We are the United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union. We’re 1.2 million members and retirees strong in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. We proudly represent men and women who work in nearly every industry there is.
January 14, 2022 - After almost two years of waiting, Arbitrator Sims has delivered his much-anticipated decision on Shaw’s use of the Automation clause rather than the Lay-Off clause of the collective agreement when laying off the 54 Technical Field Representatives.
The arbitrator dismissed our grievance on the issue. To say that we are beyond disappointed in this decision is a gross understatement. We are having our legal team evaluate if an appeal, known as a Judicial Review in arbitral terms, is appropriate. In addition, we are now having to look at how this decision impacts several other grievances pertaining to the same articles.
The Union had a witness give sworn testimony, based on having been a former TFR that had transitioned into an installer role., His testimony was that “TFR’s have substantial expertise and skills, and could quite easily have been transitioned into the new roles with some training had seniority correctly been recognized”. The Employer, unfortunately, was able to convince the arbitrator that the TFR workgroup “overlooked some important skills which could be learned, but were not at the time possessed by TFR’s.”
Substantial case law was reviewed during the hearing, much of which related to the principles of Collective Agreement Interpretation, but the piece that seemed to sway the arbitrator the most was by Palmer and Snyder, Collective Agreement Arbitration in Canada, Fourth Edition, say at page 30:
“It is a general rule of interpretation that a specific provision takes precedence over a general one.”
He went on to articulate which part of the employer’s argument swayed him with the following statements:
“… we must conclude (a) that the laid off TFR’s were “redundant” and that the redundancy was due to “automation, or the introduction of new methods, equipment and organization.” The Employer says that its decision to eliminate TFR’s constituted to “a new organization””.
“Specifically here the “new organization” is said to be the move to a “single visit” residential service and install. That change is closely related to the technological changes that allow it to happen. This included, for example, the ability to control access and channels from a central office. This also includes, on a forward-looking basis at least, the growing trend to “install it yourself” home equipment.”
“Overall, the evidence persuades us that these changes were an integral part of a National Reorganization rather than a single decision, under this collective agreement, to eliminate the TFR category, its piece work system and its jurisdictional and service work restrictions. Those changes no doubt contributed to the Company’s motivation, but it was but one aspect of the commercial competition pressures it faced and the opportunities the developing technology offered. We are...
Le 14 janvier 2022 - Le Syndicat a mis en place une série de 3 ateliers en ligne d’une journée, sur le thème de la « Solidarité en temps difficiles », pour donner la chance aux membres de se rencontrer virtuellement et d’échanger des idées sur la façon dont les militants s’entraident et voient au bien-être de leurs collectivités. Voici tous les détails du troisième atelier, intitulé « La solidarité, c’est ça! » :
Date : mercredi 16 février 2022 Heure : de 11 h à 17 h 30 (heure avancée de l’Est) Où : en ligne (un lien pour accéder à la plateforme de la conférence sera fourni après l’inscription)
Vous pouvez vous inscrire de deux façons :
Les membres qui souhaitent participer pendant leur temps libre (sans avoir besoin de s’absenter du travail) peuvent s’inscrire via le formulaire en ligne du Syndicat des Métallos avant le 13 février 2022, à 23 h 59 heure de l’Est.
Les membres qui ont besoin d’un congé doivent soumettre leur demande en utilisant le formulaire Web de la Section locale avant la fin de journée du mercredi 2 février 2022. La Section locale procèdera à votre enregistrement si votre participation approuvée. Veuillez soumettre votre demande de libération syndicale immédiatement après avoir reçu la confirmation que vous êtes autorisé à participer pour un total de 6,5 heures.
Si vous êtes sélectionné pour assister à ces ateliers, il vous est demandé d’envoyer par écrit à la Section locale un résumé/avis sur votre expérience après l’événement.
January 14, 2022 - The Union has introduced a series of 3 online one-day workshops built around the theme of “Solidarity in Hard Times”, to give members the opportunity to meet virtually and exchange ideas on how labour activists can support one another and their communities. Below are the details for the third workshop, Solidarity Looks Like This:
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2022 Time: 11:00 am to 5:30 pm Eastern Time Where: Online (a link to access conference platform will be provided after registration)
There are 2 ways you can register:
Members who are willing to attend on their own time (without needing time off work) can register themselves via the United Steelworkers’ webform by February 13, 2022, 23:59 pm Eastern Time.
Members who require time-off should apply via the Local’s webformby the end of day, Wednesday, February 2, 2022. The Local will register you if you are approved by the Local to attend. Submit your UTO immediately after you received confirmation that you are approved to attend for a total of 6.5 hours.
If you are selected to attend these workshops, you are asked to submit to the Local a written summary/review of your experience after you have attended.
On January 11th, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) voted in favor of keeping in place the antidumping duty orders on uncoated paper imported from Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, and Portugal.
Antidumping and countervailing duties are typically reviewed by the ITC five years after implementation to determine whether revocation of the orders would likely lead to material injury to the industry.
To support efforts to maintain the orders and effectively fight for USW Paper Sector jobs, International Vice President Leeann Foster testified to the USITC in November and detailed the critical impact that the existing orders have had on USW-represented paper employers.
In her testimony, Vice President Foster stated, “When a paper machine goes down, local tax revenues are deeply affected; not only due to jobs lost at the mill, but also due to the six to seven jobs in the community that rely on that paperworker. When an entire paper mill goes down, it is like an economic bomb going off in the community – deeply impacting not only the workers and the jobs those workers support, but also schools and local governments in the area as revenue is lost, as well as the service industry such as hotels and restaurants in the area, many of which exist to support the mill, the paperworkers, and their families”.
Closures like that of Georgia-Pacific’s uncoated capacity at its Port Hudson, LA, or Domtar’s Port Huron, MI mill, resulted in the loss of hundreds of good-paying union jobs and has had devastating effects on those local communities. Undoubtedly, if the orders had been revoked by the USITC, unfairly traded imports would have quickly accelerated additional losses in the domestic uncoated paper industry, just as they did in the original investigation.
The USW continually works with legal counsel and international trade advocacy groups to spearhead investigations into unfair trade practices that impact our members.
*3M Payroll can now print checks again effective Nov. 12th. If you would like this option make the change in Workday to receive paper copies instead of electronic copies.*
*3M Payroll can now print checks again effective Nov. 12th. If you would like this option make the change in Workday to receive paper copies instead of electronic copies.*
*We did order T-Shirts to be given away, at future Membership Mtgs. *
*We did order T-Shirts to be given away, at future Membership Mtgs. *
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***The Federal Mandate "As of today ,employees,workers and suppliers will not be required to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing at any of sites. " Eric Hammes*
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***The Federal Mandate "As of today ,employees,workers and suppliers will not be required to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing at any of sites. "( Eric Hammes)*
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*The USW is still waiting for a reply from 3M on The Counter.*
*3M Payroll can now print checks again effective Nov. 12th. If you would like this option make the change in Workday to receive paper copies instead of electronic copies.*
*3M Payroll can now print checks again effective Nov. 12th. If you would like this option make the change in Workday to receive paper copies instead of electronic copies.*
*We did order T-Shirts to be given away, at future Membership Mtgs. *
*We did order T-Shirts to be given away, at future Membership Mtgs. *
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*On November 1st The Union sent a counter to 3M,s MOU on The Vaccination Mandate. 3M has yet to respond.*
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***The Federal Mandate "As of today ,employees,workers and suppliers will not be required to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing at any of sites. " Eric Hammes*
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*3M has extended The Federal Mandate from December 8th to January 4th.*
*The USW is still waiting for a reply from 3M on The Counter.*
*The USW is still waiting for a reply from 3M on The Counter.*
