Calling all 201 Members: STOP TALKING TO HR

Excerpt from President's Column of April edition of newspaper:

Calling all 201 Members: STOP TALKING TO HR

GE: HR Overreach Ends Today

You do not have to, nor should you, talk to HR without union representation.

Talking to HR is asking for trouble, and it is your right to refuse to talk to anyone in management but your direct supervisor or his/her designee in their absence.  The Union asks you to assert that right.  You are Union. YOU have one supervisor. 

At GE, our benefits and pay have been messed up for 3 months, and GE’s Human Resource Department is too busy with BS discipline investigations that affect a minority, while the Company drag’s their heels on the pay, benefits, and grievance issues that affect the majority.  

If you have a benefits issue, tell your cell leader to notify HR, and ask for a copy of the email sent. If it is not resolved in 48 hours, notify your steward to file a grievance.

If you have a pay issue, tell your foreman to notify Payroll, and ask for a copy of the email sent. If it is not resolved in 48 hours/that weeks paycheck, go talk to Payroll yourself and bring a steward, then file a grievance.

If you have an upgrade or employment question/issue, ask a steward or go to the employment office with a steward.  Do not go to HR.

If the Company calls you to an investigatory meeting that could result in discipline, do not attend without a steward.  You do not have to attend any such meeting or answer any questions without union representation. If HR is present at the meeting or plans to be present in the investigatory meeting, the steward should notify the board member.

If you do not feel safe performing your job, shut it down and notify your Union health and safety rep and/or steward.  The employee does not have to work on an assignment that they consider unsafe until a decision is made by the safety representative/EHS.  NOT HR! (and NOT the foreman, business leader, plant leader, “technical expert”, or the CEO himself)

If you think you have experienced a contractual violation of any kind, see your steward and discuss filing a step 1 grievance and deliver it to the supervisor.  Do NOT talk to HR.

Do NOT sign anything from the company except your paycheck, an IR form for upgrade, or an injury report form, and if you’re signing retirement paperwork, make sure they got the date right!