February 2009 Labors’ Views

Service awards to members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for the months of January and February were presented to:

Jean Leblanc                 50 years

James Mattos                  30 years

Lance Sistare                  30 years

James Vose                     30 years

James White                    30 years

Timothy Pont            25 years

Richard Bicknell                25 years

Congratulations!

Updated seniority lists are out.  If anyone would like to see one, ask your steward.  Updated road job lists are also posted on all area bulletin boards.  Check to make sure that you agree with where you are on the list.  If you have any questions, please give me a call, and I will meet with you. 

As far as road work for our department is concerned, we still have a few carpenters in Portsmouth, NH, until the end of this month.  After that, we don’t have any road work scheduled for 2009.  Our own work load in the shipyard is busy until the end of the year so it is probably good that we have no road work.  We need to make sure that we support our own work before we help other shipyards.  All in all, the work that we have been given from other shipyards has been a big help in keeping people employed.  If it wasn’t for the road work, we would have seen hundreds of layoffs.  I really appreciate the sacrifices made by those people who went on road jobs allowing the rest of us to remain home.   It has been brought to my attention that the Company feels that some people were overpaid on road jobs.  The Company is planning to contact those individuals whom they feel were overpaid and reimbursement is expected. 

The Company will not be issuing any more early checks.  People who work ten or twelve hours per day, they will continue to get checks on Thursday. 

Smoking practices in the shipyard has been questioned by John Casey.  He mentioned that some smokers have been smoking out of the designated areas, and people aren’t using the proper receptacles to dispose of the cigarette butts.  They are being thrown on the ground, and someone has to be paid to clean these up.  For those of you who smoke, if you see someone smoking in the wrong area or discarding cigarette butts improperly, you need to address the situation with that individual.  Everyone who smokes may end up losing their smoking privileges in the shipyard if this situation continues. 

At this month’s Union meeting, our local will be addressing officers’ salaries.  If anyone is interested, I suggest you attend this month’s meeting.  At December’s and January’s meetings, a salary committee was chosen.  They are Don Kniss, Adam Hunt, and Steve Adams. 

Local 1302 pays a per capita fee every month to the UBC.  In December our International Union informed us that we would see an increase of $1.00 in the per capita dues starting in January. We had not taken this into account when we voted in November to keep our local monthly dues at $20.00  (which is the lowest of all MTC locals).  This increase was unexpected, and our local will be losing money each month.  At December’s meeting, we decided NOT to increase our monthly dues, therefore, we are NOT passing on this $1.00 increase to the membership.  This increased cost will come out of our surplus this year.   After this year, the by-laws committee will need to take this into consideration. 

A lot of questions have been asked by  the CT employees who have transferred from HealthNet to United Health Insurance.  The Company has allowed the MTC to have one paid position to address insurance concerns.  That person is Frank Ward.  By the time you read this, I will have posted his contact information on the area bulletin boards.  In addition to contacting him, you can log onto the website www.myuhc.com with any questions or concerns you may have.  Bob Tardif and I will also be available to help anyone with insurance needs.

For members who get prescriptions for 100 days at a time, you must use the Medco order form which was enclosed in your introductory insurance packet.  These forms are also available through the benefits office or ask your local steward.