December 16, 2008

The ILEU held its Second Annual Christmas Party at Beaver Brook last Friday, December 12, 2008 The 2008 Christmas Party was held on Friday, December 12, 2008 at the Beaver Brook Country Club. Approximately 60 ILEU members and Annuitants were in attendance. The party was planned and executed by our Secretary, Dee Bartlett, who did an Excellent Job!

Holiday Cheer!!! The membership in attendance dined on a Hot Buffet of Chicken Marsala, Sausage and Peppers, Calamari, and a few other favorites. The Bar was open for about two hours so as to allow the membership some Christmas Cheer without going overboard. Dinner and drinks were followed by a scrumptious dessert table, where folks helped themselves to a few thousand extra calories.

Margaret, our sole Union Photographer, who's presence at Union meetings and parties brings us back to a bygone era where everything from Service Anniversaries to Golf Outings was photographed by the staff photographers, was kind enough to give up her evening to take the many photos you'll see here at the web site!

The ILEU wishes to thank her for unselfishly lending her time and talents to help make the Christmas Party the smashing success it was.

Christmas Photos!

Below are photographs of the 2008 Christmas/Holiday party. The digital format lends itself well to members who wish to save some of the pictures for themselves. Click on any picture to view the full size photo in your browser. The pictures are very large (2896 X 1944) and are in the range of 1.5MB to 2.5MB. Feel free to save any of the images on the website for your own scrapbook!

• Christmas Party Photos

January 16, 2009

On Wednesday, January 14, 2009, the Union attended an Arbitration Proceeding to defend their interpretation of the "Pay When Conferring With Management" clause (Article VI) in our contract. The Union is satisfied with the way the arbitration was conducted. According to ILEU Treasurer, John Helmes, "We have a good feeling about the way things went, although you can never be sure what an arbitrator will think or do." Legal briefs are due to the arbitrator in mid-March and we expect a decision 30 - 45 days following the arbitrator's receipt of the briefs.

So what's so important about this arbitration? Well, if we lose , then there is no God! However, on a more earthly plane, this goes to the very heart of how the Union operates. When a Union representative goes to a meeting with EMRE management, the Union rep. is paid normally. That's the part that's still OK. If a Union rep. has to attend to Union business outside the plant, such as visiting Linden when we still represented Infineum, or meeting with our Lawyer or Accountants, the contract states that our (the Union reps.) pay should remain whole, and the Union will reimburse the Company for the time he or she was away. This was a very common practice, particularly if the representative went away to meet with other Unions, or oil workers, etc. It was so common, that it was listed on our weekly payroll exception report (OT slip).

Sometime in November 2007, the Company decided that they no longer viewed these contract provisions the same way. For whatever reason, they decided to give us a hard time about this. They gave us a choice to take the time unpaid and have the Union reimburse each of us, or take the time off as vacation. If we take the time as unpaid, the ILEU can reimburse us, however, our Thrift fund, retirement, etc. were going to be affected, not to mention the accounting headache that would arrive each April 15 when doing our income taxes. The Union reimbursement causes quite a tax headache that goes beyond Turbo Tax and the ordinary filer. We would also need a real accountant to do out taxes as well. That will cost additional money out of our own pockets.

Most Union representatives are willing to make sacrifices of their time and energy in order to perform their duties, but losing money and/or vacation time go way beyond the call of duty. The President and Treasurer of the ILEU have already lost 5 days of vacation each since November 2007 in order to perform Union Business. The Secretary and the new Vice President have also lost a couple of days. We have chosen the vacation as opposed to the direct loss from their Thrift fund and retirement, et al., in anticipation of winning this arbitration. The thinking behind this is that the Union can "buy back" the vacation days if we win the arbitration. The Union will pay the Company for the days as per the agreement and we should theoretically get our vacation time back. If we lose.....well.....many (read as most) of the ILEU representatives will either resign their positions, or not run again in the future. This would be bad for every single ILEU covered person in EMRE!

Let's not panic!.............yet!

We feel we have a very strong chance of winning this, but a very large problem still remains. The Company has vowed to change the contract provisions that deal with this (if they lose the arbitration) when we re-negotiate in mid 2010. This is where we will need ILEU solidarity. We think the Company will wave a monetary "Carrot" in the form of a signing bonus or something similar at us, in the hopes of having the Union members "Sell Out" for a few bucks. Unless we stand together, we are doomed........

So, Brothers and Sisters, that, as they say, is the story. Stay Tuned........

January 1, 2009

As of January 1, 2009 the monthly dues for membership in the ILEU was increased from $15/month to $25/month. The increase was voted on at the Christmas meeting which was held on December 12, 2008.

The dues hike was made necessary by the loss of the 67 members who moved to the Teamsters (see below) along with the increased operating expenses caused by the overwhelming number of discipline cases the Union has seen in recent years. Members will see the raise in dues as an additional $5 per paycheck deduction. Our Union remains an excellent value for the dollar.

January 1, 2009

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters became the sole and exclusive representatives of our former Brothers and Sisters at Infineum's, Linden Technology Center.

The folks at LTC needed to prepare for their future, and due to the age of the Union Representatives, along with the difficulties getting the ILEU Officers to Linden to work with these fine members, The ILEU has asked that the members at Infineum consider going with the Teamsters. In the past, when we had Officers on both sites who worked for both Companies, representation was easy to obtain for whoever needed it. However, when the handful of current Officers retires, there will be no one left with any knowledge of Infineum and its practices to properly represent these deserving, long time members. It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our ILEU Brothers and Sisters, but we are certain that this is a good move for the future.

The move was voluntary, with the full cooperation of the ILEU and the IBT Local 877 Officers. This was NOT a raid or hostile takeover. These folks at IBT local 877 are also long time friends of the ILEU and we have cooperated with them for many years. We expect that the solidarity on both sides of the "Highway" to provide some additional benefits and strength for the folks at LTC. The legal paperwork is now complete. The Company has been notified, and the folks at LTC are now full -fledged Teamsters as of January 1, 2009.

February 20, 2009

Just after last years Thanksgiving, the Union received an official protest of our November 2008 elections. The protest was filed by Herb Barry, a fairly new Union member who had run for the Union Presidency against the incumbent, Joe Markowski. With the typical 60% of the Union returning ballots, and all other positions running unopposed, Herb lost the presidential election by a vote of 79 to 13. His response to this was to file a protest of the election. The ILEU received the protest via U.S. Mail on December 2, 2008.

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February 8, 2010

General Membership Meeting.... There will be a General Membership Meeting on Friday, February 19, 2010. It will be held at the Beaver Brook Country Club promptly at 5:15 PM. Proposed By-Law Changes will be discussed and voted on. You can view the proposed changes here.