Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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Greetings STA, I wanted to take a few minutes to provide an overview of our meeting today with Walt Lastewka. First off, I must say Walt was much more interested than I thought he would be...down to having questions ready for us based upon the e-mail letter sent to him. Secondly, our agenda provided him with an overview of what truly ails us...the need for future investment! This investment or new work is intertwined with trade rules and has been a topic of the National CAW for well over a year driven in part by St. Catharines leadership. Some of you may remember the press conference our Local Union held on March 26th 2002. The original intent was to posture for the bargaining process but it ended up much more. The Auto Policy campaign initiated by the CAW is still ongoing and has had results. Money has been allocated...600 million...the issue we raised today and Geoff Maybee repeatedly brought Walt back to was how to get on hands on some of that money. Mr. Lastewka is only aware of one industry that was able to garner any amount and it wasn't auto! This is an issue I can raise with Brother Martin and the National CAW at our next CAW/GM Council in early Dec 2003 parallel to Mr. Lastewka's inquires. Thirdly, the hours of work and the type of work being performed on weekends along with the force in issue and GM's 60 hour violations seemed to catch the attention of Walt to the point he asked his assistant in front of us to get a copy of the employment standards act ASAP for him to review. The fact that Jim Bradley didn't respond to my original call also seemed to effect him! We can only hope that GM be forced to play by the same rules as us! The facts cannot be removed that just last weekend we had several production workers disciplined by GM for not coming to work and disregarding the force in. We also provided him with the actual number of force ins from the Gen 3 maint trades. Fourthly we reviewed the need for supplemental help and GM's lack of creativity to reward our members in sharing in their success. Apprenticeship needs were demonstrated through an actual demographic chart of GM maint trades and where we will be over the next five years...stressing GM has no plan to protect our future! Lastly, the overall meeting was a success with another meeting planned before Christmas. Your group is having an impact and must stay vigilant over the long haul and yes it may take time, as the 4th quarter and 1st quarter are slower periods in our industry. The most important thing is happening...people are talking! In closing, you all should know that Brothers Rich Moore, Mark O'Conner, Mike Murray and Peter Barber assisted me on my requests for information to put this package together. It's good to have a United Committee and a United group of laid off workers supporting each other and their leadership...it makes us stronger and more confident! STA STRONG! | ||||||
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