Hello Sisters and Brothers,
April was a busy month for me. We had two Arbitrations scheduled for the month of April, One was for a Termination of an employee and the other was a Language dispute. After a lot of preparation for both Arbitrations there was a settlement offered to the employee in regards to the Termination and the employee accepted the offer. The Language dispute Arbitration was heard on April 21st and it was in regards to the National Buried Service Wire Techs performing job functions of the Fiber Network Field Technicians. We have just received the Transcripts from the Court Reporter and both parties will be writing a brief and submitting to the Arbitrator no later than June 7th. After the Arbitrator receives the Briefs from both parties, he will have 30 days to give his decision otherwise known as an Award. Once we get the Award we will let the membership know. As far as other Arbitrations go we are still working with the company to schedule 2 more Arbitrations, both being Termination Grievances. More information will follow after it becomes available.
Last month the Chief Stewards and I met with the new Area Manager of the CZTII classification for meet and greet purposes and to discuss issues that are arising in the Upper Sun-coast Areas. One concern that was addressed was THC’s and On-Loan for 180 days. Rudy gave us his commitment that after 180 days employees that are On-Loan or THC’ing will go back to their respective work group. We also discussed some of the issues with vehicles, overtime, tools, etc. I will be getting with Rudy in the near future to schedule an additional meeting for the second quarter.
At the end of April, Sue Jerome, Rachel Brougham, a grievant and I met with the company to discuss and go over the TPI results as a settlement for a grievance. We also had a full day of 3rd Step Grievances in mid April at the FSRC. I would like to thank the Stewards and Chiefs for their participation and preparation for those grievance meetings.
I would like to end my report with Congratulations to a Member in the Upper Sun-coast area. She is a member in the FSRC who has been a member of our Local since Mid 1998, and she received the “Lance London” Award at the General Meeting on Friday night May 7th, 2010. The “Lance London” award is an award that is presented to one member per year that communicates with as many members as possible on issues that arise in the workplace. Tina has assisted me and Robert Prunn on setting up and presenting the Membership Training, She is involved with our Solidarity Committee, and has assisted many members with FMLA issues. Congratulations Tina Tyler.
In Solidarity,
Dan Wagner
