Update from 201 Business Agent 7-23-19

Brothers and Sisters,                                                                                                                      7/23/2019

                We would like to provide you all with an update on where we currently stand as of this morning and where we expect to go. First, we had a productive week in Dayton, OH last week as the IUE Leadership met for the week to regroup following the per capita contract rejection. We spent the week discussing demands for when we return to the bargaining table with GE. Let me be clear, although GE has a statutory obligation to meet with the Union, they do not have an obligation to bargain changes in the proposed contract that was rejected. We also took time to conference call local E-Boards to discuss issues at the local sites to help us better understand the issues. We felt that this was immensely valuable. The IUE-CWA Leadership is currently discussing meeting dates and locations to return to the table. As all of you can imagine, there are a ton of logistical hurdles including meeting spaces, airfare and scheduling that exists to coordinate all of that. We appreciate all of your patience.

                We would like to address some information, and mis information that we feel would be beneficial to the membership. First, we have heard from a lot of folks on why the national number of roughly 3100 votes cast does not match the total CBC number of 6600. The reason is that this contract belongs to the IUE-CWA. It is called a “me too” agreement for the other CBC Unions. If the IUE-CWA votes to ratify the contract then all the CBC Unions fall under this National Agreement. The CBC Unions also go back to their respective sites and negotiate locally on top of what the National Agreement provides. The IUE-CWA locals do not do this. What everyone needs to recognize is that the other CBC Unions who had scheduled their votes for after the IUE’s canceled their voting once we rejected the company offer. We feel they did this to avoid their sites potentially voting to ratify the contract and thus using the IUE-CWA as leverage to better their own situations.

                To clarify the information that GE put out on July 22, 2019, the CBC unions who have not yet voted will be doing so this Friday July 26th. They will be voting on the same package all of you voted on. To clarify the company stating that the IUE-CWA will be ‘re-voting’ this simply means that at some point we will be taking another vote on a package. It DOES NOT mean that we will be voting on the same package.

                We will provide more information to all of you as often as we can and we again thank you all for your patience. We urge folks to get the accurate information from your elected officials as there is a lot of misinformation being put out there. Thank you

In Unity,

Bill Maher

Business Agent, IUE-CWA Local 201

*** Note: This update was posted on both Local 301 (Schenectady) and Local 201 (Lynn) Websites.