On April 13^th a ruling came down from Arbitrator Thomas Levak in favor of the Union in a case that may shape our future. Weyerhaeuser Company sent the bargaining unit crews home for a week last August in the Springfield Camp. They made the decision to continue to work contractor, logging crews in the Cottage Grove area, which is part of the merged Springfield area, while the bargaining-unit crews sat idle. In an agreement that was reached in July, 2009, the company had agreed to send contractors home when bargaining-unit crews were laid off. In return, they are allowed to bring the contractors back to work when bargaining-unit crews return. Weyerhaeuser argued in the Arbitration that as long as they fulfilled the harvest-level commitment to the bargaining unit, they have sole rights to establish where the bargaining-unit area boundaries are. Their claim was that when the Cottage Grove Camp went away, the company had the right to redefine the boundaries of what land was bargaining-unit land and what land was non-bargaining- unit land. The Union argued that the job security agreement that was put together in July of 2009 was very clear in that when bargaining-unit crews go home so do the contractors.  The Union also argued that the two Camps were merged into one through bargaining and all the area is inclusive.

 

The decision of the Arbitrator was that no bargaining-unit employees should have been laid off during the week the contractors worked, and that they all need to be made whole. This means that nearly 60 of our members will be paid wages and benefits, which will be nearly $70,000 as the penalty for the company not following the Agreement. This Arbitration was a joint effort lead by Local Lodge W246 along with Local Lodge W536 and Local Lodge W130 as well as District Lodge W1. We believe that this decision will help the Union in the areas Weyerhaeuser Company has began to put timber sales on the market while our members are laid off in those Camps due to lack of work.

 

 

 

On April 25^th the Staff from District W1 was called to a staff conference of the IAM International in Houston, Texas. The theme of the conference was the need to organize the unorganized. Members of District Lodge W1 were asked to assist by putting on presentations due to our recent success in organizing within District W1. The goal is to grow the union while our goal is to grow the District while servicing our membership.

 

 

 

The contract will expire at Sierra Pine Particleboard and Ply Veneer Facility in Springfield, Oregon on May 31^st.  Bargaining, for a new agreement, began on April 15^th and will continue with the next session scheduled for May 26^th.

 

 

 

 

On May 9^th nearly 70 volunteers will be blitzing a 900-person manufacturing unit near one of our locals. The blitz is scheduled for 7 days, and when we are successful, the benefits to those individuals and our union will be extreme.

 

Wayne Thompson and Marvin Abbott are bargaining a first contract at Montesano Health and Rehabilitation. The process has been long and stressful; however, they feel that with the help of a mediator this month the bargaining may be coming to a close.

 

Marty Demaris and Mike Rose are bargaining a first contract at Wayne Bare Trucking in Arcata, California. This bargaining is in the early stages and will take several months to complete.

 

Noel Willet along with a Grand Lodge Representative will begin bargaining a first contract with Logistics Solutions Group, Inc., a service contractor at Fort Lewis/McCord, in early June. We have been told that this process is much shorter than bargaining to which we are accustomed.