September Union Meeting Summary.

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to the summery of our September Day Shift member’s meeting.

Our meeting began promptly at 16:00.

We, as always, started our meeting off in the same way we start every meeting with The Pledge of Allegiance. This led us into our standard protocol with an E-Board Role Call.

Following role call Brother James had informed us that we had a Visitor, Gary Allen Jr. from the Our Western Territories, and that we had verification of forum.

Brother Victor read us the past minutes of our last meeting which can be read here.

Brother Brett gave us the Secretary Treasurer report and reported our bills which was accepted to pay.

Next, we moved to Communications from the E-Board

Brother Gerald brought to us again about how we are planning a Union Family Picnic for Saturday October 29th at the Moose Lodge in Palmdale. The time will be from 2:00(14:00)-6:00(18:00). We need you to RSVP on our front page so we can make sure we have enough food for everyone. Please take a moment to fill that out if you hadn’t already. We hope to make this a great time for everyone. Next, he reinforced our position for solidarity. “Solidarity. Solidarity. Solidarity.” He brought up about the Boeing Contract and how IAM Members were about to walk out after being presented with a crap contract. Boeing quickly came back with a much better contract. We much work together and stand strong.

Brother Brett brought up about he and the negotiations committee went back east where they discussed the upcoming contract negotiations. They received training and began preparations for the upcoming negotiations with Lockheed. Date for the upcoming negotiations can be found here. He continued stressing that we all need to stand together and we need to draw a line in the sand. Lockheed isn’t going to just hand us everything. We need to have the last word. We must spread the word to everyone. Spread the word to the younger employees. Stress that this is their future.

“Our Negotiating Team is the Voice, but we the membership are the Echo.”

It was added at how we can always use more shop stewards. We always heard the same complaint when we make it our to the shop floor. “I don’t know who my steward is.” A lot of people have moved around in the past year. Promotions, department changes, if you can’t find a steward be sure to check the list on this site or use the contact form. Use our new feature to report an issue and someone will follow up with you as soon as possible, but if you want to get more involved, we can always use more stewards. Spread the word or volunteer yourself. If your interested in becoming a steward, contact Richard our business rep. Email

Brother Vic, one of our district delegates, brought us that he was apart of an audit for our district. In summary, he informed us that all was well. If you wish to know more about the audit, please contact Victor. He also brought up about donating to the Machinist Non Partisan Political League. They support labor friendly candidates on capital hill.

A question about the audit lead to the information that we also as a local have audits every 6 months. We recently conducted our audit and all went well.

Lastly, I (Brother Derrick) informed everyone of the new feature on our site to help us help you with issues you may be having. Maybe you cannot find a steward or you don’t know who your steward in your area is. Maybe you don’t have a steward in your area, good reason to volunteer, whatever the reason we want to give you another tool to help us in helping you. We created a page specifically for reporting issues you might be having. Located in the task bar at the top of our website is a section for Report an Issue. Clicking that will take you to a page where you can fill out the form with your contact info and the problem you my be having and once submitted will be sent to us where we can then contact you to help. This is not to replace or substitute our contract defined grievance process but is another tool for you to use to get the help you need when you need it. You can click the button below to go to that page.

Next, we received a report from our Business Rep, Brother Richard informed us about the wage increase that just happened. The position that we came to was that it was a divisive move by the Lockheed. Lockheed used a section of our contract to hand out raises at their discretion in what is believed to be an unfair manner. He then brought up about what a “Strike Sanction Vote” is. More information will continue to come out about what it is, but you can also read more about it here. He continued with addressing that we are working through grievances. We continue to hit them hard and are working through the queue. Next, he brought up about the email he sent out about “Job Studies”. If you feel that your position has taken on more responsibility since our last negotiations and you feel your labor grade is undervalued then complete the form for the job study and prepare a presentation for why you feel your position deserves a higher labor grade. Submissions must be in by October 7th and presentations will be in person on like October 17th and the 19th. Learn More Here.

Now we had our visitor from the western territories. He informed us that he was sent here to help us and assist Richard in the upcoming negotiations. He gave us a territories report of our goals to unionize more members. If you have any leads to help unionize other companies, they would love your help. He informed us of other companies we are going after for unionization and how it is going well. He informed us of a current strike member of another local in San Diego are currently under. Members demanding a fair contract for a better future. He asked that we all continue to support them. Lastly, he read us the reasoning for our Grand Lodge Convention and its importance in building our Union’s Future.

Next, we moved onto reports of anyone sick, injured, or deceased.

We had a report of only one brother who passed away recently that we would hold a moment of silence for before adjourning the meeting.

Now we moved onto Good and Welfare.

As Good and Welfare started, we had our tee shirt raffle. We then received a few comments and questions directed towards the contract negotiations. Our negotiations committee continued to reaffirm us that they are working hard to fix all the language and grey areas that Lockheed Management takes advantage of. Everything that was asked was something that we have and continue to discuss in fixing. We elected our committee to do a job and negotiate the best contract for us. We are going to do the jobs to the best of our ability. Your committee has written several proposals that are ready to go. If you are thinking of something that needs to be fixed, they probably have it covered. They have been going through the contract with a fine tooth comb for several months now and are working to fix everything they can find. As we get into negotiations we will be doing the best we can to keep everyone informed of what’s going on. We don’t want you to have any excuses for not knowing what’s going on. We want to make sure that everyone has time to review the offer and be sure you know what it is you’re voting on.

The last thing that was brought up was, we need to telling on each other. We need to show solidarity and stand together. We need to stop fighting amounts each other. Stop fighting over stupid stuff that means nothing. At the end of the day we need to stand together. Its not us against each other. The older generation needs to help the younger generation to know what’s right. At the end of the day, we are the individuals that make things happen. We need to work together. We have done so much, for so long, for so little, that its time to come together and take back what is owed. They can give raises to “Critical Classification” and give signing bonuses big enough to make everyone happen, they have the money. We must work together, sort our differences and stand together.

Lastly…

We had our Old and New Business in which we had another union withdrawal card which we jokingly wanted to reject it as the individual went to management but was accepted.

We had a motion to accept the purchase for the Union Picnic which was accepted.

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

Before adjourning we held a moment of silence for our lost brothers and sisters.

We adjourned the meeting at 17:00...

Remember, stand strong and stand together,

In Solidarity,

See you at our next meeting.

E-Board & Communicator