Wage Delegates Meeting with Ron Buchhorn

Today Local 592 Wage Delegates met with Ron Buchhorn at our request for a very informal discussion to try and set some sort of framework for any up coming talks. As this will be our third time around, we want to be sure to have the right things in place and the right players at the table in a real attempt to come away from that table with a successful outcome. Although A4 will be going down Sept. 1st, the major goal of the proposed talks will be the future of our mill in a 2 machine configuration and what do we have to do to make that happen. It will probably take a whole different mind set by our membership to accept a radical change in the way we do things in order to come to any agreement. I know you have heard this all before but it may take going that extra mile to achieve an agreement that would secure the long term future of our mill as well as taking care of our laid-off people. Phil Guild, Daryl De Rooy and myself all came away from this meeting with a little bit of optimism that we may be able to come up with something that we could bring back to the membership for your consideration.

Although the dates are not confirmed, we have tentatively agreed to start meeting in the 3rd week of July. We will provide you with further information as we go down this road once more.

Pete Rayburn

Squashing Rumors

One of the numerous rumors floating around the mill is that Powell River got additional packages over and above the previous ones that were announced earlier this year. We have just talked to the President of Local 76 and he verified that this is not true. There are no additional packages, just the ones that they achieved previously.

Let's lay this rumor to bed.

New Post on Viewpoints

I just wanted to let you know that I have a new post up on my personal blog, Viewpoints.

I have posted there rather than here because some of it expresses personal opinions that I don't want anyone to mistake as being anything other than a personal opinion.

June Forward Look

The June Forward Look is online. Just click on the link.

Special Meetings & General Meeting

Just for clarification, the voting at the 2 special meetings on the 40 hr work week will be by secret ballot and the Wage Caucus Rules of Order will be dealt with at the General Meeting. The voting procedure for the adoption of the Rules of Order will be by a show of hands as it is ordinary general business.

From the President

Unfortunately we have found it necessary to block the comments on this blog site. This was done to keep our internal issues within our local. As most of you are aware this site is open to anyone including Catalyst Management (who have stated that they find this site very entertaining). All issues referred to in this blog are sensitive issues and should not be left open for everyone to peruse. Your understanding is very much appreciated. We will still use this venue to forward any new information to the membership.

Pete Rayburn

From the President

Some of the postings have asked for more detail on the issues I have touched on.

The Caucus Rules of Order does include an assessment of approx $50 per pay check, not $100. And there are some issues around who can collect if we were out on strike. We will be discussing these issues at the General Meeting on Monday night.

The details around the discussion with Ron Buchhorn will also be discussed at the General Meeting. This topic could be considered to be very sensitive and this blog is a very public forum and what ever info we may have is for the membership only.

Just a reminder that the 2 special meetings are at 2 & 7pm and we will only be dealing with the 40hr work week at those meetings. And yes, the voting will be done by secret ballot. All other business will be handled at the gneral meeting immediately following the 7pm special meeting .

Pete

From the President

Just a quick note to fill you in since the A4 announcement. Some of the Executive had a chance to meet with Ron Buchhorn after the Business Review last Friday. I asked to meet with Ron specifically to talk about severances for the 101 affected people that will be laid off come September 1st. He stated they will offer severances according to our collective agreement (meaning when they announce it permanent or your recall rights run out). But he also put some alternative options on the table for our consideration. The Exec. will be meeting Monday night and we will be discussing some of these possibilities and make a full report to the membership at the General Meeting on the 18th. We will also be discussing and voting on the adoption of the Caucus Rules of Order for the next set of negotiations in 2008 at the General Meeting. It is important that as many of you as possible try to attend and take part in this discussion.

Please remember the 2 Special Meetings also on the 18th. to discuss and vote on the implementation of the 40 HR Work Week. We can only deal with the issue at hand (40 HR Work Week) at these meetings. We will be holding the General Meeting right after the 7PM special meeting.

I know these times are hard on all of us, but please try to remain safe on the job and look out for yourself and your work mates.

Pete

May Forward Look

My apologies for taking so long to get this up. I forgot to ask for it and then I was in Vancouver and I only just got around to it tonight.

Here is the May Forward Look.