IBEW Local 2326 Fights For Laid-off Telephone Worker--NLRB Rules Reinstatement

Article published Dec 17, 2005
VTel, union will appeal NLRB's recent rulings

SPRINGFIELD — The Vermont Telephone Company and the union for its workers plan to appeal recent rulings issued by the National Labor Relations Board.

VTel and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been trading charges through NLRB over the past four months.

Neither side is happy with the board's decisions against them. Both sides say the goal is to return to the negotiating table.

VTel President Michel Guite said he has been waiting 14 months to get the contracts in place for his company's Internet technicians.

"Pick any day and we'll be back to the table," he said.

The charges with the NLRB date back to contract negotiations in October 2004. The union has declined to sign the final draft of the contract because they said VTel changed the wording on the insurance coverage after the negotiations.

Alfred Gordon, attorney for the IBEW, said the language change lifted responsibility off VTel's shoulders should health providers decide to drop coverage.

"We can't afford to give the company the out for a plan that could be watered down," he said.

Region 1 of the NLRB in Boston, which has only remedial powers, has issued a complaint against the union for not signing the contract.

The union plans to appeal the case.

VTel is also in hot water with the NLRB over the layoff of Internet technician Donna Monahan of Chester on Sept. 23. The NLRB said VTel should not have laid off Monahan while she and two other members of the Internet group were in contract negotiations.

Guite said the company does not need as many Internet technicians because of an increase in DSL customers who require less technical support.

Guite said this was the reason for the layoff and it is not against the law.

"If you spend a year bargaining and you have to decrease your work group you have a right. You have to be fair to your customers, you have to be fair to the other employees," he said.

Guite plans to appeal on a national level because he has been told that "the Boston office is ideological on this topic."

Gordon said the appeals will be brought to the administrative law judge of the NLRB in March, but could take years to process.

Monahan said she loved her job at VTel, but cannot wait that long.

Caring for her elderly parents while on unemployment has been a challenge, she said. "We won't be celebrating Christmas."

VTel did offer Monahan a part-time job without benefits, but Monahan said she needs to find a job with more hours.

Guite said if the union does not fulfill its promise to come back to the table, he will appeal the NLRB's dismissal of the bad-faith bargaining charge against them.

Gordon said he is waiting to hear back from VTel about the possibility of a mediation session.

Meanwhile, Monahan continues her search for a new job.

Contact Johanna Sorrentino at johanna.sorrentino@rutlandherald.com.

Florida East Coast Railway Extends Contract With IBEW, other Unions

bizjournals.com
Florida East Coast extends agreement with Teamsters
Thursday December 22, 2:37 pm ET

Florida East Coast Railroad has extended an agreement with the union that maintains the company's rail lines in Florida.

FEC reached an agreement on a five-year extension with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The new agreement will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2009.

The BMWED agreement represents approximately 120 workers who maintain the right-of-way between Jacksonville and Miami. FEC also extended agreements with the United Transportation Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

"We are pleased to finalize these talks and extend all our agreements, which range from three to five years," said John McPherson, president and chief operating officer of FEC. "The agreements provide well-balanced wage and benefit solutions for employees and the company."

Florida East Coast Railway is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries Inc. (NYSE: FLA - News). FEC operates a freight railroad along a 351-mile corridor between Jacksonville and Miami.

Published December 22, 2005 by The Business Journal

ATT Negotiates New Contract with IBEW Telephone Workers--Pensions increase 6% in 2006 and another 5% in 2008

PRNewswire le 12/12/2005 05h32

AT&T Announces New Labor Contracts with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T Inc. announced today that agreement has been reached with the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on a new three year, four month agreements covering 11,000 pre-merger AT&T employees. The contracts remain in effect through April 4, 2009.

"We're pleased to have an agreement that rewards our valued employees with outstanding wages and benefits and still preserves our ability to control our cost structure," said AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. "We believe this agreement will help us fulfill our goal of becoming the only entertainment and communications company our customers will ever want."

Following are highlights of the tentative agreements:

Wages: The agreements provide for four annual base wage increases at 11.2 percent, compounded, over the life of the contracts.

Pension: Pension benefits were increased by six percent in 2006 and by an additional five percent in 2008.

Healthcare: The agreements help the company control healthcare costs, but do not require monthly contributions. Employee co-pays and maximum out of pocket limits were increased for medical and prescription drug benefits for employee and retiree coverage. The retiree healthcare cap on company contributions, which was increased to $9,000 per retiree, provides that no retiree will contribute toward the point of service or traditional indemnity options during the term of the agreements.

Employment Security: An agreement was reached that prior to employees being laid off AT&T Inc. will offer employees a position within the Company.

Ratification will occur over the next several weeks. The effective date of the agreements is December 11, 2005, which is the expiration of the current agreements. More details will be available following ratification of the agreements by union membership.

About the New AT&T

AT&T Inc. is one of the world's largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high-speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with more than 52 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at http://www.thenewatt.com/.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT )

AT&T Inc.

CONTACT: Claudia Jones, office: +1-202-457-3933, cell: +1-301-785-5727,
Walt Sharp: office: +1-210-351-3349, cell: +1-210-415-8583, Tracey Belko,
office: +1-908-234-6842, cell: +1-917-297-0574, all of AT&T Inc.

Web site: http://www.thenewatt.com/

750 IBEW Local 1395 Members Get 3%, 3.5% and 4% over Three Year Agreement

December 20, 2005

750 IPL employees working under new contract


INDIANAPOLIS -- A new labor contract went into place Monday covering 750 employees of Indianapolis Power & Light. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1395 members ratified the three-year contract Thursday. Under the deal, workers will share medical costs and get wage increases of 3 percent the first year, 3.5 percent the second and 4 percent the third. The agreement covers IPL workers in generating stations, power delivery and customer service. (Star report)



Copyright 2005 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved

IBEW Local 3 (NYC) Business Manager Defends Laborers' Use of Inflatable Rat

December 28, 2005

Labor's Huge Rubber Rat, Caught in a Legal Maze

By ALAN FEUER

PHOTO CREDIT: Ángel Franco/The New York Times

The inflatable rubber rat, bucktoothed bane of strikebreakers and emblem of union wrath, may be headed for retirement. The National Labor Relations Board is now considering a case that could make it harder to employ one on a picket line.

At issue in the case is whether the rat is the equivalent of picketing, which can be restricted under federal law, or a form of free speech, which enjoys far fewer limitations. The case, which was filed three years ago, is slowly percolating through the system, but the labor board is poised to make a ruling. If it decides the rat is, indeed, a form of picketing, it could have a chilling effect on its use.

"It's going to inhibit the rat," said Alvin Blyer, the director of the Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island region of the board. The board's national office will eventually rule on the case.

For those unfamiliar with the rat, consider this description provided in a ruling by Steven Davis, an administrative law judge for the board who heard the case in his Brooklyn court in March:

"The rat presents an imposing figure," the ruling says. "The rats here were 15 or 30 feet high. The body of the rat is gray with pink eyes, ears and nose. Its sits on its haunches with its front paws outstretched and claws extended. Its mouth is open, baring its teeth."

The case arose in 2002 when a concrete pouring firm, Concrete Structures Inc., filed a complaint with the board against the Laborers' Eastern Region Organizing Fund, which arranges job actions on behalf of the Laborers' International Union of North America.

Concrete Structures was doing work at several subdivisions on Long Island and at the Mills Pond Elementary School in Smithtown. The union organizers set the rat up at work sites to protest what they saw as unfair work conditions and to publicize the fact that Concrete Structures used nonunion labor.

In his 30-page opinion, Judge Davis ruled against the rat.

"The union's use of the rat," he wrote, "constituted confrontational conduct intended to persuade third persons not to do business with Concrete."

He continued: "A rat is a well-known symbol of a labor dispute and is a signal to third persons that there is an invisible picket line they should not cross."

The union has appealed the judge's ruling, and its lawyer, Lowell Peterson, said he was confident the rat would survive, even if the labor board decides against it.

"Ultimately, I think the rat will be vindicated, if you will," he said. "Their theory that there's something magical about the rat is wrong. There's nothing magical about a rat - it's just ugly."

Some labor leaders said they could not comment publicly on the case because it has not been decided, though they acknowledged that the rat is a surefire weapon in the union arsenal that would be dearly missed.

"It's a thing that's widely used," said Thomas Van Arsdale, the business manager of Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which is embroiled in its own dispute with the labor board, partly due to a rat.

"It's only real purpose is to attract attention," Mr. Van Arsdale said. "Beyond that, what's the harm?"

At any given moment, labor leaders say, as many as 35 rubber rats are at work around the region. They come in different shapes and sizes. One rat, cited in Judge Davis' ruling, is actually a gorilla with the head of a rat.

The rats cost $3,500 to $7,500, depending on their size, and, for at least one union, Local 79 of the Construction and General Building Laborers, they are made by Big Sky Balloons and Searchlights of Plainfield, Ill. This local claims to be the first to have introduced the rat in New York City in 1997 after having seen the rodent on the job in Chicago.

Even if the rat does disappear, Mr. Peterson said, it will not really matter. The unions have a host of beasts in their menageries.

"You don't like the rat?" he said. "Fine. We're going to use a skunk."

• Copyright 2005The New York Times Company

New Jersey IBEW Member Chip Gerrity Takes on High Executive Salaries in Letter to Red Bank NJ "Hub"

CEO salaries climb while workers lack benefits

The CEO of Yahoo earned $109.3 million in salary, stock options and perks last year. That is enough money to provide full health-care coverage for 53,000 uninsured Americans or to provide day care for more then 25,000 working mothers.

I’m not suggesting for one moment that the CEOs of America’s largest corporations should not be well compensated. If they are successful and if they return value to the shareholders, then compensation should be tied to their performance. But I do think there needs to be some sort of balance in our economy if we are to sustain the middle class long-term, which, after all, are the consumers that buy the goods, services, products and concepts that provide the profits that allow the companies to pay their CEOs the dollars that they command today.

At a time when more and more working men and women are going without health care insurance, more than 47 million Americans are without health care coverage in America today, and as more and more unions are being busted by abusive uses of bankruptcy laws and by outsourcing of American jobs, isn’t it time for us to reflect upon the nature of the relationship between employers and employees in our country?

Yes, there are owners and there are employees. But make no mistake about the fact that it is the employees of America who produce the goods and services that generate the profits that make the wealthy richer. And if that middle class is further eroded or even destroyed, as may well be the case, our nation as a whole is at serious risk and we best take note of that fact.

Chip Gerrity

New Jersey International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

IBEW Local 1158 (Newark NJ) Business Manager Letter to North Jersey Herald News Extols Virtues of Union Representation

Unions make U.S. stronger

The ongoing assault against organized labor in New Jersey and the country as a whole is representative of a far darker trend, one that does not bode well for the financial and national security of our nation in the future. An attack on the labor movement in the United States is fundamentally an attack on the middle class.

Even a cursory understanding of history will demonstrate that the majority of Americans who have made their way into the middle class during the mid to late 20th Century are as a result of gains achieved by workers organizing collectively. Now, with employees who are pro-union being fired left and right and employers actively engaging tactics that are reminiscent of the 1920s and '30s, that foothold in the middle class is getting slipperier and slipperier.

Union representation has been positive and beneficial to our nation. As Americans, we should not forget that lesson and remember that a strong middle class is the result of strong labor unions, which are in turn necessary in ensuring that the national security of this nation is preserved.

Joseph Calabro, business manager, Local 1158, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Clifton

RIP at Age 92, IBEW Local 51 (Springfield IL) Retiree, Brother Claude Troyer

Claude Troyer

MINIER - Claude A. Troyer, 92, of Minier, died at 1:48 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 25, 2005, at McLean County Nursing Home in Normal.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. John's United Church of Christ. The Rev. Paul Thompson will officiate. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in Troyer Cemetery in Carlock.

Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at St. John's Faith Fellowship Hall, and also one hour prior to services at the church. Masonic rites will be conducted at 7:45 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. John's Fellowship Fund or Minier Fire Department.

Davis-Haensel Funeral Home in Minier is handling arrangements.

He was born May 14, 1913, in Lily, Mackinaw Township, to Oliver and Kate Unzicker Troyer Sr. He married Vanita Frevert. She preceded him in death.

He also was preceded in death by one grandson, five brothers and one sister.

Surviving are two sons, Richard (Sharolyn) Troyer of Minier and D. Dale Troyer of Bloomington; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; two stepgreat-grandchildren; one stepgreat-great-grandchild; two sisters, Ruth Schapmire of Normal and Fern Rice of Sheldon; one brother, Oliver (Pauline) Troyer Jr. of Zephyrhills, Fla.

Troyer last worked as a lineman for CILCO. He also farmed in the Minier area and had been Minier village engineer.

He was a member of St. John's United Church of Christ, where he formerly served as board member.

He was a member of Comet Lodge 641 AF&AM, the Order of the Eastern Star 399 in Kalamo, Mich., IBEW Local 51 in Springfield and Bloomington Order of the Moose 745. He also was a past board member of Pontiac Thresherman's Reunion and a member of Tazewell County Farm Bureau. He also was a past member of the Minier Fire Department, establishing the Minier Civil Defense.

IBEW Local 141 (Wheeling WV) Supports Area Athletic Efforts

WEST VIRGINIA --
IBEW Local 141 (Wheeling WV) Pledges Support for Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Sports Museum
From the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners' "UBC Yes" Electronic Newsletter
Posted by BBaker
(URL: http://www.ubcyes.com/gang-box.htm )

To preserve the history of area sports, the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference
has announced the formation of the OVAC Sports Museum which will be located
throughout the halls of the Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling.
Eight 12-foot wide by 8-foot high and 4-foot deep display cases featuring
the various sports and eras will be located in the coves between the stairways
leading to the upper level seating.  Also, each of the current 46 member
schools of the OVAC will have separate display boxes highlighting their history
and district.  These cases will be located throughout the Arena.
A major portion of the museum's success will come with the help of Project
Best, a coalition of selected Trade Unions that have pledged their support.
Orphy Klempa with UBC 3 pledged the support of the Carpenters, as did Reps from
the Painters and Plasterers and the Electricians.

IBEW Local 48 (Portland OR) Collaborates to Attract Women and Minorities to the Trade

From the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners' "UBC Yes" Electronic Newsletter
(URL: http://www.ubcyes.com/gang-box.htm )
Posted by BBaker

OREGON --
In an effort to recruit more women and minorities into Union construction
apprenticeship programs, the Portland Development Commission, in collaboration
with Oregon Health & Science University and investors in the North Macadam
waterfront projects,  has helped devise "measurable standards for minority
participation in significant public/private development projects."

On a project by project basis, for all construction work over $100,000 in
the South Waterfront project, the agreement calls for participants to:
· adopt a phased work force diversity goal of 35 percent
· increase the diverse work force participation and
· adopt implementation targets

Participants in the agreement include River Campus Investors, North Macadam
Inc., the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701,  Electricians
Local 48, Plumbers &Steamfitters Local 290 and the Pacific Northwest
Regional Council of Carpenters.

IBEW Local 332 (San Jose CA) Members Work on Children's Museum

IBEW Signatory Contractor Rosendin Electric Donates to Support the
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
http://www.cdm.org/

From the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Jointers' "UBC Yes" Electronic Newsletter
(URL: http://www.ubcyes.com/gang-box.htm )
Posted by BBaker

-- An estimated $260,000 in products and services were   donated to the
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose for the completion of their new hands-on
art loft that will open in February.

The 900 square-foot art studio for children ages 4 to 10 was built with
high-quality materials in every phase of the construction  ("no laminate
materials or synthetics'') and came in totally free. 

"That is almost unheard of,'' said Dan Amend, a member of the museum's board of directors.
Contributors included Miro Design Group, architectural help; TBI
Construction; Rosendin Electric and Royal Glass with substantial donations of time and
skill coming from members of Glaziers Local 1621 and the Northern California
Carpenters Regional Council.

IBEW Local 8 (Toledo OH) Business Manager Honored as "Honorary Co-Chair" for Mayoral Inaugural

Article published December 27, 2005

Inaugural events will be pricey affairs

By DAVID PATCH
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Two weeks after retaking office, Mayor-elect Carty Finkbeiner will celebrate the occasion with an inaugural party at the Toledo Country Club.

Those who attend the Jan. 14 soiree almost surely will be helping to retire Mr. Finkbeiner's campaign debt, which as of Dec. 17 was reported at $83,298. Especially helpful will be those attending a "preinaugural" campaign party at the downtown home of supporters Richard Rideout and Janet Albright, where admission will be a hefty $1,000 per individual and $1,500 per couple.

Elizabeth Phillips, a spokesman for Mr. Finkbeiner, said the events will be "a night of fun and frill for Toledo" and also an opportunity for the mayor-elect to clear up his campaign bank account.

"We're going to be on city time now, and we'd like to wrap this up," she said.

A page on the cartygetsresults.com Web site lists the preinaugural as running from 6 to 7:30 p.m., while the country club event will begin at 8 p.m. and last until about 11:30 p.m. Admission to the latter, black-tie-optional gathering is $200 for individuals and $300 for couples.

Eighteen individuals and couples have been named "honorary co-chairs" for the inaugural party, including Allan Block, chairman of Block Communications, Inc., The Blade's parent company, and Myron and Sandra Stewart; Mr. Stewart is editor of the Toledo Journal.

Cocktail-party host Mr. Rideout, a local agent for New York Life, and his wife, Ms. Albright, the principal of Garfield Elementary School, are also among those listed as "honorary co-chairs" for the inaugural party.

Ms. Phillips said there's no financial quid pro quo for being an "honorary co-chair." Rather, she said, they are campaign supporters "who are going to help us out with the party."

The Rideout residence, a large loft condominium in a former warehouse building at 1 South St. Clair St., was the scene of a fund-raising party during the campaign, too, she noted.

Other "honorary co-chairs" include restaurateur Tom Cousino and his wife, Eileen; banquet-hall and catering executive Tim Gladieux; Dennis Duffey, the business agent for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 8; former Perrysburg mayor Jonathan Orser; and Tom Palmer, a managing partner at the law firm Marshall & Melhorn, and his wife Susan.

Also on the list are Bob Moore, owner of Moore's Plumbing Supply, and his wife, Lori; Harley Kripke, whose family owns Arlington Rack & Packaging on North Detroit Avenue, and his wife, Stacey; Bill Lichtenwald, the president of Teamsters union Local 20; and Jim Hoffman, the northwestern Ohio district president for KeyBank, and his wife, Kristine.

Wrapping up the list are Jim Jeffery, a partner at the law firm Spengler Nathanson, and his wife Kristin; Ed Reiter, the retired senior chairman of Sky Financial Group, and his wife, Linda; Jim Smythe, the owner of Habitec Security, and his wife, Nancy; Al Sprenger, the owner of Imperial Temporaries, and his wife, Marica; Jim White, a partner at the law firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, and his wife, Sue; and John Szuch, chairman of Fifth Third Bank (Northwestern Ohio), and his wife, Yolanda.

Twelve years ago, after election to his first term as Toledo's mayor, Mr. Finkbeiner threw a similar fund-raising gala, starting with a $1,000 per head reception at the Ohio Building and then moving to a ball at the Radisson Hotel for which tickets cost $25 and $150.

Sixty of the $1,000 tickets were sold to the event, which grossed $130,000 and whose proceeds were used in part to retire a $25,000 debt from that campaign. City council members received complimentary $125 tickets, which provided access to a five-course dinner as well as dancing.

Contact David Patch at:
dpatch@theblade.com
or 419-724-6094.

IBEW Linemen Have Hands Full with Wildlife Rescues

Heron gets caught in power line

Squirrel stops power to 2,000

BY J.D. GALLOP
FLORIDA TODAY

Florida Power & Light Co. workers rescued a heron late Monday, hours after its wing caught in a 60-foot-high electrical line.

But it was too late.

A break in the wing and the high winds all day meant Florida Wildlife Hospital & Sanctuary had to put the bird to sleep.

"Unfortunately, the damage to the wing was nonrepairable," said Sue Small, director of the private, nonprofit hospital just south on U.S. 1 from where the bird was injured. "It's not the ending that everybody wanted."

Pineda Bait Shop & Tackle worker David Molnar saw the entangled heron Monday morning from his store near the Pineda Causeaway.

"I saw something black up there but didn't know what it was until later," he said. "That's when I called to see if FPL could help get him down."

Power company workers first went to the scene about 10:40 a.m. but did not have the right equipment available. They returned about 3:30 p.m. and accomplished the rescue.

"Hang in there, Freddie," Molnar yelled to the bird and clapped and cheered as workers gently brought it down.

"I'm just pleased that FPL showed up," he said. "It's better to do something than nothing."

In another wildlife-related incident Monday, a squirrel shorted out a circuit breaker near a substation about 9:30 a.m. Almost 2,000 homes and businesses were left without power near Wickham Road between Post and Croton roads.

Melbourne police were called to direct traffic when the signals went out.

Power was restored about 10 a.m.

FPL worker Jim Knapp said mishaps with wildlife -- some that affect service -- are common during winter and in high winds.

"But this," he said, pointing to the injured heron, "is something we're just doing out of the goodness of our hearts."

Contact Gallop at 242-3668 or jdgallop@flatoday.net

Huntington, West Virginia Local 317 Looks for Apprentices--includes SE Ohio and NE Kentucky

ELECTRICIAN APPRENTICESHIPS: The Huntington Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee is accepting applications for electrician apprenticeships in Huntington.

Applications will be taken at the IBEW Local 317 JATC office, 1850 Madison Ave., on the fourth Monday of each month from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on the fourth Saturday of January, March, June and August from 8 to 11 a.m.

Candidates must be 17 or older, at least a high school graduate or have a GED or a two-year associate degree or higher. Candidates must show evidence of successful completion of one full year of algebra with a passing grade or one post-high school algebra course with a passing grade and provide an official transcript for high school and post-high school education and training. All GED records must be submitted if applicable. An applicant must submit a DD-214 form to verify military training or experience. Applicants must have lived for at least a year in the Local 317 area, which includes Cabell, Mason, Wayne, Lincoln, Logan and Mingo counties in West Virginia; Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, Martin, Morgan and Pike counties in Kentucky; and Lawrence and Gallia counties in Ohio. A $20 fee is charged for an aptitude test.

RIP, Retired IBEW Local 43 (Syracuse NY) Member James Stenson

James W. Stenson, retired electrician

James W. Stenson, 70, of Scriba, died Friday, Dec. 16, 2005 at Veterans Hospital in Syracuse.

Born in Kingston, N.Y. to Thomas J. and Marion (Dermody) Stenson, he had resided in Scriba for many years. Mr. Stenson was employed by I.B.E.W. Local 43 in Syracuse as an electrician, retiring in 1997 after 54 years. He was a Navy veteran serving from 1953 to 1961.

He was predeceased by a sister, Mary Ann Stenson.

Surviving are his wife of 48 years, Mary Lou Stenson; children, Kathleen (Mike) Gore of Fort Meyers, Fla., James (Lisa) Stenson Jr. of Kingston, Kevin (Georgia) Stenson of Oswego, Sean (Jill) Stenson of Oswego, Nannette Stenson of Essex, Vt., and Shelby Scholze of Scriba; a sister, Karen Stenson of New Jersey; two brothers, Thomas Stenson of Kingston and John (Joan) Stenson of Ocala, Fla.; three grandchildren, James Stenson III, Jackson Frobel, and David Starna; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Services will be private. Foster Funeral Home, Fulton has charge of arrangements.

IBEW Local 1985 Member Pin Hopes on Whirlpool buyout of Maytag (and their own Hoover)

Officials Hope For Hoover Revival With Potential Maytag Buyout

North Canton Plant To Remain Open At Least 3 Years

UPDATED: 10:21 am EST December 23, 2005

NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Officials in North Canton are hopeful that Whirlpool's potential buyout of rival Maytag will revive the Hoover factory and offices.

Hoover, based in North Canton, is a Maytag brand that makes vacuum cleaners and floor-care products.

Iowa-based Maytag is cutting 300 jobs from the Ohio plant but has said it will keep the plant open for at least three years.

Jim Repace, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1985, said he hopes employees will get a chance to prove themselves to Whirlpool.

Mayor David Held said he believes the deal will help keep jobs in North Canton.





















http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Local-1985

IBEW Local 1379 (Davenport IA) and other ALCOA employees "fix up" the Holidays

Alcoa employees donate food boxes to families

By Mary Louise Speer

Almost 500 families in modest circumstances are opening their doors today and finding all the fixings for festive holiday meals thanks to employees of Alcoa Davenport Works.

Employees and their families packed the food boxes for the Alcoa Employees Christmas Basket campaign Wednesday night.

Many make the distribution a regular part of their holidays. John White, an electrician and safety trainer, never will forget what his daughter told him while delivering baskets several years ago.

"We did this when my daughter was four or five," he said. "We went to a house in the country. It looked more like a shack. When we got back in the car, my daughter commented, ˜Daddy, those people really needed it.""

White, also a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1379, has been helping with the basket deliveries for most of his 20 years with the company. He can recall times of hearing recipients cry when getting a box of food.

Probably the time that touched him most was when he drove up in front of an expensive-looking house. Obviously the owners were doing all right so why were they delivering a basket there, he wondered. His perceptions quickly changed. He learned that the family had lost their breadwinner in a tragedy and were being forced to sell the house.

The Christmas baskets are an Alcoa tradition going back to 1950, said John Riches, spokesman for Alcoa.

"When this program started, it was one employee helping another employee who was off because of illness. Basically, it's a program where employees turn in names of people in need," he said.

A committee of salaried and hourly employees winnows through the list of nominees and prioritizes the needs. This year workers raised almost $13,000 through recycling aluminum cans, individual contributions and company fundraisers. The money purchased enough hams, potatoes, fresh fruit and more to give 480 families good meals during the holiday season.

Volunteers circled the room carrying the boxes while others stuffed in cans and bags of fruit. The process works very well, Riches said. The boxes were filled in about a half-hour.

Kane Zemo, 3, helped his parents, Anne and Anthony Zemo of Riverdale, Iowa, with distributing packages of margarine. People bent over so he could slide the packages in easily.

"You did a great job," praised Anne Zemo who is an Alcoa employee.

"Years ago my family received a basket. That's the reason why we're here," Anthony Zemo said.

Travis Greve, 13, and Brandon Greve, 15, of Donahue, and members of Boy Scout Troop 203 from Long Grove, were part of the long line circling around the distribution center. This is their third or fourth year of helping their father, an Alcoa employee.

"This is something we can do as community service," Travis said.

"The best part is probably the people you give the boxes to. They're really happy," Brandon added.


The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

Detroit Construction Workers hit by Shrinking Benefits

Health tab hits trade workers

Ironworkers and others pay more for medical coverage, face shrinking benefits in retirement.

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Ed Hall's body is stiff and battered from two decades spent lifting and hauling the heavy equipment that fills Michigan factories.

In retirement, the 59-year-old former ironworker has counted on first-rate health care benefits to cover his medications, routine checkups and hospital stays at almost no cost to him.

But all that will vanish next month when health coverage provided by his union, Iron Workers Local 25, becomes the latest casualty of health care cutbacks hitting more than 90,000 workers and retirees in Michigan's construction trades.  For ironworkers represented by Local 25, which covers eastern Michigan, retiree benefits will be cut altogether beginning Jan. 1.

"I gave up my body for the business, and here they are years later saying we're not going to pay," said Hall of Detroit, who estimates his health care tab will jump from almost nothing to hundreds of dollars a month.  "They're trying to bail out of their responsibility."

Problems caused by soaring health costs and a sour economy are especially acute in the building trades, where the work force is shrinking fast and most workers retire more than a decade before becoming eligible for Medicare, the federal system that provides health coverage for those older than 65.

Even as unionized workers in Michigan's 14 organized construction trades are putting more of their hourly wages toward health coverage -- in some cases giving up pay increases altogether -- coverage for workers and retirees is slipping.  Co-pays and limits exist where they didn't before, and retirees are being forced to pay more.

Health care benefits are especially valuable to workers in the building trades, union leaders said.  Many develop health problems later in life as a result of the strenuous nature of their work.

Metro Detroit's 900 unionized roofers, for example, pay $7.30 for health care for every hour they work, nearly twice what they were paying a few years ago.  Roofers and other skilled trades workers make between $8 and $33 per hour.

For three years, Metro Detroit's 500 plasterers and cement masons have upped their health fund contributions each year by 50 cents an hour.

And the region's 5,000 electricians will get a $1.90 per hour pay increase next year under their most recent labor contract, but most of the extra cash is expected to go toward a health care plan in which co-pays for prescription drugs and medical care have increased fivefold in recent years.

"We're kind of used to peaks and valleys," said Joe Abdoo of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58.  "But this is the worst valley I've seen in 30 years of working with this local."

>From electricians to bricklayers, workers in the construction trades typically receive their health benefits and pensions through trust funds set up by their trade associations.

The system is funded jointly by workers, through payroll deductions from their hourly wages and by the companies who contract out building work, through contributions to the trust funds.

Today, however, the funds are drying up fast, threatened by a number of factors:

# Construction has slowed along with the state's economy, resulting in workers putting in fewer hours -- as much as 25 percent fewer in some fields.  Since workers contribute to health funds on a per-hour basis, fewer hours means less cash is funneled to the trust funds.

# Like most investments, the workers' health care funds have been hit by declines in the stock market that are eating away at returns.

# At the same time, rising health costs are making benefits more expensive.  The cost of health care in the construction industry has been growing between 10 percent and 20 percent annually depending on the field, according to Davis Langdon and Seah International, a construction consulting firm.

# Adding to the problem, the construction work force is aging and shrinking.  Fifteen years ago, there were 10 workers for each retiree.  Now, the worker-retiree ratio is about 2-to-1.  About 188,000 workers were employed in the construction trades in Michigan in November, compared to about 205,000 in 2000, a decline of more than 8 percent.

"You name it, it's going wrong," said Pat Devlin, secretary-treasurer of the greater Detroit Building Construction Trades Council.  "If nothing is done, all these benefits are going to be in trouble."

Some relief may be on the way in 2006.  Michigan's construction industry should be buoyed by the construction of permanent casinos in Detroit and a flurry of building in the health care industry, Devlin said.

"It's a shot in the arm," said Abdoo of IBEW Local 58.  "At least there's a light at the end of the tunnel."


You can reach Sharon Terlep at (313) 223-4686 or sterlep@detnews.com




"I gave up my body for the business, " says Ed Hall, a retired ironworker who will lose all benefits next month.

Morris Richardson II / The Detroit News