Minutes for the Regular Monthly Meeting 8.3.22

Call to Order

President Czappa called the regular monthly meeting of the USW Local 59 to order August 3, 2022 at 7pm at the Laborers Hall in Wisconsin Rapids. 10 members were present. 

Roll Call of Officers:

All officers were present except Trustee Repinski

Reading of the Minutes

July’s Monthly Meeting was called to order July 6, 2022 by Vice President Vitello. 12 members were present. All officers were present except President Czappa. 

A motion to accept June’s meeting minutes as read by Secretary Lieber was made by Sergeant at Arms Gustin and seconded by Trustee Repinski. This motion carried.

A motion to accept new member application as read by Treasurer Bray was made by Treasurer Bray and seconded by Sergeant at Arms Gustin. This motion carried.

A motion was made to accept the Treasurer’s Report as reported by Treasurer Bray by Sergeant at Arms Gustin and Seconded by Trustee Janicki. This motion carried. 

A motion to adjourn July’s regular monthly meeting was made by Trustee Repinski and seconded by Trustee Janicki. 

Application for New Members

Treasurer Bray did not report any new applications. 1 new member: Alexis Allworden. Corey Suzda withdrawn from the union. Robert Guillaume retired. The USW Local 59 membership for the month of July is 252, with five non-members: Doug Drexler, Josiah Brandt, Paul Besclich, Justin Derezinski, and Jeff Slovensky.

Communication and Bills

-Wisconsin State AFL-CIO 2021-2022 Voting Record, requested 50 additional copies

E-Board Monthly Meeting Notes 7.26.22

Donny Carlson has been appointed as trustee. We will take nominations on Wednesday at regular monthly meeting.

Amanda Bowman-starch cook- will be a steward. Need to find out if John Wogerman will be doing relief boss or not. Scott Hanneman, Craig Mancel -beaters, unless he changes union

Vice President Vitello-

-need to have representation at hpi-human performance investigation- meetings/investigations. Go into meetings truthfully and with remorse.

            **If you get called into one of these meetings, bring a union rep with you to be safe.

-company wants to find better ways to do training. Sounds like bargaining. Get a negotiation committee going. 

-letter from Nathan Schwantes-Port Edwards Booster Club Football -high school football team. Donation would go towards equipment, banner, field improvements.

Trustee Repinski motioned, Treasurer Bray seconded the motion for 1k pledge suggestion, the State Championship Level. This motion carried. Will be voted on at regular monthly meeting by the body.

Vice President Vitello motioned to purchase business cards up to $155 total for union leadership. Trustee Janicki seconded. Secretary Lieber will send new website address information once it is given to her to include on business cards along with the Weingarten rights.

-ETP had an ammonia spill. Trustee Repinski and Safety Manager Tschudy were present for investigation. Could have been potential information gathering. Should have representation when asking questions that could lead to discipline

Trustee Janicki

-There has been endloader training in wood yard for a week. Pushing chips and scraping blacktop so new operators get a feel for what the job actually is.

-About July 14th #34 crane went down and its back up and running today. American State took a while to figure out it was an injector issue. 

-#33 is up by the mill, and its boom got damaged. Process Owner Brian Lang told Chris Milkey to take #35 up to mill. This crane has a much larger boom than necessary for woodroom crane needs. There is no guardrail installed yet along catwalk on #32. Until this installation, #32 cannot be used for woodroom crane.

Secretary Lieber-

-received a flyer from AFL-CIO with voting records of our state representatives. Will order more 50 more.

-Jessica Senn discussed having preferred trainers. Opportunities for OT should be on seniority basis.

-Woodroom bin level. They have received instructions to run without break if training does not allow the shift to run through break when bins are low, denying bathroom/rest breaks.

Treasurer Bray-

-Discussed frustration with overtime resulting from a lack of hiring and training.

-There is a shortage of TShirt sizes for new hires. Will keep ordering as they become available.

Trustee Repinski-

-Due to safety incidents with truck traffic, Domtar reached out to Midstate, who will be providing an 8hr training day for new hires on truck safety. The most recent training group received a training period of 4 hours with clamp and fork trucks to practice things that they will be doing on the floor. Will be doing some crane training in wood yard.

-Cando had a few safety incidents. 

-Train derailment that wasn’t reported. Train cars need to be reinspected after a derailment before they can go into service. 

-Pulled a car out that was still hooked up to caustic. Failures on both Domtar and Cando. 

-Folded up a gangplate into a U shape on paper side.

-Domtar will be reviewing blue light policy. Will be having a Domtar person walk with them around the cars temporarily until a new policy is written and enacted.

-If you are a punched in Domtar employee and need to use the restroom while outside, you are able to use the security office restroom.

President Czappa-

-Donation request for the Alex C Dove Foundation to help buy a sectional for the house and mattresses. Will need volunteers when items arrive to help move them into the house.

President Czappa motioned for a suggestion of a $2500 donation. Trustee Repinski seconded. This motion carried to vote on at the regular monthly meeting by the body.

-Received notice of the Annual USW District 7 Joint Union/Management Safety & Health Conference October 6-7 in Michigan City, IN. $125 registration fee per delegate. The theme of this conference will be Mental Health, Breast Cancer, & Drug Awareness.

-Received notice of the AFL-CIO 32nd Biennial Convention in Madison, WI, September 19-20. Registration fee of $100 per delegate. 

-Received notice of the District 7 Fall Bowling Tournament on October 22 in Hammond, IN. Team registration fee is $140.

Trustee Repinski made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Trustee Janicki seconded. This motion carried and adjourned the Monthly E-Board meeting.

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Bray reported a beginning balance of $49,713.09. A detailed list of income and expenses were read, leaving a balance of $50,691.79 with a savings of $199,313.02.

Trustee Janicki motioned to accept the minutes as read, seconded by Seargant at Arms Gustin. This motion carried.

Old Business

-Bob Gilliam Retired.

-Paper side not getting support they need from management. Mark Oleson isn’t calling people in to fix things and isn’t helping people do their job.

New Business

• Vote on Port Edwards Booster Club Football Team $1000 for highest level. Gustin motion, bray second. Motion carried
• Vote on Donation to Alex C Dove Foundation $2500 Gustin motion, bray second. Motion carried
• Vote on District 7 Joint Union/Management Safety & Health Conference-send up to 3 people to conference. $175 per delegate. Gustin motion, Janicki second
• Vote on 2022 Wisconsin AFL-CIO 32nd Biannual Convention $100 per delegate. Send 2 people to conference. Gustin motion, Carlson second. 
• Nominations for Trustee-Donny Carlson is our new Trustee. No other nominations were present.

New Business

Wogerman-when they rescheduled the paper machine utility pool, the need is no longer present. It restricts where utility workers can work. Instead of staying on a shift and jumping between machines as needed, they’re staying on a machine and jumping around shifts. Possibility to train utilities on 3rd and 4th hand on each machine for flexibility.

-potential to go to 4-on-2-off 12s to train up on #4 machine. The best way to speed up training would be to put an extra utility on each machine.

-12-hour schedules need to be voted on by the body if we want to leave the southern swing.

-rumor is that we have 8 people coming in from last hire group

-need more relief in test lab. Don Montag worked a 16, after he left, management stepped in and did the job 

-preferred trainers-training coordinator to follow up with people on the status of their training? Training advocate? 

-sop development? Paper side is lacking

-beater room schedule figured out. Had a master schedule jump shift, and that created overtime on a lower ranking job

-if there is a refreshment request, let Mark Gustin know

-post wood room jobs

Website is live

Good and Welfare

Adjournment