MARCH LABOR VIEWS

Service awards to members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners for the month of March were presented to:

Joseph Hague 30 years
Paul Oddo 30 years
Alfred Alviani 25 years
John Brown 25 years
Roland Denomme 25 years
Paul McDaniel 25 years
Congratulations!

SCAFF-TAG PROGRAM: Do you remember the article in September’s Labor Views about how our members formed and implemented a successful scaffold-tagging safety program? After months of implementation, the Company took over the responsibility for
having the scaffolding inspected and tagged on a daily basis. Recently, it has been brought to my attention that the carpenter foremen (especially in the Graving Dock area) aren’t following through with the established procedures of conducting a daily inspection. Reasons are that they feel they don’t have enough personnel or that it isn’t a priority when compared with the other work that needs to be done. In one case, I was informed that a carpenter general foreman accused one of our stewards of having a work stoppage when subcontractors and our electricians were working on incomplete staging on the 
774 boat. The foreman’s resolution to this stoppage was to pull off all of the red unsafe scaff-tags. This is another example of how safety takes a back seat to production. What happened to the Company’s motto “Safety First?” I strongly feel that Management 
and the Safety Department don’t take the safety of staging seriously enough.

Mark Makoid has informed us that half of the members of our Union will be laid off by October. How does he know? The Company doesn’t know what will happen one month from now. For example, in December, supposedly, we had so much work that the staging of the 774 boat was subcontracted while our members sat home during Christmas shutdown. Now, eight weeks later, we are told that half of us will be laid off in eight months. I’d prefer to look at the glass as half full, not half empty. I appreciate Makoid’s honestly, but his statements only hurt morale in the yard. 

We continue to lose contracts to Newport News and Portsmouth. Have others, like me, wondered why our bids are so much higher that we lose the work? It’s not because of the hourly worker because our pay and benefits are comparable to theirs. Doesn’t the Company need to examine who is bidding on these contracts, and why are we constantly higher than the other shipyards? Isn’t the Company better off making some money rather than no money?

The Company informed our Union that fifteen MDA people can regress back to the Carpenters’ Dept. The Union is questioning the right of some of these individuals to regress. There are a lot of factors that come into play when regression is considered, and some of those factors are not clear-cut. We will keep you informed of the results. 



The Company continues to evaluate the twenty-minute lunch that is currently in place. 
It was not the Union’s choice to go from a thirty minute lunch to a twenty-minute lunch. This change by the Company created a hardship for some people just as changing first shirt start time from 7:00 to 6:30 did. People’s lives are ruled by their work schedules and changing work schedules at the whim of the Company places a hardship on many people. Evidently, if the Company makes us go back to a half-hour lunch, they are admitting that they made a mistake in the first place. 

Regarding eyeglass replacement, a number of employees have asked me if they must turn in their old lenses in order to receive new lenses once each year. The answer is, “No”, you do not need to turn in old lenses to receive new ones. 

The Union has ordered copies of the new Constitution books. Several changes were made at the National Convention in August, and those changes will be included in the new books. If anyone wants a copy, please contact your area steward or call the office.

Visit our website for updates of the road job list or other information: www.local1302.com

  Fraternally Yours,

Mike Malone, President

Carpenters' Local 1302