ASE bles !
The Voice of GE. Workers, Local 301° Feb, 17, 1961.
TURBINE SUPERVISION PENNY-PINCHING
Some of the supervision in the
en 3 Steam Turbine Department are init-
STEWARDS' VIGILANCE PAYS OFF iating new practices that can be
properly described as "pimples on
In January of 1961, the shop. |& mosquito leg'"t insofar as correct-
stewards in the Assemble and Conn- |.ing justifiable conditions is
ect Section of the Large Steam concerned,
Turbine Division found out that :
management was violating a previous One of the "eager beaver" super-
agreement concerning the assigning |visors tried to give a worker a
of assemble and connect work, jwarning notice because he was eating
a sandwich during working hours, The.
Shop Stewards Colucci,Gregory |worker finished his sandwich; however
and Knowlton filed a-first step he complained about the type of
grievance concerning work assign- |dinner music that was being offered
ment. An unsatisfactory answer wasiby his superior, saying it did
given and the grievance was moved nothing for his digestive problems!
to the second step of the grievance _ , ee
procedure, At the second level, Turbine management came up with
the Union representatives were able|another new scheme to cut cost by
to show management where they had adding to the many duties of the
violated a past agreement concern- MSO's ‘the job of "Union Shop Steward
ing work assignment, Management Watching", When a shop steward
has now agreed to correct this talks to an employee, the boss logs
condition and at the meeting a the time and turns it in to be paid
written agreement was reached which|for by the Union. This idea started
should prevent a reoccurrence of in Bldg. 285, and has spread to - ‘
work assignment problems for this Bldg. 273,*covering the whole depart-
group. _ 4 ment. Some supervisors were so over-
(cont'd. reverse side) zealous that they handed out Union
jlost time vouchers to members who
; |Stopped to talk to a shop steward,
NOTICE The Union Office protested this
; J action to the Turbine management,
MEMBERSHTP-STEWARDS MEETING calling it a "penny-wise and pound-
; foolish" idea and requested that the
Monday, February 20, 1961. supervision stop this intimidating |
and coercive practice,
and SHLPC. cceeseseceeeselt00 pame , a . is 3 : °
L8t & BPs saeeee eds wee ed PERO pM. As we go to press, ameeting —
oe has been requested if the procedure
Reports of Committees ~ {¢ontinues,. ~ ,
Election of G.E. Conference Board | °.° |.
Delegates :
Regular Order of Business
mt waren ass
. FACTS ON UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. -
Union Auditorium-121 Erie Blvd. | by Allen &. Townsénd~ a
rele os Be One of the most misquoted parts
NEW APPLICATION: AND -jof the Unemployment Insurance Law
AUTHORIZATION CARDS is in regards to whether a person
oe jcan qualify for Unemployment Insur-~
Shop Stewards must use new. ance if he retires: optionally. before. -.
application and authorization cards |pension age of 65...
when signing up new members, odes he
. . In.1960, the Unemployment In.
This is necessary to comply _; |Surance Law was changed, whereby
with the new contract change. anyone ‘optionally retiring could not
Bo ol tqualify for Unemployment Insurance
New application and. authoriz~ lexcept under certain conditions; He
ation cards are available at the {would have to show that he had good.
Union Office.
\
cause for retiring,
a (cont'd. reverse side) «
STEWARDS' VIGILANCE (Cont'd)
‘Another case that was success-
fully handled was a docket cohcern-
ing the rate of pay which was paid
‘to an employee who was working on
a Class B Cranefollowing ‘job. Shop
Steward Jones filed a case, and,
upon receiving an unsatisfactory
answer, he gave the grievance to
Board Member Clark who moved it to
the second level of the grievance
procedure. At the second step,
Steward Jones, Board Member Clark,
Coordinator Vitallo and the com-
plainant established the fact that
the complainant had previously
per formed cranefollowing work and
should not have started two steps
below the job rate,. As a result
of this case, the complainant
received retroactive pay for time
already spent on the job and the
top job rate,
These two cases, which we have
outlined, are only some of the
examples of stewards successfully
maintaining working conditions and
wages for the members they rep-
resent.
WHAT IS A "CORRIGERITE!?
This title came up at a plant
meeting with Mr, E.A. Zaczek of the
Large Motor & Generator Department
who recently has been transferred
from the Erie plant to Schenectady.
Mr. Zaczek, at the meeting,
Suggested that a Machinist-Machine
Repair should do some electrician
work, We explained to him that
our building trades set-up had
clear lines of demarkation which we
did not propose to break, Zaczek
then said that in the General Elec-
tric plant at Erie, Pa., which is
represented by the U.E,, they have
‘a group made up of "General Service
Shop Operators" who perform all
building trades work except rigging
and plumbing, The people in the
Erie plant call the men in this
group "Corrigerites". It must be
assumed that’ since these men do all
building trades work except rigging
and. plumbing, their duties would
‘include work which in the Schenec~
tady plant.is done by Electricians,
Crane and Elevator Repairmen,
Machinist-Machine Repairmen, Carpen-
ters, Masons, Millwri
Roofers, Structural Steelworkers,
Pipe Coverers, Tinsmiths and:all
Jobs connected with maintenance,
Mr, daczek further said that
‘there are no helpers in this set
Where do the: future
come from?
"Corrigerites".must spring-from
“Corrigerites"
the ground fully trained!
ghts, Painters,
I Dept. b
athe end.of. their shift due to-lLack
“fof work,
“up e
We don't know either.../
PETITIONS SENT TO CONGRESSMAN
IUE Local 301 has sent the
first group of petitions to Con-
gressman Samuel S. Stratton, req-
uesting the lowering of the retire-
ment age and at the same time re-~
taining eligibility for full Social
Security benefits.
Barlier retirement with full
benefits at this time will help
immeasurably the serious and ever-
growing unemployment problem that
we as a nation are faced with today. .
The urgency of this problem is
borne out by statement made by the
Secretary of Labor, Arthur J. Gold-
berg, after making his first survey
of unemployment areas. Goldberg
said that he "viewed the situation
as critical, worse than he had
expected", Other government ob-
servers feel that the problem of
unemployment today is the most |
urgent since the depression years
of the 1930's, é
These comments have beeri m
by men in responsible positions in
our government. Because of this,
we feel that prompt action should
be taken in the Halls of Congress
‘to enact legislation that will ;
provide for earlier retirement with
full benefits attached.
FACTS ON UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
(Cont'd)
‘an example of good cause would be a
letter from the Company stating that
they no longer had employment for him,
In the absence of any such evidence
from the Company, the only other way
he could qualify for Unemployment
Insurance would be by getting another
job and working for.three days in
each of four different weeks, or by
working until he has made at least
$200, This new rule changes the
old law, whereby a worker was dis-
qualified for a 42 day period before
he could collect benefits.
CONGRATULATIONS STEWARD COCHRANE
Shop Steward Cochrane was on —
the job and, most important, he had
his facts straight, ages gt,
Two P.W, employees in. the
, were sent home 34 hours: before .-
Cochrane checked and found
there was work available at the time,
“A second step meeting resolved _
‘the issue by getting 34 hours pay
for the two union members involved,
