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USW LOCAL 1137
This page will be used by me to post random thoughts on various subjects that may or may not be in the newsletter. Here, I can ramble on more than I can in the newsletter. When I hear a rumor, a complaint or an idea from a member (or from the company, or just current events in the mill, the country or the world) it often sets me to thinking. Also, I often hear of someone saying "Johnny said .... " when I really didn't. Hmmm, that might be a good title for this page - 'Johnny said ....' ~ Anyway, here goes...
February 9, 2010 - Local 1137 joins the rest of the mill and the community in expressing our condolences to the family of Todd Brown, the young man who was shot and killed at school in Madison last week. Todd's dad, Michael Brown, is a member of Local 1161 and works on 35 machine.
We became very familiar with the term "LOO (Lack of Order) Downtime" last year. Now it looks like we'll be learning about "LOW (Lack of Wood) Downtime". 35 machine is down this week due to LOW and it's starting to look like there will be some days on 34 and on 30 next week, also due to LOW.
I don't know details, and I've not been invited to participate in any meetings with them, but I hear we are having visitors at the mill tomorrow and Thursday. Rumor has it that Kirt Cuevas, VP of Manufacturing (Mr. Bruner's boss) is coming back along with two of HIS bosses - Mark Sutton, Senior VP for Printing and Communications papers and Tommy Joseph, SVP for Manufacturing, Technology and EHS&S. There will also be somebody from Memphis HR with them.
Problems in the powerhouses and the pulp mill, along with the 'LOW' on the machines means outages and long hours for many mechanics. Be careful, watch out for yourself and your co-worker. Also, due to 'LOW' expect more of the 'multiple day, non-overtime outages' like we had so many of last year during the 'LOO'. If you have to send folks to one of these outages, make sure you use the right list.
January 20, 2010 - Catch up time, some random thoughts ...
SAFETY - We, as a mill, had a terrible time at the end of 2009, with 8 recordables in a 6 week period. Management, under a lot of pressure from Memphis to 'fix' safety at Courtland, and to increase employee engagement in safety, issued a plan to require every employee to generate a list of 3 safety initiatives to be responsible for this year. This created a groundswell of resentment and served more to disengage those who had been engaged ... This has since been modified to be more of a crew effort and will hopefully be more successful. We ALL want Courtland to be a safer place to work and I know that every crew out here can, working together, find things they can do to make that happen. I am also aware, and have told management on several occasions, that it is hard to convince people you want them 'engaged' in safety when (it appears to the employee) that the company only listens if our ideas fit in with their plans. Hard to get a guy to volunteer to participate in extra safety stuff while he is telling you he feels his job is unsafe due to added responsibilities and reduced manpower ...
We had our first serious injury of 2010 last Friday. Brex has 2nd degree burns on his hands. He will see the doctor again on Feb. 2.
SEDGWICK - Although we still have some problems and some members who are still fighting to get their FMLA or STD straightened out, we also have had a few successes... One member, after having his claim denied and being told his appeal would be denied, managed (with the help of the USW staff) to get his appeal handled by a different appeals manager. His appeal was approved, he has received his backpay and he has since had an extension approved so his STD benefits can continue for the full 26 weeks.
I know this doesn't help any if you are one of the ones arguing with Sedgwick but I assure you Courtland isn't the only place having these problems. Sedgwick is being talked about at higher levels and will be a major point of discussion during any 2011 Master Agreement talks.
VACATION SCHEDULING - The first round of scheduling is complete and the list should be out soon. Available weeks will then be filled on a 'first-come first-served' basis until February 1. Due to the confusion and fussing caused every year by the 'waiting list' for full weeks, and in lieu of a contractually mandated way of making such a list, we will be doing something different and, we believe, more fair, this year ... The waiting list has been compiled as the schedule was being filled out. When a week got full, the next person who put in for it and didn't get when on the waiting list. This will allow the senior most person, the person who would have gotten that week if it wasn't full, to be first on the list. Now, if I had it down as my third choice and someone junior to me had it as their first, he is ahead of me on the list as he would have gotten it ahead of me if it had not been full.
GAIN SHARING - The company put out a communication today that the mill's gain sharing plan has received all necessary approval, the only thing we have to do now is become 'Safety' eligible. One way of doing this is to have our rolling 24 month TIR get down to 1.23. I hope we reach this goal but I'd rather not have gain sharing than to have people not reporting injuries. Another way to become eligible is to become a VPP site. Everyone knows we did everything right and should have been accepted into VPP last year but our timing was just so bad ... we had OSHA here just after IP had had 2 fatalities and also just as the Department of Labor was undergoing political changes. There is a belief among a lot of folks that if we reapply we will be accepted. We will be able to reapply by July and that is being discussed as a possibility.
KIRT CUEVAS - Mr. Bruner's new boss visited the mill recently. In meetings with me and officials from the other Locals, he expressed how impressed he was with Courtland... not just the mill but the people he had talked to during his tour. More than once, he made comments about how Courtland is the kind of place and has the kind of people that the company should be willing to invest money in for the long-term.
OTHER STUFF - The supplements (updates) for the contracts had been sent to the printer and were ready to be printed when the printer contacted the company and informed them that they (the printer) had had a change in name and management and was no longer a union shop. Printing has been put on hold while other options are explored.
Members of the Maintenance Sick Fund voted in January to raise the dues from $8 to $10 per pay period. This should go into effect in February.
Chief is on vacation for 4 weeks, he will be back February 15. I will be away from the mill for a good part of Friday this week.
Whenever someone in your crew has a death in their family, please contact me or Edwin so we can take care of the flowers and/or Bibles. Don't just assume we know, we'd rather be told several times than not at all.
A by-laws change regarding the salaries of the Financial Secretary and the Treasurer has been properly approved and updated by-laws are now available.
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The opinions posted on this page are those of Johnny Phillips and do not necessarily reflect those of the USW, the other officers of Local 1137, or the majority of the members of Local 1137. Dissenting opinions may be submitted to admin@usw1137.org and may be published on a separate page.
