Dear Sisters and Brothers, 

You know as Union members we depend on each other.  In Unity, there is strength.  It’s imperative that we work together if we are to be successful in these increased attacks the Company relentlessly continues to bombard us with.  Even with the language we currently have in our Contract Agreement,  this Company has managed to bring in an outside entity to perform work that has been part of our negotiated agreement for years. 

Now, it is essential that each and every member do his or her part if we are to increase our strength and move forward.   Today it’s Material Controllers, what will it be tomorrow?   We will need every eligible employee as a member of our Union.  With your help and support we can accomplish this.  We have no alternative, we will need everyone to fight for the best representation possible.  Local 709 is initiating an in-plant organizing campaign.   Shop Stewards will be receiving information on potential members in their departments along with applications.  We are asking and encouraging our members to talk to co-workers that are not members and encourage them to  join our Union and our fight.   

In this endeavor, Local Lodge 709 is doing a Membership Sign-ups Incentive Blitz, for every 2 new member signups you will receive a cap and lanyard, 4 sign-ups you get a t-shirt of your choice, 6 signups you receive an IAM watch.  There will be a total tallied amount of how many an individual signs up on Thursday December 1^st 2016.  It will be posted on Saturday December 3^rd at the Union meeting and a report given.  

Fraternally,

MICHAEL OWENS

VICE PRESIDENT

LOCAL LODGE 709

770-428-3385

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 

Note:  All of these events are not specifically Local 709.  Some are shows that are open to the public as well as Union Members.

Brothers and Sisters, all of us that are represented by a Labor Union are under staggering odds as Corporate America works to find additional ways to destroy our Union representation. In today’s climate, it is Corporate America’s goal to seize all the benefits that our previous Brothers and Sisters have fought so hard to win in past labor contracts. We have been losing ground on our contracts as these corporations take advantage of the bad economy, and lack of work in this country. This all due to farm outs of our middle class work to other countries.

Lockheed Martin is one of the companies that in the process of eliminating jobs here in Marietta and the rest of the Lockheed plants around the Nation. Their basis is that we are paid too much, and our compensation package is too costly for them. Meanwhile, their profit margin soars, and the Executive board takes pay and bonus packages that are 365 times that of the average worker.  CEO Marilyn Hewson had a compensation package of 33.67 million dollars for 2014! That is for one year.

Whether you realize this or not, the Media, Politicians on the take, and Big Business, are all playing a part in destroying our Unions and eventually our middle class.

Our own members are being attacked daily by scabs, free riders,  and even sorry Union members as they run to management on their fellow employees. They spread rumors on the plant floor about how bad our Union is, without even knowing, or reading the contents of the collective bargaining agreement, or our local bylaws. By doing this they destroy our solidarity, and take part in the company’s objective. The company wants our Union members to be separated, it makes us an easy target that way.

The Company is not your friend, you are just a number remember that. Just look at what the company had asked our Senior negotiating committee  to do in 2015. In order to compete for the T-50 trainer contract, the company asked to open our contract,(Letter 60 in the contract) change language on work rules, wages, benefits, and seniority. Your Senior negotiating committee would not let the company systematically destroy our contact in order to get the T-50 work here at your expense. We denied such a request after months of negotiations. And if that is not enough, the company has decided to replace our material controllers, our truck drivers, and our shipping and receiving inspectors (total of 114 people) with contract employees from outside this plant. Their goal is two fold, in source workers with a very low wage and benefit package, and bring the Union members numbers down in the plant. Our top executives at Lockheed Martin feel that your compensation package is too expensive for them to compete in order to have a Price to win their term so they want to replace you. Have you watched our executive’s salary go down? No! They continue to take from you and your family in order to pad their pockets with millions of dollars in compensation each year. Does that sound like a company that has your best interests?

Brothers and Sisters, there is an answer to this corporate greed, but you have to be willing to go the distance for you and your family’s future. Start by getting to know your Union and your Representatives. Go to the Union meetings on the first Saturday of the month. Pick up a bylaw booklet at the hall, or ask for your shop steward to get you one. Learn how our Union works, understand your Contract. You do have a voice, but you have to use it. Ask questions that you do not understand they will be heard loud and clear at the Union meetings. Get involved in your Union; don’t believe what you hear unless it’s verified by a Union representative. Remember we the members need to be one group in solidarity. Strength by being unified is what the company will notice quickly. But they also know when we are not unified.

We have a collective bargaining agreement that both the company and the Union have toadhere to. If you encounter a contract violation, do not be afraid to file a grievance with your shop steward. If you do not trust your shop steward because you feel he or sheis not representing you, that should be addressed at the Union hall. The worst thing that you can do is not say anything and let it ride, that will only fester in you and you will continue to dwell on the negatives.

We are under attack Brothers and Sisters; we need NOT to play into the companies hands. We need to work together not against one another. Stay out of the Managers or Supervisors office without Union representation. Remember everything that you share with management, will go right back to the companyto work against us. It’s time for all of us to wake up and be part of our Union. We cannot just sit back and complain about it, we need to be a part of it. If we continue the fight, then we continue to keep what we have earned over the years. If we lie down and give up then we lose everything.

In Solidarity.

Mark Pietrofere

Local 709 Senior board