April Update
Both the monthly membership and E&G meetings were held April 2nd.
The board did not meet with the company. We won a grievance over the company cancelling volunteer OT just prior to going to third step, so the hearing was cancelled.
Topics of discussion from the meetings were:
Packages The hourly folks who requested a package will leave July 31st.
Jobs and Postings All the jobs that are being vacated from bargaining unit folks taking packages will be filled as long as they’re not coming from Primaxin. As folks move into posted jobs, their vacancies will also be back-filled as long as they do not come out of Primaxin.
Testing The round of postings that just came down were all jobs that you had to pass a test to successfully bid. Unfortunately, the company that had provided these tests is no longer associated with Merck. HR and Learning are trying to find comparable tests that are fair and unbiased to replace the ones that are no longer available. This will slow the process.
Future Effective Dates If you have been awarded a job that had a future effective date and are not moved by the future effective date, 1.5 pay starts the next day. There is no waiting period.
Work transfer As primaxin closes some of the support work is being reassigned within the bargaining unit. One example is solvent recovery. When it closes Facility Operators will assume the required RCRA inspections. Zone Material Management group will take some tank farm duties. We also took some work from salary for the zone work group. With Primaxin leaving we’re being told there will only be ~1 tanker truck delivering a month. The Zone group vacancies are being posted, but we are having to find work to justify the jobs until Fastnet is up and running.
Primaxin Cleans Some of the cleans in primaxin have been reduced, and in some cases in areas that are no longer being used they have been paused. We are trying to reduce forcing within IFS and not see someone hired just to be laid off later this summer. With the increased cleans of unclassified space in HPV there is a good chance we can make it through this without any involuntary layoffs from the bargaining unit including IFS. If it becomes necessary for there to be a layoff within the IFS bargaining unit, it will definitely be much smaller than was originally anticipated.
Rahway negotiations Contract negotiations are underway for the Rahway plant. The bargaining unit size there is a lot smaller than it used to be with only about 100 members. Members of the board are attending the negotiations.
Scholarship Walter L Mitchell Memorial Scholarship Award forms are in the Union office. If you have a child or grandchild going to college next year, they are eligible to enter the contest. We have had two winners from the local in the last few years.
Retiree Doug Hensley, A CT in Large Molecule Maintenance retired last week. Doug came here in 2015. Congratulations Doug and good luck!
The next Union meeting will be may the 7th please make plans to attend.