April Union Meeting Summary.
Greetings Brothers and Sisters,
Welcome to the summery of our April’s Day Shift Member’s Meeting.
Our meeting began promptly at 16:00.
We started the with The Pledge of Allegiance which led us into our standard protocol with an E-Board Roll Call.
Following roll call, Brother James had informed us that we had no visitors or guests and we also had verification of quorum.
Sister Patricia read us the past minutes of our last meeting. That can be read by clicking the button below.
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Next, Brother Brett gave us the Secretary Treasurer report and reported our bills which we agreed to pay.
Next, we moved to Reports from the E-Board
Brother Luis started with thanking everyone for showing up. Then he wanted to inform everyone about a request from the district. A new group of members, PKL China Lake, has joined our local. We have a total of 9 new members joining our local and the district would like for us to wave their initiation fees.
Brother Gerald started by thanking everyone as well. It had been an interesting month since we ratified our new contract. He then brought us some changes to the contract to watch out for. It has already happened in his area with the new implementation of how we are charged for overtime. Members in his area agreeing to overtime and then not showing up.
Brother Brett started by explaining why the change to overtime charging practices was made. In the past if you missed a day after saying yes to coming in you were receive an infraction, but because they agreed to remove that from the new contract, we had to make the charging be more effective. The reason for charging so harshly is because if you agree to coming in for overtime and you don’t show up, then you could have prevented another member from coming in because you said yes. Next, he explained about a new bidding process and how in the next bidding process, for those who were deemed unqualified for a position, the company was going to have a one time clear of “Unqualified” status. So in the next bid period in June (June 1st - June 21st), when you go to place a bid, check for the min qualifications to make sure you meet the minimum requirements before you bid. If you are deemed “Unqualified” you cannot bid for that position for (1) calendar year.
Next Sister Patricia informed us about the officer’s election coming up at the end of 2024. Everyone on the Executive board is an elected position and many of your current E-Board were unopposed in the last election in 2021. The then encouraged everyone to get involved and setup to the plate. Run for the next officers election.
Next we moved to reports from the Business Representatives
Brother Richard started by stating that since our last meeting we have ratified a new agreement with Lockheed. That new CBA is in the process of being compiled and we should be seeing them coming out in the next few months. The Senior Board with have to review it after we receive it from Lockheed and this it will make its way to the printers. We were hoping to have received it already but its been taking some time. We have a new group that’s coming into our local. That group is based out of China Lake in Ridgecrest. Its a small group of workers who just voted to join our Union and they just ratified the first CBA. We are hoping for our local to considers having their initiation fees waved as a thank you for joining our Union. Next Brother Richard talked about the bid periods as stated by Brother Brett. He then moved to informing the meeting to consider Interest bids. They can be utilized to help the membership become qualified for a position if you don’t have the qualifications for a role. Lastly he informed us about an upcoming grievance meeting he would be having with Lockheed. The meeting is planned for Tuesday 4/11 and they are planning to meet with the company to settle grievances and get the number back down to a manageable level.
Next, we welcomed back Brother Edwin. He just came back from baby bonding time. He then informed the membership that both Cain Associates and Vertex Group 1 voted in an extension. He was glad to hear we ratified our contract with Lockheed. He was pleased with some of the new things in our contract, especially the interest bids.
Now we moved onto Good and Welfare.
Good and Welfare started with a question texted in about how to put in a bid, on file, for shift transfer request under the new contract. This process is the same as it was in the last contract. You must complete the form for the shift transfer request and submit it per instruction during the bidding period. You can find the form but going to Inside LM on a company asset. Clicking A-Z at the top of the page. Search “Labor Relations Palmdale” and click the link with that title. Once on the Palmdale Labor Relations Website, Click on “Forms” and you will find the document on that page.
Next, there was a question about how to do interest bids. We have not seen what the final result is about how to place that bid as of yet, but we anticipate that it will be the same procedure as how you would place a regular bid on HR Voice. We anticipate an option for that bid request to be there when the time comes.
The Next question about downgrading and how your pay will work. If you’re capped out and you down grade you will go to the new labor grade max. The section about downgrading was not changed from our old CBA so please review Article 11, Section 9, beginning at Paragraph D.
Our next question about if we had any help or resources with writing resumes to make sure our applications have the best chance of qualifying a member for a position. This is something that we as a local will be looking into creating to help the membership, however, at this time we don’t currently have a resource for that. If you do need help with that, be sure to reach out to your fellow brothers and sisters who have those skills to see if they can help you out in the mean time. The local will be looking into seeing if we can create the resources you might need.
We had a question for clarification for the 3/12 weekend schedule. No member will be forced to work that schedule and it will only be filled by volunteers or those who were hired for that position and shift.
We received a question about the upcoming Chief Steward Position. Brother Richard informed the meeting, as soon as we receive the CBA and start getting those hard copies into the hands of the membership, then we will be opening up nominations for that position.
There was a question about $.75 per hour for the A&P License. If you do not see them in your paycheck already, check with your leadership team to see if they are able to fix that for you. It will be retroactive back to the start of the contract. It has been discussed with Labor Relations already and will be retro paid back to the start of the contract.
Another question came about the 4/10 schedules for if and when. We as the Union don’t have a say in this. It will be based on the areas in which you work, however, we were informed that labor relations has implemented a form that each leadership team will have to fill out, should they want to change a working schedule. This form makes sure that there is traceability and that leadership teams can’t flip-flop back and forth with schedules. If your area is looking to change a schedule, there is a process to be followed. This also goes for start times. If the new schedule is something that might not work for you, you can submit a odd shift request if you need a modified schedule. You can find that same form on the Labor Relation page where you get the shift transfer request.
The last questions were about leads and the new lead selection form. This form will come from Lockheed. The Union is only there to make sure they follow the rules as stated in the new contract. If you are being told it is the Union holding this up, that is incorrect. If anyone has been appointed a lead since March 12th, without going through this evaluation process as defined in the new contract, then we need to file a grievance against that area’s management team. However, if someone was already a lead before our new contract, you cannot challenge the appointed lead.
ARTICLE 6
Section 7, Lead Selection
A. Lead selection shall be based on qualifications determined by the Company in the Lead Job Description and in the following order:
Employees reporting to the same work area as defined by the Manager.
Employees within the department.
Employees within the bargaining unit.
B. Lead selection will be determined by the Company based on the Lead job description and the evaluation form. An employee will be considered qualified based on an evaluation by the Company of their technical skills, efficiency, leadership qualities, communication skills, and dependability/accountability. Seniority will be the highest point category in the evaluation form. The Union Business Representative and the Manager of Labor Relations will together resolve issues and ties. The grievance procedure will be used to settle further disagreements. To be eligible for selection to Lead, an employee must have been reporting to the work area from which the selection is being made for a period of 30 days prior to such selection, except in the case of a new department, or shift. If such department, or shift has been established less than 30 days, all interested employees within the work area as defined by the Manager will be considered.
C. To initiate lead selection, the manager of the work area will announce the intent to designate a lead to the employees in the work area. The manager will evaluate interested employees by the criteria stated above, on the evaluation form. This evaluation will be reviewed by Labor Relations. A Lead does not designate a classification, but describes an employee performing an assignment.
Next, we moved to the reading of proposed changes to our Local Lodge By-Laws.
These proposed changes are to be read, and only read, at this months meeting. Next month in the month of May, they will be read again followed by a recommendation to accept or to reject the proposal followed by a debate of the proposals before we vote on these proposals. We had 2 proposals for By-Laws changes. In summary, that are as followed.
A proposal to change to start time of 2nd Shift Meetings held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month to be rescheduled from 1:00PM(1300) to 2:00PM(1400).
A Proposal to change old language in regards to the election of Delegates so they match the districts By-Laws. Elections to be held every 4 years instead of 3 years. This is how every other local under our district holds their elections for these positions. The proposal is to have our By-Laws match the Districts.
Lastly…
We had our 50/50 drawings.
We had our raffle drawings for a prize (Tee-Shirt). 3 tickets were pulled to get a winner as a few members left early. If you left early, you might have missed out on a prize.
We had a motion to accept a proposal to start a giveaway for the questions of the month. This was to help encourage participation. Prizes are $100 a month. This was accepted.
We had a motion to accept May’s Callouts which was accepted.
We had a Vote to wave PKL China Lake’s initiation fees which was accepted.
To end the meeting, we had a moment of silence for members and family of members who were sick or passed away.
And with that we adjourned at 17:05 with many members staying behind to talk with your E-Board after the meeting…
Remember, stand strong and stand together,
In Solidarity,
See you at our next meeting.
E-Board & Communicator
