February update
Greetings 94c, both the monthly membership meeting and E&G meetings were held February the 5th. We had a third step slated to be heard with the company but they settled in our favor ahead of the meeting.
Topics of discussion were:
- Restrooms Several of the restrooms on site had issues over the last few weeks. The ones in the 62/63 area continue to be a problem. The company has committed to use upcoming down time to redo the entire line leaving the lift station. The other restrooms were all repaired within the same day that they went out of service.
- “ Packages” The enhanced separation sign-up sheet has been emailed to everyone. The completed form has to be in by February the 23rd to be considered. After a lot of back and forth the company did agree to honor bargaining unit seniority for awarding.
- Cleans Downtime in the factories will be used to train operators on the GMP cleaning that takes place inside the suites. It is currently done by IFS. There is still not a definite timeline of when the Merck bargaining unit will assume a portion of this work from IFS.
- Emergency List An Emergency list with the same general principles as the Holiday list was used to identify those who were solicited to stay around the clock through the snowstorm. A set of rules were sent to the overtime committee to review, tweak and record.
- Merck Phones The issue with Verizon phones and the Merck network was not a Merck problem, it was Verizon issue. The overtime committee will have to make a decision on what hours are to be charged that were not called from Company phones and what to do if it happens again. Those guidelines will also be publicized.
- Financial Advisor Seminars There have been four financial advisors at the Union Hall to give presentations. There are three more scheduled to come. An e-mail went out to the membership on names of the firms, dates, and times.
- Fill in work If you have ideas about meaningful training or activities that will help us be safer, more compliant, or better at our jobs Please reach out to me or any board member with your suggestions. With falling volumes, we need to stay busy with meaningful tasks.
- Lay off Rumors There were rumors about involuntary layoffs from within the Merck ICWUC bargaining unit. To the best of my knowledge these rumors are unfounded. To be sure I went and asked the plant manager again if something had changed and he reiterated that as of now there are no plans to lay off except for the enhanced separation packages.
Unfortunately, I do not believe the same can be said for the IFS unit. I’m anticipating cuts. We will try to preserve as many of these jobs as possible. I do not know a timeline, and I do not know a number.
- New Work We are actively trying to pull work into the bargaining unit that may not have traditionally been staffed with 94c members. Some changes have been made in materials management where salary work came to the Union. M&I members are performing lockouts of equipment with clear instructions and a defined scope, again it was salary work. There are more opportunities to pick up work around the site. To get through the next two years we need all we can get.
The next union meeting is March the 5th. Please make plans to attend! It will be held at 7:00 PM 150 Shen Elk Plaza Elkton VA