December Union Meeting Summary.

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to the summery of our December’s Member’s Meeting. Unfortunately, I was out of town and missed our Day Shift meeting bring this summary much later than normal.

After everyone in attendance received their Holiday Meal, we began our meeting at 13:15.

We started the with The Pledge of Allegiance. This led us into our standard protocol with an E-Board Roll Call with everyone being in attendance.

Following roll call, Brother James had informed us that we had several Visitors and Guests, as many members brought their families for the Holiday Meal. We also had verification of forum.

Sister Patricia read us the past minutes of our last meeting which is a summary of our last meeting. That can be read here.

Next, Brother Brett gave us the Secretary Treasurer report and reported our bills which we had none.

After that, Sister Patricia had some communications to bring up. We had a Christmas Card from the International President Robert Martinez Jr. and Dora Cervantes the General Secretary-Treasurer. She also had the expense report for the Holiday Meal.

Brother Luis now brought a communication of our new dues rates for all our different bargaining units within our Local and that we received an Award from the Non-Partisan Political League for 2021. The award was for our contribution.

Next, we moved to Reports from the E-Board

Brother Luis wanted to wish everyone and very Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. He also wanted to thank everyone for being patient with him in being President of the Local. Thank everyone for their help and insight. The other thing he brought is that he was informed by me, The Communicator, that we now have a Facebook page. The link to that is located at the top of the page.

Brother Gerald wanted to give a shoutout to our Negotiations Committee in their hard work and efforts coming to a tentative agreement with Lockheed. We still have a long way to go, and we need to support them 100%. He also wanted to remind everyone that we are the eyes and ears of the Union. Listen and watch. Talk to your fellow Brothers and Sisters. We have to be strong and united. Wear your shirts on Wednesday and remember to wear your buttons. If you haven’t gotten a shirt or want to buy another one, contact Gerald. He then wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday.

Next, Brother Brett, he wanted to let everyone know that each and every one of us are important in these negotiations. Without everyone backing them up, they can’t do their job for us. The company is listening and watching us. They are taking note of how we communicate both in person and on this website. Brett believes it is making an impact, but we can’t stop. As we move to February, we have to stand together to get what we want from the company in our next contract. Our Negotiations Committee’s goal is to make everything better in the next contract.

Next Sister Patricia wished us a Merry Christmas and thanked everyone for showing up. Showing up is the first step anyone can take to show solidarity. We are the eyes and ears of the shop. If you see something, find a steward and say something. She informed us of the Steward Training all the stewards went through and the importance of having your connections to help with the spread of information. Everyone has their groups that they talk to. Use those people and help spread information. If you have 5 people and each of those 5 have 5 more, information can spread very rapidly. Help them come to meetings. As she stated, the first step is showing up.

Brother Vic also wished everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Years. He also wanted to thank everyone for the feedback on the website during Negotiations. They appreciate all of it. He also wanted to let everyone know that we have to stay together. We can’t be getting divided. We need to have solidarity. Anyone in classified areas, we need your help. Keep your eyes open. Many of us can’t get in these areas. If you want to help and be a steward of these areas to contact Richard. Lastly, he wished for everyone to be safe during the shutdown and we’ll see you in the new year.

Brother Rocket wished everyone a happy holiday and thanked everyone for their support of him in this last year.

Brother James also wished everyone a happy holiday and for everyone to be safe out there.

Now Brother Edwin, who represents every other member in our local not working at Lockheed, updated us of the negotiations they are having with Helix. They are buttoning things up very soon. He also informed us that we will be out, and this was his last meeting. As stated before, he is leaving on baby bonding time. We with him the best of luck and that he enjoys his time with his new children. Area Director Joelle Depue would be covering him in his absences.

Sister Joelle, as she will be stepping in to cover for Edwin, what does that mean? When you talk about the dues rates, those dues rates are for all bargaining units under our local. They are not different locals; they are different bargaining units within our local. Though 90% of our local’s membership is Lockheed employees, we do have Brothers and Sisters and other sites like Edwards and NASA. How Edwin updated us with negotiations with Helix, Sister Joelle informed us that they came to a tentative agreement that day. That is what allowed them to be there. In the coming months she might not be able to make the coming meetings as she herself will be preparing for coming Negotiations with several other companies set to begin around the time we start economic negotiations with Lockheed. She also said that we have 4 negotiations between now and March. Helix will hope to ratify in the next week. Pratt and Wittney, she has dates for negotiations at the end of February. Caine Associates is scheduled the week before that, so end of February and Vertex, they are still waiting on dates. If anything comes up, feel free to contact her if Richard is unable to help.

Now we moved onto Good and Welfare.

With Good and Welfare started we opened with any questions people might have about negotiations or any other thing that might be on their mind. We had a few questions about various topics that we had answers for. This cleared up some misunderstanding that a few members had. The main understanding for our negotiations with Lockheed, is nothing is final until we ratify. We need to trust that our negotiations committee is there and negotiating for us. We need to trust in them and stand together. Just because something is agreed on doesn’t mean the company can’t slip something in or change something in their last best and final.

Lastly…

We had a motion to accept January’s Callouts for our E-Board which were accepted.

We had another union withdrawal card which we accepted.

To end the meeting, we had our raffle drawings for several prizes.

We adjourned the meeting at 14:15...

Remember, stand strong and stand together,

In Solidarity,

See you at our next meeting.

E-Board & Communicator