Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Update.

Hello Brothers and sisters. Exec Vice President, Keith Denson and myself met with Russ and Leticia to discuss the pending transfer of approximately 27 presspersons from O.C. to L.A.

We did not finalize the terms of the effects and plan to meet again on Thursday afternoon. As I said before, we will disclose the details once they are confirmed.
Be patient and don't believe the rumors.

One certainty is that this staff movement will not result in a reduction of the workforce and no bargaining unit employees are in jeopardy of losing their jobs.

In Solidarity
Ronnie

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Important Reminders!

GCC/IBT Trainers Rob Thiesen and Gene Binda will be here this coming Saturday so plan to attend. Their information will help make the shops a safer and healthier place to work. BE THERE! GET INVOLVED! This is your Union!Training Flyer Revised



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GCC/IBT Interlocal Pension Fund Chairman, John Agenbroad is returning to Los Angeles on Sunday October 18, 2009 to once again meet with our members to discuss and vote on participation in the GCC/IBT InterLocal Pension Fund.

The meeting and vote will take place at the Crowne Plaza/Commerce Casino at 11:00 AM.

This is a very important part of everyones retirement future and no one should miss this meeting! Tribune no longer provides a viable retirement vehicle for it's employees. Will you have enough retirement money?

THERE IS NO OTHER PENSION LIKE THIS IN THE COUNTRY!
This pension is the ONLY 501 C18 in the country. It was founded in 1950 and the fund is overseen by union trustees , NO company trustees. There is in fact absolutely no involvement by the company in any way with regards to the fund, its investments or the administration of the fund.

The Fund's assets were reported in 2007 of the 57th Annual Report of The Trustees to be approximately 1.8 Billion dollars.John stated the current assets are reported to be 1.4 billion dollars.The administration fees are a mere 4% which is unbelievable for a fund with the assets that are in the ILPF.

For more information visit the ILPF website at http://www.ilpfgciu.org/ or e-mail info@ilpfgciu.org For immediate answers, or literature, call (630) 752-8400

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Union/L.A. Times Meeting Scheduled

A meeting has been scheduled on October 8, 2009 at 10:00 am to discuss the company's plans to restructure the Orange County Facility. That was the earliest we could agree to in order to have our International Representative and Attorney present at the meeting.

As usual, the rumors and speculation are in full swing and I have heard plenty of doomsday scenarios, including supervisors predictions. Apparently Mgt. is intentionally leaving supervision out of the loop because they have come up with some of the wildest scenarios I've heard so far.

I must say, none of the scenarios have led to the assumption that we have nothing to fear. As always, we can only wonder how this restructuring is going to impact our shops. It's been almost a decade since anything good has been bestowed upon the employees of the L.A. Times from the higher ups in this greed driven Tribune Corporation.

I wish to meet with everyone on Friday October 9, 2009 in O.C at 11:00am at Round Table Pizza in Fountain Valley (Euclid and Warner) to disclose the findings of our meeting with the company. This meeting is open to ALL Bargaining Unit Employees.

In Solidarity,
Ronnie

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Questions and Answers


Questions are coming in by the dozens, unfortunately answers won’t be available until we meet with management and ask the same questions that are being presented to our Local and it’s Officers.

As you know, management notified us of their potential restructuring of the Orange County Facility and the possible transfer of approximately 30 to 40 presspersons from O.C. to L.A. That is all we know at this time. I have been in contact with our Attorneys in Washington since an article posted on Recording Secretary Ed Padgett’s Blog eluded to the O.C. Register moving it’s operation into the L.A. Times Costa Mesa Plant.

We have accepted the company’s offer to meet and have been provided dates by management. I have forwarded the dates to our local Attorney to ensure his attendance and legal assistance during our meeting with management.

There is a lot of speculation at this point and some of your assumptions could possibly be correct, but we must wait until we can obtain answers directly from management. As I stated on saveourtrade.com, I asked management if there was any truth to the article to which H.R. and the L.A. pressroom Superintendent denied any knowledge of such an agreement with the Register.

I’m not saying any of this has anything to do with the Register, but history has proven that rumors definitely come to pass, especially in the production departments, and this rumor may end no differently. History has also proven that when management makes decisions, they’re not usually in our best interest and always come at our expense. That is why I have been preaching unity and solidarity for almost a decade now.

As soon as we schedule the meeting with management and have the opportunity ask your questions, the Local will post answers on the Blog, shop bulletin boards, and a general meeting will be immediately scheduled to meet with all bargaining unit employees in order to answers your question directly.

Again, I want to remind everyone that our Local is only as strong as the members and if this situation has a negative effect on our bargaining unit, it will take everyone to make a stand. Unity and Solidarity is our greatest strength! Get involved!

Ronnie Pineda
President, GCC/IBT Local 140-N

Friday, September 18, 2009

O.C. Facility Restructuring

Our Local was notified on Wednesday afternoon (via e-mail) that the company intends to implement restructuring changes to the Orange County Facility Operation. The SVP of Operations has made an offer to meet for the purposes of discussing their restructuring plan and it's effect on Orange County and Los Angeles Bargaining Unit Employees.

What exactly is to be done is unknown at this time, we will ask management all the pertinent questions necessary to answer all of the employees questions that will certainly arise from this announcement.

The only information we do have at this time is that the restructuring of O.C. will result in the mandatory transfer of approximately 30 to 40 presspersons from O.C. to L.A. on or about October 17th.

This "plan" may have something to do with the O.C. Register and anything said at this point in time is speculation, unless mgt. honestly discloses that information prior to meeting with the Union. I personally asked the H.R. Representative and the L.A. pressroom Superintendent last week about the possibility of the Register moving into our O.C. shop, to which both denied any knowledge of such an arrangement.

Further details will be provided when they are obtained from management during the offered meeting we intend to accept.

Ronnie Pineda
President,
GCC/IBT Local 140-N

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