The company has posted 1 job for pilot materials.
The previous member in this job has retired.
The Union does not agree with this posting.
Pretty much everyone is laid off – you aren’t getting paid to watch the posting board or any other updates from GM.
We have told GM that if they come to the table with packages as per the contract and clean up the 30 members that are waiting to retire, we would then agree to re-align the plant to bring us to one shift which would include canvasses and postings. At that point we would inform the membership to start to pay attention to the posting boards, however, a lot of canvasses would need to be completed first as everyone would need to know where they stand in the plant.
Right now, the company is trying to bring in pilot members and others to prepare the plant for new roofs and any other changes that are coming.
We are not agreeing. We will work with this company and help get the plant ready with postings and canvasses, but it needs to be a two-way street. They are releasing salary people and paying them packages on their way out, they can do the same thing as per our contract for our members as well.
We have told the company that every posting they put up, we will grieve, and the posting will have to be re-done.
This has dragged on way too long, but time is starting to become a factor to ready the plant. We are playing the cards we have been dealt – We are here and ready to talk.
Included in the packages are options we have given the company to clean up the group of 30 waiting to retire. We are expecting one agreement to deal with both the group of 30 and all potential retirees and anyone who just wants to quit. The goal is to give options to those retirement eligible and try to retain those who would otherwise be laid off. There are 166 members with 30 or greater years who could retire plus approximately 50 more with 60 & 10 or age 65. To retire is an individual’s choice, and it is a major decision. We hope to provide packages that will at least get that member to have a serious talk with their family and make an informed decision – but it is up to each member. We will not be pushing anyone to retire, or to stay.
Unscheduled vacation for this vacation year – if you had 40 hours of vacation or greater, the company is paying it out starting this week. If you had 80 hours unscheduled it will be paid out this week and next week. There were 55 people in this scenario, and we believe we have called everyone to give them a heads up.