ELECTRICAL UNION” NEWS
Friday, May 11, 1951.
‘Workmen’s Compensation:
" Bénefits for, Injured
Workers :
(This is the “seventh in a series of articles: on’ Work-
men's Compensation written by Leon Novak, he Union" s
lawyer.)
From time to time,°I am asked ques-
tions by union committeemen and work-
ets about the rights of an injured work-
er to compensation benefits. Some of
these questions repeat themselves every
now and then, For the benefit of every-
one interested I am listing a few typical
questions and my answers to these ques-
tions: j wo .
Question: About a year ago, I fell
~ while working in the plant. I injured my
right arm and. received treatment at the
G.E. Hospital. Iwas also paid for sore |
‘fost time from work. Now my arm feels
fine but I have a long scar below the
elbow, -Am I entitled to any compensa-
tion for this scar?
Answer: No, The compensation laws
yf
provide ‘for benefits for .scars only if.
they are on the fave and not for scars on
any other part of the-body, Of course,
if a-sear on-the arm is serioUs enough to
interfere with the use of the arm itsel!
- there might be some compensation paid
but since you say that your arti is other-
wise alright, IT asume that such is -not
_. the tuation here.
é Le
* Question: A few months ago I noticed
# rash on’ my ‘right: arm -which hasn’t
been getting any. better. I have never
had this ‘trouble before and I am sure
that the rash comes-from tlie work that
Tam doing. I have had to take off about
3 days from work when the rash both-
cred me a great deal. Do you advise me
to file a claim for Workmen’s Compen-
sation? ,
Answe. Before I would. file a elaim
for Workmen’s Compensation T would
vant, to. know trom a skin specialist ae
he thinks is the source of the rash.°
he says it came from your work shan
certainly I, would file a claim in your
behalf and the Company would have to
pay the doctor’s bills, If the - doctor
thinks it did not.come from your work,
then the treatments would have to be
at your own expense. In any event, the
important thing to do is to go to a doctor
first and only after he gives his opinion
do we consider whether or not there ir
a basis for a compensation claim.
Question: About three years ago, I
hurt my back while working in the plant.
I reported at the G. E. Hospital and was
given heat treatment for a few weeks.
After that my back felt better and 1
stopped taking the treatments, How-
ever, from time to time, T still have pain
“CONGRESSMAN DRIPP
BY YOMEN
“I don't see why you should get so mad just because the child entered a Why Yo ou
Should, Write Your: Congressman Every Week essay contest.”
in my hack. Am 1 entitled to a settle-
ment for this condition?
Answer: In my-»previous articles 1
pointed out that when a worker has an
accident he is entitled to two benefits: |
Medical treatment al’ the expense
of the employer.
Compensation payments -lor lost
time, or reduced earnings. . «
Therefore, “if you need medical treat.
ments you can go to your doctor, and if:
he files a report that the trouble in your
hack comes from the accident the Com-
opany has to pay him. for any treatment
which will help you.’: Also, if you’ are
“losing time trom work or your earnings
are reduced because of the condition of
your back, the Company has to pay you
benefits so Inog as you are disabled. For
a back injury you are not entitled, un-
der the law, to any settlement in cash.
Question: I have just pone back ‘to
work after an absence of two weeks due
to.an aecident in which I fractured the
middle finger of my right hand. What
compensation benefits am I entitled to?
Answer: In the first instance, you are
entitled to-have your doctors bills paid
for hy the Company, In addition, the
Company has tes pay you $32 00 for one.
week’s absence. (Under. the law, the
Company does not have to-pay. you for
the first seven days of absence unless
you are away from work at least 35
days.) - This_is all that you will get at
the present time. About nine months
to a year after the accident, a stab
tor will examine your finger, If it. is
entirely healed your case will be closed
without further award, In such a case
you are still protected: because your case
can then be reopened for 18 years if you
have any further trouble with the finger.
If you have a permanent condition in
your finger, however, the doctor fixes
the percentage of loss of use, For a
total loss of the middle finger a person
is entitled to 80 weeks compensation at
$82.00 a week. If in your case the doc-
tor says you have a 50% loss of use
_then you would be entitled to half of that
15 weeks of compensation at $82.00
a week less the one week’s compensation
already paid.to you. The case would
then be closed. But even then it can
be reopened for 18 years after the acci-
dent if for some reason it begins to give
you more trouble or gets worse,
THE VOICE OF THE UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA — LOCAL 201, U. E. .
Vol. 9 — No. 10 “SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
_ MEMORANDUM [—.. = ——
of |: Statement of National UE-GE
“AGREEMENT Negotiating Committee
; between
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY Upon instructions of the GE Conference Board, the UE Negotiating Committee
and ' concluded national wage negotiations with the General Electric Company under the
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND current contract reopener.on the basis‘ of a general-increasevof nine cents an,hour, ”
M ACHINE ‘WORKERS OF AMERICA retroactive to March 15, subject to approval by members affected. | :
(UE) . » The UE regards the GE wage settlement as: unsatisfactory. It falls far short
- Acting ‘for Itself and - Behalf of its of meeting the needs of GE’ employees, and does not even.make up the ground they
Affiliated Locals as Provided in the“. -haye lost since the Jast wage increase. The Company could easily have met the
°GE-UE National Agreement, needs of GE workers gut of its enormous and growing profits. :
Dated September 15,:1950
Friday, May 25, I951
A combination of four major factors énabled GE to get away with an inade-
"quate wage settlement: +
The Company and the Union have en-
tered into a Wage Settlement -
ment dated May ‘17, 1951, whic
ment is subject to approval of the Wage
Stabilization Board, .
If such Wage Settlement Agreement
or any part thereof cannot be made ef-
fective because: not: approved by the
Wage Stabilization Board, the Union and. Atter reviewing the situation surrounding the’ national GE wage negotiations,
the Company will continue their négotia- the Conference Board concluded that no ‘more. than nine cents could be obtained
tions ‘under the provisions of Article without a major.strike, With GE. employees divided between UE, the company union
XXIV of the GE-UE National Agree- | IUE-CIO, a number of splinter unions and. the unorganized, “iid with the Adminis-
ment with the. purpose of effectuating to tration and the CIO both actively helping GE to. hold wages down, the Conference
the extent legally possible the intention did not feel justified in recommending a strike to the UE locals in GE at-this time,
of the parties as expressed in the Wage i
Settlement’ Agremnt dated May 17.
Dated: May 17, 1951 >
New York, New York
The splitting of GE employees by the company-union IUE- CIO.
The giving up of collective bargaining bythe company- -whion IUE: “C10 last
fallin GE, = .
The Administration -wage-freeze policy, developed and directed by the cor-
‘porations,
4. The endorsement ‘and participation of -the. officials of clo and APE in the
Administration:big- business wage freeze policy. ~ 4
The wage settlement with GE provides:
“ WAGE SETTLEMENT
between"
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
“UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO « - ‘ and
AND MACHINE WORKERS UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
OF AMERICA (UE) , . (UE)
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. Acting for Itself and on. Behalf of its Affiliated Locals as provided ©
in the GE-UE National Agreement, dated September 15, 1950
1. General Increase: to Hourly Workers .
The Company agrees to grant a general wage ineredse of nine “vents (de)
per hour to hourly, paid employees in bargaining units riauel by the GE-UE.
May 17, 1951, “four weeks after U. B Yational Agrement.
called upon Congress to*’make an investi- Yor day work, this increase shall be added to daywork rates and daywork job
gation into the Labor Department’s fig- rates, ‘
ures on cost of living, the C.1.0. joins * Por incentive work, the general increase of nine cents (Se): per hour shall be
the U.E. in condemning the present cost added to the:incentive eartiings.
of living index figures, pointing out that 3 oe we :
the price index of the Department of ™ General Increase to Salaried Employees
Agriculture showea il S186 th cost Of live The .Company agrees to grant a general increase of nine cents (9c) per hour
ing 3 3% higher than the index figures to.salaried employees in bargaining units covered by the GE-UL National Agree-
of the Department of Labor. ‘nent, This inérease shall be added to salary rates and salary job rates. in effects
_ 3. Effective Date : ‘ . ‘)
Cy cle Shop Offers Discount The “effective date of the increases provided for in Sections 1 and 2 above is
ioe Paha notified. the Union office Aunoly 18). 1884, , ®
that any U.E, member can get a 10% 4. Wage Stabilization Board Approval
vieyeles. or childven’s toys ab. _The. general’ wage Increases: rovided for in this Wage Settlement. Agreement .
” (Continued on Page 4)
C.1.0. Urges’ Improvement
inB.L.S.
' 86 delegates. ”
. ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS -
Friday, = 25,.1951
LU.E. Lie Spiked Agai
Friday, May 25, 1951
n — Erie Gate Meetings :
held in Erie on Sunday, May 18, with
While some delegates
drove ‘their cars, most traveled _by. bus.
- chartered by the Union. -
The bus left Schenectady 11:00 p.m,
Saturday night, arriving in Erie about
9:30 “a.m., Sunday morning.
tending the meeting the bus left Evie
5:00 pm. Sunday night, arriving in:
Schenectady about 8:30° a.m., Monday’
morning. The Conference Board -adopt-
ed the following report made by the na-
- tional negotiations committee:
“Since March 15th when it presented’
§ts wage demands’ to General Electric,
* the U.E. has fought to re-establish co)-
lective bargaining in national wage ne-
gotiations.. The Administration wage.
freeze, endorsed and: backed up by ‘the
leadership of IUE-CIO has scuttled col-
lective bargaining for adequate wage in- _
creases. The Committee declares this a
betrayal of the working people for the
benefit of corporations already swollen
with record profits,
“When the officials of the AFL and
CIO aceepted the wage ‘freeze’ and re-
~ turned to the WSB, the General Electric
Company reacted immediatly and ‘arro-
gantly refused to better its nine-cent
offer, ;
“In view of this situation surrounding
national negotiations under the current
wage re-opener, it is clear that the only
way to get more than nine cents an hour’
general wage increase from GE at the
present time is by a major strike.
“The Committee does not recommend
a-strike at this time.
“The Committee recommends that the
After at-
Local 301 Well Represented at G.E. Conference
Local. 301, U.E., was well represented ©
Jat the G.E. Conference Board meeting
Union keep up its fight: nationally and
locally for settlement of Union demands
on behalf of-day workers, for’ elimina-
tion of geographical differentials and for
elimination of rate ‘discrimination
against women workers.
“The .Committee also “yecommiends
that, with government wage policy de-
veloped and ditected by the corpora-
tions and with officials of CIO and AFL
committed to the wage freeze and join-
ing in its enforcement, the UE-GE Con-
ference Board project plans to. mobilize | -
all GE workers regardless of Union affil-
jation for the. fight. to win back the right
to real collective bargaining. ;
“The Committee proposed that in ac-
cordance with the above it be authorized
to resume conferences with the Company
“with a view of concluding National Ne-
: gotiations.”
The delegates from Schenectady. Loeal
301, U.E., were: .
Bldg. 10C, R. Dohert ty: Bldg. 16, John
Briggs; Bldg. 17, Joseph Koral, Sid
Friedlander, Barney Lig; Bldg. 40, James
Cantore, Steve Rusyeal, ‘Blanche Win-
cheski, Ben Gabriele; Bldg. 46, Fred
Pacelli, S. Pita, John Natonski, R. Light-
hall; Bldg. 49, James De Masseo;. Bldg.
53, Frank D'Amico! Bldg. 49, H. Me-
Clough; Bldg. 60, S. Van Allen; Bldg. 66,
Foster Campbell, Charles Maietta, Wil-
liam Rowe, J. Piechocki, John Green;
Bldg. 73A, J. Davolio; Bldg. 77, M. Riggi;
Bldg. 85, Miles Moon, Hugh McMullen;
Bldg. 269, M. Fernandez; Bldg. 278, Alex
Daszewski, William Stewart, D. DeVito,
A. Baetens, T. Golden, John Strohmaier;
“Knolls, Edmund’ Kelly; Business - Agent
Leo Jandreau and President William J.”
Kelly,
Committee Reports on
William Rea Fund =~
A Union cominittee was charged with
the, collection of funds for the family of
William Rea, veteran of World.War. II
and member -of Local 301% before his
“death. Rea was killed as a result of an
accident in-Bldg. 52, leaving a wife and
four:small children. The Rea Commit-
tee took over the responsibility of car-
ing for the family over a period of sev-
eral months, finally making arrange-
ments for the purchase’ of a house for
‘Mrs. Rea and her children.
The committee makes. ‘the following
accounting of the Rea funds:
Income
Expenses -
Xmas. money for Rea
family... weeB 200.00
Bellevue Maternity 112.00
Dr, Laffvedo .. 110.00:
R. G. Smith, Att 75.80
Frank Romao godin
; (house) chew 25,450.00
Mrs. Rea Chelanee of
PONG) carne vieee
$2,978.93
81,18 ~
Signed: | $2,978.93
C. E. Doherty, Chairman......Bldg, 52
Henry Kaminski, Treasurer 26
Albert: Davis ..... » 10
KE. J. LaBombard .. » 97
Rossiter Lighthall . _" 46
~ William Mastriani asics “UP 8
Fred Pacelli wos 2 49
Helen Quirini .... ss ” 81
Joseph Saccocio : 52
Mario Bagnato . “#52.
Sidney Friedlander... 17
Paul Hacko .......... ae 273
Vincent Palazeke occ 60
‘Mrs. Rea wishes to extend her thanks
to each and everyone for their kind as-
sistance, >
=
“Jegal’ counsel and direction.
WEST PLANT GATE meeting May 38rd at t whieh |
wage negotiations with GE.
B Local 506 me nonibers heard President Nelson’ 'S report on. UE
1.U.E. Seeks Recognition |
InBldg. 2730
Under the direction of the 1.U.E,, the
Cutter Grinders in Bldg. 273 stopped
work last Tuesday, ‘May 15th. The stop-
page started on the second. shift and
_ was led by H, Barber, who is not a mem-
ber of U.E.
The stoppage occurred without knowl-
edge of the U.E., nor has the Union 4
ease: pending before, management at tl
time requesting a specific increase for
cutter grinding rates, According to the
Union records, the last increase negoti-
ated for the Cutter Grinders in the.Tur-
bine Department was in 1947, which re-
sulted into increases of one step for the
“A” Class, Intermediate “B” and Class
“B” job rates,
tion to the general increases since that
time,
After the: present. stoppage oceurred,
Barber admitted he was in contact with
the I.U.E., which furnished him, with
The law
prohibits a Union from seeking recog-
nition where there already is a duly cert-
ified collective bargaining agent.
This raise was in addi-'
1 UL. Claimed i in ‘Leaflet Last Week, “The UE: in
Erie Has Never Had a Plant Gate Meeting
With More than 1,000 People”
The facts are — 4,000 turned out at |
the East. Gate meeting to hear Daye
Kester, Chief Steward,’ report on wage
negotiations. 2,500 turned out at the
West Gate meeting to hear John Nel-
approximately 2,000
tions. There were
‘who turned out for the second shift
meeting, of which we do not.have a pic-
ture to show. All meetings took place
Thursday, May 3rd.
The Erie Dispatch, the morning paper,
carried an article on the meetings, quot-
ing 6,500 day shift workers. There was
plenty of factual information available
“it the 1U.E. wanted the truth,
son, President, report on wage negotia--. ;
‘Two weeks ago the LU.E. claimed in.
their leaflet that Erie. had only 2,500.
members on check-off. This. may have
encouraged them to quote 1,000 at the
gate meeting, in order to be consistent.
After an investigation by the officers
and representatives of the U.E,, . the
members of U.E, Local 801 were advised
not to support this I.U.1. demonstration.
In an effort to try to.embarrass the
U.E., “the LU.E., through
to involve the whole Turbiné Division
and finally bring, about a plant strike.
The national. UE Negotiations Commit-
tee was meeting with General Electric
on Wednesday,"May 16th.
Barber cand .
some others, staged the stoppage hoping ©
The rates of Cutter Grinders like every
other day work rate are low and should
be increased. Meetings with local man-
agreement are in process on day work
‘yates and other inequities in the rate
structure of the Schenectady Works,
U. BE. Local 801 stands ready and will-
ing to process any grievances for work-
in our bargaining unit. However,
we Will not be tricked into any action
that is not designed in the interest of
our members,
