IUE-CWA LOCAL 717 MAY 2023

News of IUE-CWA Local 717 2950 Sferra Ave Warren, Ohio 44483

Office: (330) 392-1591 • Fax: (330) 395-4875

www.iue-cwalocal717.com

Published by the IUE-CWA Local 717 in the interest of its membership, to further the aims and programs of Local 717 and to promote the policies of the International Union of Electrical Workers. “Local 717 Union News” is printed with pride by the members of the Meadville Graphic Communications Workers Local 338 C

Michael Kish President

Joseph Ferradino Vice President

Brian Lutz Shop Chairman

Gary Tillman Financial Secretary

Michael Martin Treasurer

Veronica Dawkins Recording Secretary

Jeff Cleer................................................Floor Guard

ExECUtIvE BOARd

Troy Butcher

Bill Eaton

Mark Graczyk

Clinton Plott

Ed Ringer

Dennis Thompson

Heidi Mindek

tRUStEES

Jennifer Daniszewski

Kim Rock

Sonya Brown

SkILLEd tRAdES CHAIRMAN

J J Scarmuzzi

BENEFItS AdMINIStRAtOR

Melany Kish

EdItORIAL dEpARtMENt

Michael Kish Editor-in-Chief

Our Editorial policy

This paper is the voice of your Local and International Union, it provides information and opinions relative to the policy and programs of the International as well as the views and actions of our Local’s leaders and committees

Local 717 Union News welcomes articles from the members of Local 717 All articles should be constructive and contribute positively to the welfare of the entire membership.

The views and opinions expressed by the writers are their own and do not reflect the opinions, views or policy of the editorial Staff of IUE-CWA Local 717

Local 717 Union News reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication and to reject any article deemed not in the best interest of Local 717.

All Advertisements that appear in IUE-CWA

Local 717 Union News do not signify and endorsement of Local 717.

President’s Report

By Mike Kish

Elections: As most of you are aware, we have a vacancy on our Executive Board due to the death of one of our members At this Sunday’s Membership meeting, we will be voting to fill that vacancy. The term will be through December when we conduct Officer elections. Due to Plant 47’s Continuous Run schedule, the polls will open at 4:00pm and remain open through the end of the meeting. We have 6 people who were nominated for the position. I wish them all well and I look forward to working with whomever wins. Please make time to stop in and vote on Sunday!

Lay-Offs: It appears schedules throughout the Ohio Operations are resulting in temporary lay-offs in all 4 plants. Due to the Covid epidemic over the past few years, most of you are experienced in filing for Unemployment Compensations and SUB. However, with the influx of new members, there will undoubtedly be some who are new to this. A couple bullet points to remember: starting the Sunday before your lay-off week, you’re required to open your claim with the State. The Monday following your pay-off week, you will claim any earnings for that week (including Sunday earnings for this in Plant 47) If you fail to do either or both of these, it will be very difficult to fix it. I’ve included the Temporary Lay-Off sheets in this month’s paper. I encourage you to speak to your Committeeperson with any questions or call Melany, the Benefit Administrator at (330) 392-1591 ext 224 She can help you navigate the UC and SUB process and answer any questions.

I would like to wish a very Happy Mother ’s Day to all of our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, who have raised us and/or helped raise the children in our lives!

A very happy Memorial Day as well. May we never ever forget the ultimate sacrifices made by those who swore to protect us and our freedoms!

Unemployment key Notes

• To file online you will be prompted to set up an Ohio/ID

• You can file by calling 1-877-644-6562 8am-5pm Mon - Fri (you will need to fo to mail correspondence so you can provide required documents for SUB pay)

• You must do the work search in the week of layoff to qualify for unemployment

• When asked about union affiliation put none re: they are looking for trade unions that are a hiring hall also. We are not.

• You must start your claim the week you are on layoff. If you don’t you will not be able to go back and you will be disqualified for both unemployment & SUB

• You must fo in and claim your week once the week has ended and you will repeat this every week until you return

• To file SUB you need two documents attached:

1 - Determination (this will show how much you qualify for and for how many weeks.

2 - Paystub (showing what you got paid from unemployment) if you are on a waiting week, we must provide something showing that instead.

• May sure you claim any pay you earn in a week of layoff (not your paycheck earned the previous week) Holiday and Sundays are commonly forgotten) Any questions please call Melany kish 330-392-1591 ext 224

Shop Chairman’s Report

By Brian Lutz

I hope all is well with all Local 717 members and their families May is here and so is our yearly elections for District, Zone, and Alternate Committeeperson elections. This year ’s election has an interesting twist going on as the Company has decided to try to infiltrate our internal election process and tell us that certain individuals cannot serve in elected positions. Now, have they said these words? NO, they have not stated this at all, yet their letter dated April 21, 2023 states that they are calling for a re-districting of the committee people. First, this demand has never been sent to anyone in Local 717 history during the actual election process that begins every year at the April membership meeting, and this goes back to 1949 I want to take a stroll down memory lane for just a minute. Does anyone remember when this company had to have the right to take Plants 11 and 7 from Traditional shift pattern to the continuous run shift pattern during the 2015 negotiations? Do you remember when the first Tentative Agreement of 2015 went down and failed to be ratified by this membership? Well, I remember it quite well and the parties moved the negotiations to Dayton, Ohio to the IUE Headquarters. A little further stroll down memory lane and quite possibly if you were here then and in continuous run in Plant 47 you will clearly remember what it was like to have a Union call but might not be able to see your committeeperson until the following cycle since we only had one committeeperson for all 4 crews. Now, I believe that one committeeperson was and still is a fantastic Union representative but trying to represent 4 crews on a 3 on 3 off shift pattern and the plant is running 24 hours a day 7 days a week, is an almost impossible task. The Union membership at that time told the bargainers that level of representation was not acceptable and demanded a change. Now, if there is anything that a Union bargainer will tell you it would be a very simple concept and that is: when the company wants something bad during bargaining this is the time when the Union can get what it truly needs for its membership. The Union made this company fix that lack of representation in continuous run because it is something we needed in exchange for something they had to have the right to do Anyone who has ever bargained an agreement will tell you this. During that set of bargaining the company committed to fix the districting plan to give representation to those in continuous run, and they in fact kept that commitment after the Union successfully ratified that agreement by writing an agreement hereto referenced as the Districting Plan. That plan called for the Union to have 5 district committee people and if Plant 11 goes to continuous run the Union will gain an additional district taking the total number of districts to 6. That districting plan was agreed to for the life of the agreement and the funny thing is we are now in 2023 and the company now wants to demand to change that which all your votes clearly purchased at the bargaining table when they wanted to transition Plant 11 to continuous run.

Where are they coming from, you might ask? Well, prior to the bank-

Shop Chairman’s Report continued on page 4

Shop Chairman’s Report continued from page 3 ruptcy, there were about 20 different Local Unions all over the United States of America who were all part of the GM family from an automobile parts manufacturing perspective and collectively they were originally called the IUE/GM Conference Board. The name changed to Delphi and additional units were added over the years if they were represented by the IUE, I even remember a steelworker Local Union taking part in our conference board because they were owned by GM yet were represented by the steelworkers and they were located on Needmore, Road in Dayton. Don’t ask me the history of that one but I got to know several of the reps there and they were good Union guys. Anyways, all the local Unions from around the country had their own Local agreement they individually negotiated at their locations, and we all were part of a National Agreement, which all Locals took part in the negotiations with the Conference Board Chairman as the lead negotiator for the Union during the National Agreement negotiations. Local 717 had two agreements, a National Agreement, and a Local Agreement until the Delphi Bankruptcy, and upon emerging from the Bankruptcy the parties had only one agreement that was supposed to put together at each location When the Warren location was under both agreements there were times when the National Agreement and Local Agreement came into conflict with each other, and it was at these times where most of the time the National Agreement superseded the terms of the Local Agreement Most of the time??? It is unfortunate that these things are so complicated at times but to make this article more complex, there was a provision in the National Agreement that was written at the back of the 2003 grey National Agreement This provision was called Article 15, and article 15 was a waiver for the Local agreement to supersede the terms of the National Agreement. I want to try to explain why this company still thinks this is still the way our current collective bargaining agreement works even though the National parties are long gone and don’t exist by those original terms. There are no national agreement negotiations and there is no conference board post-bankruptcy, yet this company thinks it can agree during negotiations with the Union 5 committeeperson districts and if plant 11 transitions to continuous run the Union will get a 6th district committeeperson, during successive bargaining sessions (2015 and 2020) in writing. Do you remember just last October when the Company notified the Union, they were transitioning Plant 7 to Continuous Run shift pattern? They did in fact transition Plant 7 to Continuous run and shortly after the new year they saw that this was a very bad business decision and notified the Union they were going back to a traditional shift pattern Did anyone ever ask how they can do this? The answer would be and is they have the right to transition Plant 11 and 7 to continuous run because you and I agreed to it during a negotiation, and it was ratified successfully by the entire membership to be part of the agreement

The question of the hour (I know this is a long article but bear with me please) is: How does this company think they can do this? The worstanswer I have is that I have dealt with every company name that has been at the Warren Ohio location of Packard Electric, and this aptiv company is the worst about keeping their collective word after they get what they want. It used to be difficult to prove a “verbal commitment” and rightfully so, because you shouldn’t make any verbal commitments with an entity that cannot even keep their written word. There’s an old Union saying that a verbal commitment is equally pertinent and enforceable only if both parties are honorable to their word, whether it be written or a handshake agreement.

(not the original saying but you get the gist) This company gave notice to the Union they are going to implement some old National Agreement language and forget or ignore all that we have bargained for after the bankruptcy and the dissolution of the National Agreement. The Union will fight this with everything we have because if the gains made at the bargaining table can be just taken away when mgt is bleeding money due to awful business decisions made, we have a unbelievably terrible future in front of us.

Now that you all understand that the next part will show you how far these individuals are willing to go to try to scare the Union leadership into making an additional agreement. On May 5th mgt delivered another letter to the Local 717 Union Hall and the contents of this letter will be explained shortly Now I will only explain what it is they are saying and please do not take it they are stating anything other than old National Agreement language that has long been different than what we have already agreed to after the dissolution of the National Agreement The letter states they want to take away your agreed to bargaining committee even though the August of 2007 agreement states otherwise The letter clearly shows that mgt doesn’t even know how those terms or provisions cited in the letter are actually interpreted and that is very easy to understand and that is because the National Agreement was never interpreted by Local parties until after the bankruptcy and now you have this company implementing language when they themselves, have agreed to different language, I guess if you have two personalities then this is very possible but if this company proves to have zero integrity then where does that leave us as a Local Union membership? That is the most difficult question of all and quite honestly one that cannot be answered in just a simple collection of words My belief is that this company is being given bad advice by someone who doesn’t understand what the context of the current language means. Now what this company is trying to do is circumvent the bargaining process I will remind you all of the most important document in any of our collective bargained agreements and I have said it a million times and that is the “Contract Settlement Agreement”. Please everyone read that specific letter contained on page 368 of our agreement because there is a significant relevance to all of these things and if this company was true to their words agreed to in writing they would be doing what they agreed to during the negotiations and instead of cancelling these Union positions they would be utilizing them to help the business become more efficient instead of neglecting their inherent commitment to the membership of Local 717.

In closing this company is attacking us at the very core of what we do and that is representation of our membership It is a good time for each member of Local 717 to make sure they know exactly what their rights are in the agreement, because the duty of fair representation is what this company is trying to take away from you I remember when I first started there was a Union rep for the entirety of every shift and every department, I ever worked in After Bankruptcy the parties agreed to a much different representation that now has representatives working split shifts that nobody would want to work the hours they are working and representing like that is very difficult on those reps After a few negotiations we have much better representation, but it is still not close to what was here in 1994 There were not one representative representing different shifts in different locations and there was never Production reps representing skilled trades employees on the committeeperson level, and these things have been modified to have the representation we have today. It isn’t perfect at all, but it is what our collective vote

Shop Chairman’s Report continued on page 5

Shop Chairman’s Report continued from page 4 purchased at the table during bonified bargaining sessions, and it is what the Union will continue to enforce the terms of I have been thinking about this subject since the letter writing campaign from aptiv began and there are also some very important things we have agreed to that also fall into the same category the company is utilizing to their favor with these letters. It would be unfortunate for the company to win this argument because the Union will have no choice but to do the same exact thing the company is trying to do and enforce the terms of the old National Agreement and pretend that Local negotiations never happened. This may be the longest article I have ever written but it also might be the most important information I have shared in this article so sorry for the wordiness, but I am who I am!

STAY TUNED!! See you at the Meeting!!

In Unity!!

Brian

PS- I will be scheduling a training session with the newly elected representatives sometime in May I also want to congratulate Mark Franko for stepping up to represent the members assigned to PM shift and District 4, and I look forward to getting to know our newest representative, but he isn’t new to the Union as he was also a representative at the UAW Local in Lordstown Congratulations to Mark!

Skilled Trades & Health and Safety Report

By J.J. Scarmuzzi

tool and die Apprenticeships

All testing and interviews have been completed for the (6) Tool and Die Apprenticeships. Everyone who interviewed over the last several Saturdays will all be notified by email with your results the week of May 15th. Thank you to all (83) that took the time to study and the time to test Congratulations and good luck to those that have been selected. Tentatively we are planning on starting this new class in early June. Anyone wanting to know or see their individual scores, please notify Rick Mercer (330) 373-4819 or JJ Scarmuzzi (330) 373-7926.

New Hire Skilled trades

I am pleased to say that the Company has hired some new Journeyperson Skilled Tradesmen. They will start working here in mid-May and will defiantly be an added help. I would like to welcome new hire Electrician John D’Amico and new hire Tool and Die Makers Sam Sonoga and John McConaughey Please welcome these gentleman when you meet them on the floor. Anyone knowing of any other Skilled Trades looking for employment, apply on INDEED COM or get me their contact information

Happy Mother’s day and Happy Memorial day

In Solidarity, JJ Scarmuzzi

Recording Secretary’s Report

By Veronica

Dawkins

Membership Meeting Sunday, April 16, 2023

Vice President Joseph Ferradino called the meeting to Order

He asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance

He reminded everyone to sign the registration book and to please silence their cell phones.

Nominations are now open for Zone, district, and Alternate Committeepersons

Reading of the minutes of the March Membership meeting.

Motion to Accept Minutes as printed by kim Rock 2nd: Heidi Mindek M/p

Recommendations of the Executive Board

Temporary appointment of John Lewis to Executive Board

Purchase memorial windchime for family of Dennis Thompson

Motion to accept Executive Board recommendations by troy Butcher

2nd: Ron Bagaglia M/p Financial Report

Financial report for March given by Gary Tillman

Motion to Accept Financial Report by Mike Martin 2nd: Jeff Cleer M/p Committee Reports

Shop Committee – Brian Lutz

• Schedules in Plant 7 are low at 30-35 million pieces per week thru April. The plant shipped 140 million pieces in March. Twenty four new tools are to arrive by the end of the year Both plant 98 and plant 47 are looking to move work from plant 98 to 47 due to a shift in volume. Currently there are open request to be filled within production(mold-setter and utility). There are also six tool and die position that they intend to fill An outside company has been contracted to perform air testing in the back of the plant due to the lack of ventilation in that area.

• Schedules in Plant 47 are at full capacity and the plant had very little down downtime last month. The filling of the cornbins in plant 7 for plant 47 continues to improve.

• Schedules in Plant 10 continue to be wxtremely low at and average of 2 5 million feet of cable thru April. May continues to be low with a slight increaser. Management will be performing an extensive inventory of Plant 10 with schedules very low The plant will take a week or two of down time with some temporary layoffs at the end of April and the beginning of May.

• Schedules in Plant 11 for April are low at 35 million pieces a week. There

were 195 million pieces shipped in March Three presses were removed from the front of 1108 and that area is now being prepped for the installation of the new Brueder presses.

No other Committees reported

Motion to Accept Committee Reports as presented By: Ron Bagaglia

2nd: kim Rock M/p

Unfinished Business - None

New Business

Nominations for vacant Executive Board Seat

Alexandria Brown Accept Leigh timko Accept

Jeff dozier Accept david twyford Accept

Ronnie Grubbs Accept John Lewis decline

Heather perez Accept

Good and Welfare

Veterans Committee Raffle Drawing - Winners

TV - Ron Bagaglia • Bike - Tina Shaffer

Roll Call of Officers and Elected Officials

president Mike kish E

vice-president Joe Ferradino p

Shop Chairman Brian Lutz p

Skilled trades Chairman JJ Scarmuzzi p

Financial Secretary Gary tillman p

treasurer Mike Martin p

Recording Secretary veronica dawkins p

Floor Guard Jeff Cleer p

Executive Board troy Butcher p

Bill Eaton p

Mark Graczyk p

Clinton plott p

dennis thompson p

Ed Ringer p

Heidi Mindek p

trustees Jennifer daniszewski A

kim Rock p

Sonya Brown A

Benefit Administator Melany kish E

Alternate Julianne Mazerek p

EAp Monica dobbs Faulkner p

Alternate dave McBride A

Alternate Heidi Mindek **

Health & Safety JJ Scarmuzzi **

trainer Rick Mercer A

Zone Committeeman Mark Graczyk **

Committeman dist 1 April Reitz p

Alternate Leigh timko p

Committeeman dist 2 daniel Heath p

Alternate William Eaton **

Committeeman dist 3 Gary tillman **

Alternate veronica dawkins **

Committeeman dist 4 Heather perez p

Alternate dennis thompson **

Committeeman dist 5 Jeff Cleer **

Alternate Ron Bagaglia p

Election Committee Julianne Mazarek ** kim Swain p

Women’s Committee Andrea daniels A

Co-Chair Angela Sheppard A

political Action Joe Ferradino **

Social Action Gary tillman **

veterans Committee Bernardo Rivera p

Constiution Jeff Cleer **

Lord’s prayer dedicated to family of Dennis Thompson, Elton Mitchell, Denise Williams, Belinda Kelly, Louise Hartell, Angela McGregor, Yvonne Bourlier

Motion to Adjourn: By: Jeff Cleer 2nd: John Lewis M/p

Veterans Report

By Bernardo Rivera

It's May already!

I would like to wish everyone a happy Memorial Day and to express my ideology on this solemn day

To most Americans Memorial Day is the official holiday where we open our pools, light our grills and start enjoying better weather, especially those of us in the Midwest This is the day where we honor our fallen brothers and sisters who gave all, so the rest of us can sleep in our beds tonight. I am not taking anything from the ones that are serving now or our veterans, there's a different day for us! "I do not raise my glass to you in celebration, I bow my head and pray you may have peace! Your battle is over." I hope when you arrived at those pearly gates and Saint Peter asked you "why you deserve to enter"? I hope you sound off!!! And tell him, " Many heard the call but I dear sir answered, many fed the sheep, but I kept the wolves at bay, I may not have agreed to why I was there, yet I laced my boots and stood at the ready My job was not to win the war but to make sure my buddy went home!

I am the one the devil warned you about! But yet Saint Peter, I am still humble and now I wish to serve your superior! Any questions or concerns

rivera bernardo@aol com

In eternal gratitude,

Bernardo Rivera