW and the unemployment numbers continue to grow… There is a lot of work out for bid and although it cannot come soon enough, we remain hopeful that a busy year lies ahead.

 

FOUR AND SIX CLUB: The Annual Euchre Tournament will be held Saturday February 23, 2008 at Matella's Restaurant located at 1479 Lyell Avenue. The cost is $18.00 per person which includes beer and pop, a buffet dinner and prize money for the winning teams. The tournament starts promptly at 7:30 PM. Anyone interested please contact Tom Sippel at 872-4631 or Mike Morgan at 865-7872 for tickets.

 

CROSSWORD PUZZLE: Somewhere in this publication of the Labor News we have reprinted another addition of the Sheet Metal Crossword Puzzle. Go ahead… Test your knowledge with this fun and challenging exercise.

 

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. day was Monday January 21st and in honor of this highly respected visionary we would like to restate below, one of his many memorable quotes;

 

"History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them."             Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

From The CBA:              ADDENDUM 4          Foreman’s Clause

 

            On all jobs within the jurisdiction of Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, Local #46, Foremen, General Foremen, and Job Superintendents shall be paid a percentage over the journeyperson base rate for leading the number of workers shown on the following chart:

 

Number of                  Foreman                    Gen Foreman             Superintendent          Number of

Workers                           5%                                  10%                                 15%                Leaders        

---------------------------------------------------------Field Foreman --------------------------------------------------

  3 - 6                                1                                                                                                                     1

  7 - 12                              1                                         1                                                                           2

  13 - 22                            1                                          1                                       1                                       3

  Over 22                    1/every 8                                 1                                       1                                       3+

------------------------------------------------------------Shop Foreman ----------------------------------------------

1 – 4                                                                                 1                                                                           1

5 – 14                                                                                                                    1                           1

15 – 29                            1                                                                                    1                                       2

Over 29                           2                                                                                    1                                       3

 

Dollar Values of the percentages shown are itemized in Appendix A.  All foremen, general foremen and superintendents will be members of Local #46 in good standing.  Effective 1 Jan 06, Foreman will be required to have OSHA 10 hr and Superintendents OSHA 30 hr prior to receiving respective rates of pay.

 

* * *

 

BENEFIT NEWS

 

HEALTH AND WELFARE:

On February 1st EBS Benefit Solutions and RMSCO announced their intentions to merge and become “one of the largest employee benefit administration companies in New York State”. Along with Excellus BCBS, Univera Health and MedAmerica these organizations are separate subsidiaries of the Lifetime Healthcare Companies and their new name will be EBS-RMSCO. The press release also stated that their main headquarters will be here in Rochester. As you may know RMSCO is the current TPA for our Health Fund and we will bring you more information on this merger in the near future.

 

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JATC NEWS

 

Architectural Sheet Metal Training:

We will be conducting an Architectural Sheet Metal Class beginning in early January; classes will begin at 5:15 PM here in our Training Center. With all of the Architectural work coming up in 2008 this class is a must for members who find themselves out of work and would like to enhance their skills or pursue this opportunity.

 

Welding Reminder: Open Welding is currently being held on Tuesday nights from 5 to 8 PM.

 

Interested members should call Mike at 647-3200 to reserve a spot in either of these classes.

 

Joe & Greg