NEWS
FrontLine Employee October 2018
Northwestern Medicine Employee Assistance Program
888.933.1327
Summer 2018 Newsletter
Letter From The Business Manager / Secretary Treasurer:
As you read the pages in this newsletter you will notice a lot of changes in your District Council. New retiree’s from among our own Business Representatives, and the hiring of new organizers and Field Representatives, who bring some new ideas and assertiveness on board. The New Wages and Benefit packages for the different trades, under our jurisdiction, the fight against the non-union contractors and the political action to support those politicians who support working people. All this is to inform our members how we are diligently working for them.
First, I would like to wish on behalf of all our membership to the retiring Business Representatives“a long fruitful retirement”. Glazier Business Representative Mike O’Donnell is retiring along with Painters Representative Ron Haftl. These are two of the hardest working Business Representative in our District Council’s history. Each with their own style of getting the job done. They have served the membership proudly influencing many of their members lives. You will see a brief history of them in this publication.
I want to say welcome aboard to our New Field Representatives, Ken Kazaitis, of Local 830, who will be working with the sign painters, wood finishers, and metal polishers. Steve Mabus who will be working for Glaziers Local 27 covering Mike O’Donnell’s old area, and Dan Granadon, of Local 194, will be covering Ron Haftl’s area. It has always been a rule of thumb that it takes 5 years to learn these jobs and they are well on their way to that end.
You will also see some scary changes coming from the courts that have the potential to weaken labor unions and working people in general. Although we have beaten back “Right to work for less” laws in the state of Illinois, Governor Rauner and his cronies have funded a court challenge that has now gone to the supreme court. Funding this appeal to the Supreme Court is an anti-union think tank set up along with Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to push the governor’s non-union agenda even though he has failed numerous attempts at the state level to gut unions. Janus vs AFSCME was decided by this right-wing Supreme court with a decision that basically says that no you don’t have to pay for any union dues will cause a negative impact on service unions and open the door for more anti-union legislation in the future. This even though a previous supreme court decision in the mid-seventies said that employees working for a public entity such as a city, state or county whether union or non-union must pay their “fair share” dues if they benefit from union contract negotiations and grievance privileges. This does not force anyone to join the union and never has. It only requires them to pay for the services rendered by the union. I relate this to someone who is a member of a gym, golf course, country club etc.— uses their facilities but refuses to pay any fees for that use? That’s ridiculous and so is Janus vs AFSCME. The bottom line is that eventually the lack of revenue would force any business (union) out of business and that’s the underlining purpose of this decision. If you have any doubts about this being a setup, Mark Janus who was a state employee and who’s name appears on the court document and who was so concerned about paying dues, less than a month later has quit his job with the state and now works for a conservative think tank. NO SURPRISE . . .
ON A POSITIVE NOTE
Deferred Savings
After our last newsletter polling on the question of increasing the amount put into deferred savings with recommendations on how much. The response was overwhelming with the poll results at about 100 to 1 favoring to increase the deferred savings $1.00 per hour. This doubles the amount paid from your check on your behalf to $2.00 per hour. You will see some on that on your December 1st, 2019 checks. Deferred savings money paid in from April 1, thru March 31st is paid out the following December. This only applies to the Painters and Tapers contract.
Built to last
A television show that airs on ABC Channel 7 Sundays at 11:30 a.m. showcases the workmanship of union trades. The shows that will highlight Painters District Council #14 and our Union members first aired on Sunday June 10th and June 17th. These full episodes can be seen online at www.Builttolast.com. They include volunteer work done at Dusable Museum, Joliet Prison, and a spot highlighting how the union has impacted a young pro baseball prospect Juan Arzate’s life.
WPCT radio station 820
A month or so back, I along with Miles Beatty from the Finishing Contractors Association (FCA) had the opportunity to sit on a panel on the Ben Joravsky show to discuss the areas of agreement for management and labor. This turned out to be a fun event where we could talk candidly about our concerns and potential going forward. It also gave us an opportunity to highlight the Star program, Market recovery initiative, the Benefits and pension that our members receive. Also, to update the audience on our on-going problems with a sub-contractor who does work for the CTA named “Intersection”. They are now in negotiations with DC 14 for a contract after forcing them and winning a 95% yes vote from their workers to become union thru a Department of labor election.
New Pension calculation formula
The Painters and Tapers pension fund has approved a fairer and self-improving pension calculator for determining your pension. As you saw on your last communication from the fund all but a few, received an increase to their pension for all years going forward. Those who didn’t receive an increase that was because they were not paying a sufficient amount into the fund for what they received back. This new calculation formula will also give our members an automatic increase going forward each time there is an increase contribution to the pension fund. It will not increase the pensions going backwards for past years of service. All in all, this is a great benefit change for Painters, Tapers and Wood Finishers
New benefit for all our card-carrying members
We have negotiated a new benefit for ALL members who hold a DC 14 union card. Northwestern Hospital will provide 6 counseling sessions free of charge for members and their families. The HOT LINE number is 888-933-1327 where your family can call for assistance. Some of the assistance offered will be for Depression, Drug abuse, Debt reconciliation and a multitude of other problems that our members face every day. These counselors will direct you to the right people for help whether you are covered with our insurance or not. More info will be available and will be sent to you soon.
Glaziers Local 27
Congratulations to the members of Local 27 who have secured a new contract that ensures steady wage growth and secure pension and welfare for years to come. The yearly break down will be $2.55 for the first year, $2.50 the second year, and $2.50 in the third year. There will be no language changes to the base contract.
John Spiros Jr.
Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer
Employer Portal Updates
We are excited to announce the upcoming release of new and improved features for the employer jobsite reporting portal. This latest update focuses on reporting enhancements along with improving your overall user experience.
New: Work day / early start
We've added a section on the job reports to report the regular hour work day. If the job starts prior to the typical 8:00 AM, an early start request is created to inform the district council for confirmation and approval.
Revised: Make up day reporting
Reporting workflow update for this type of job instance. A reporting request is created and sent to the district council for confirmation and approval.
Along with email notifications on these new request types, new pages have been added to view the statuses of requests between the employer and district council.
Improved: Job detail list views
Supplemental job reports (Overtime, Make up Day, etc.) have been reformatted in the system and are in easier to read list views.
The update will be released within the upcoming weeks.
Our goal is to improve job reporting and communication between the employers and the district council. Your feedback is important to us. If you have suggestions for improving the system, please let us know your feedback by filling out a short survey.
STAR Program Calendar
April 1 is the beginning of the Annual STAR Year. Classes are held at the Apprenticeship School. Visit our training schedule page for a list of courses and requirements.
Location
1101 N. Taft Avenue
Berkeley, IL 60163
Winter 2017 Newsletter
Letter From The Business Manager / Secretary Treasurer:
Well another year has come and gone. This year has sure been an eventful one for District Council 14 members. As we look forward to the upcoming holidays let’s pause and look at some of the highlights of the past year.
DC 14 negotiated a new contract with both the Painters and Drywall Taper Contractors Associations. Utilizing the survey that was sent out to all our painter and taper members the agenda was set on what our members wanted. With a strike looming, we secured a 4-year contract that benefited both labor and management while guaranteeing higher wages, a secure health insurance, and pension over the next 4 years.
Our website (pdc14.com) has given our members better access to what is happening in their union. It also has created a mechanism to track contractors and general contractors that are both union and non-union, so we can get a better grip on work being performed in DC 14’s area, as well as hold our representatives and organizers accountable for their job performance. Using this information, we have stepped up pursuing more union work for our members.
Numerous pickets and demonstrations have turned non-union jobs into man days worked by our members. Our latest “Job action” has been pursuing “Intersection Media” currently doing work for the Chicago Transit Authority. You may have seen our demonstrations or heard of them on the radio. The Law firm Goldberg, Weisman and Cairo had a $500,000 contract with Intersection Media for advertising on buses all over the city. To support the District Council #14 and Union labor they have pulled their contract with Intersection Media. We thank them for the supporting our Union and all Union work.
With the new contract we have developed a new Market recovery initiative, which helps our contractors bid competitively on jobs that would normally go non-union. So far, this year it has brought in approximately 15,000 union hours with full wages and benefits for DC 14 members. We look forward to this growing even larger with our contractor’s support in the upcoming years.
We will be returning to Blue Cross/Blue Shield for our Health insurance on January 1, 2018. In an effort to save our funds money and a promise of little inconvenience to our members we changed our insurance in 2017 from Blue Cross /Blue Shield to Cigna Health Care. During this past year we received many complaints from our members that there were problems with providers and claims being covered. Because of inconveniences to our members and their families we decided this change proved to be too much.
The Painters and Tapers STAR (Safety Training Award Recognition) gave away their 11th car. The Glaziers raffled off their 10th Car at their Star banquet this year. Both programs also raffled off big screen tv’s, computers, gift cards and numerous of other prizes. All in the effort to keep our members safe on job sites.
Painters and Tapers District Council 14 has given over $312,000 in scholarships to our members families going to college this year.
We held our 13th annual picnic for District Council #14 members and their families, with over 1500 attendee’s. A good time was had by all with good food, clowns, games and live music.
The young Lions committee has increased in size and participation. Holding meetings on the second Tuesday of each month. This year’s Young Lions events included a paint ball event, food drive with the “Golden can awards” for the local that collects the most canned food for the food pantries, Football banquet at the District Council, and a young workers Investment seminar held at the apprenticeship school.
The DC 14 Women’s committee on Organizing has continued growing and lending a hand with different events from helping with the Annual book bag give away, Labor Day parade, and having a Candle Light Bowling event. They also participated in the annual Women Build Nations Conference at the Hyatt Regency McCormick place. Where over 1600 women from around the nation were in attendance. They also hosted a Chicago Women in the Trades Job fair at the Painters training facility, where young women wishing to enter the trades receive some hands-on training demonstrations by the Dry wall, Glazing, and Painting instructors.
Glaziers Local 27 has had 73 new apprentices starting at their training facility. The Glaziers, Painters and Tapers are looking at becoming a fully accredited training facility. This gives the graduates of all three training programs the potential of receiving college credits after graduating from the apprenticeship program.
There is a merger of locals 273 and 180 that is currently in the process and should be complete by January 1, 2018.
We have had numerous politicians visit both our Union Hall and our training facilities to better educate them of what our union and our trades are all about. Most were amazed at our Training facility and programs that are required to be a true tradesperson at no cost to the tax payers.
We have had Dollars Against Diabetes Collections, Political Rallies, Blood Drives, Urban league book bag give away, Numerous volunteer painting events for special Olympics, veterans homes and the underprivileged.
These are but a few of the things going on behind the scenes at the Painters District Council. As we enter the holiday season know that your union is working to make next year even more successful.
Better yet come get involved with the union to help make 2018 the best year ever.
John Spiros Jr.
Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer
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