August update
The monthly membership and E&G meetings were held Aug. 6th. The board did not meet with the company. Topics of discussion were:
Transfer of cleans in HPV The company is still looking to transition cleaning of graded space Sept.1 for 89 buildings, Nov. 1 for 63/64. Weekly meetings are being held with representatives from each area and the company to try and put guidelines around how the work will be assigned and distributed. We received feedback that the communication from these meetings is not reaching the floor the way we had expected it would so notes from these meetings will be posted in each area going forward. The training of Merck operators is ongoing.
Postings and Surplus Surplus from Primaxin will be an ongoing thing until the area is closed. Look for the rest of the craft to be surplused in the near future with a future effective date tied to the postings. We do not have a good idea of when the rest of operations will be surplused.
Packages Another form has been sent out to the membership from HR soliciting more hand raisers for a voluntary separation. We will hold informational meetings in the cafeteria and Primaxin areas next week I will send out a plant wide e-mail for times and locations. The extent of this our offering has caught us off guard we were expecting around 5 packages to be offered. This is good news for those wanting to retire but we really need volumes in HPV to turn around for those who want to stay here awhile longer.
IFS The company has not communicated anything on a potential layoff. To be honest it still seems inevitable, but we have softened the extent some by pulling in additional cleaning of non-classified spaces. We will continue to work with quality in production to identify more areas that need additional cleaning. This is in response to the Merck bargaining unit taking back cleans inside the graded spaces. It does not account for the loss of the IFS workforce in Primaxin later this year or early next year.
Additional work Every board member has been asked to look at work in their area that could be done by our Union that can be pulled in. Across the plant we have found tasks that salary or contractors were doing that we have been able to take. This isn’t always popular, but is the only reason we have avoided an hourly involuntary layoff. Upper management is becoming increasingly vocal about the workforce numbers remaining the same with about a 66% reduction in volume. Recently they asked for a 25% reduction across HPV in our ranks. We were able to counter the discussion around run rate versus actual volume, but that argument only lasts so long. Next year’s volumes could be spread out. Without the Cleans, UPLC, Solo vpe, locking out our own equipment, additional kitting, additional sampling, passivation work and capitol work coming back in house we will be in a lay off situation. I do not know how to say it any plainer. We are doing everything we can to make sure the only ones leaving are leaving with a package and voluntarily!
MTP program The MTP committee, which is made of of 2 Union reps, 2 Company reps and one representative from HR, Voted to adopt language that would require the company to post jobs in the craft that those graduating from MTP are in no later than 30 days after their graduation. We had sought this language before but had not been successful in getting it. Additionally the company has expressed interest in adding the HVAC craft into the program.
Retirees We had 27 people retire this past month. They had over 650 years of service to this company between them. They are listed below with the date they hired in.
| Kisling , Sara J | 8/15/1988 |
| Breeden , Cathy A | 6/19/1989 |
| Comer (Thompson), Linda S | 12/18/1995 |
| Trolson , Marcus R | 2/20/1996 |
| Mccauley , Jeffrey A Sr | 5/28/1996 |
| Conley , Christopher T | 8/19/1996 |
| Shifflett , Kevin W | 12/16/1996 |
| Bower , Jeffrey H | 5/19/1997 |
| Knight , Nathan L | 5/27/1997 |
| Reid-Brill , Judy L | 5/27/1997 |
| Riddle , Marcella L | 11/28/2000 |
| Baugher , Timothy G | 3/5/2001 |
| Armentrout , Melinda A | 4/23/2001 |
| Fidler, Charles | 10/22/2001 |
| Gentry , Jeffrey | 2/24/2003 |
| Bywaters , Jacqueline | 6/2/2003 |
| Hensley, Jeffrey Wayne | 6/16/2003 |
| Baker, Brian Keith | 7/7/2003 |
| Koogler, Robert Wendell | 7/7/2003 |
| Tucker , Phillip B | 7/16/2007 |
| Good, Donald W. | 6/29/2009 |
| Shifflett , Steve C | 6/29/2009 |
| Shifflett , Kevin W. | 1/4/2010 |
| Conley , David E | 1/19/2010 |
| Worley , Leigh C. | 10/11/2010 |
| Miller , Timothy Lee | 9/10/2012 |
| Dickenson , Peggy S | 9/8/2014 |
We hope they all enjoy a long happy retirement!
Thanks for reading!
The next Union meeting will be August 3rd, please make plans to attend.