The process to ratify the proposed new contract will begin this week.

Be sure to check your mailbox, because a Contract Summary and a Mail-in Ballot will be sent to your mailing address on record.

It will include instructions on how to cast your vote and mail it in and when the ballots will be counted.

This new process, hopefully, will encourage thousands of shipbuilders -- new and seasoned -- to learn more about the agreement that will impact their daily lives for the next 5 years. The mail-in ballot puts the outcome in your hands.

Now, you can vote without making a special trip to the union hall and searching for limited parking. It will also allow fuller participation in the ratification vote.

Because this process is more inclusive, it will take more time to conduct the ratification vote. Therefore, immediate pay raises will be paid retroactively to February 7, 2022.

Be assured, you will get the $22,000 in new money contained in this new contract.

Ballots will be counted on March 7, 2022.

This is a big moment. For some members, it could open the door to a happy retirement. For others, it could mean faster progression and higher pay. And for domestic partners, it could bring much-needed medical benefits.

Whatever this contract means to you, don't be a bystander! Don't leave it in someone else's hand to decide the outcome.

Be clear, a "NO" vote will trigger another vote to STRIKE, with no guarantee of a better contract. The stakes are that high.

Consequently, the union plans to hold meetings at the union hall to help members understand new features in the contract and to answer members' questions. A meeting schedule will be published and circulated soon.

Meanwhile, get ready to let your voice be heard!

Hello Brothers and Sisters of Local 2-232, I hope that you are well.

We have had a few incidents in the past few weeks with management and union members having heated verbal exchanges. This has been a problem in every job that I have ever had, and I know that we are all used to a boss losing his temper; however, in a Union shop it is a little bit different.

In the non-union shops I have worked in, whenever I yelled back at my boss I was the only one who was punished. In a Union shop you pay for representation. You get to tell your side of the story. The catch is that we have to request our Steward.

This is called our WEINGARTEN RIGHTS and this is a law.

“If this discussion could lead in any way

to my being disciplined or terminated,

or affect my personal working conditions,

I respectfully request that my union

representative, officer, or Steward be

present at this meeting. Without

representation, I choose not to answer

any questions.”

Reciting this sentence, or merely saying “I want my Steward,” is the best option for us when we are dealing with stressed out and angry bosses. Don’t get pulled into a yelling match with the boss, they are ready for that. This is not the first time that a boss has used this tactic on a Union member, we have seen this tactic used back through time. It’s one of the reasons that workers unionized in the first place.

It takes a lot of self-control to NOT yell back, but it’s the best thing we can do. State that we want our Union Steward, and stop talking to the boss, it is our best bet. Our Stewards have special legal rights that even a lowly Unit President does not have, they are our representative on the shop floor, so let them speak to the boss on our behalf.

I am sorry that we have to work in such conditions, but we do not have to put up with it like the workers in non-unionized shops do. Ask for you Steward, and you’ll be in a better position.

In Solidarity,

-Brian

Regular Union Business

Regular Union Business