IN THIS EDITION:
- Local S6 Reaches Tentative Agreement with BIW
- Susan Collins Paved the Way for Attacks on the Postal Service
- Operating Engineers Local 4 Members Keeping Busy This Summer
- Waterville Firefighters Negotiate Better Retirement Benefits in New Contract
- Firefighters Call on Our Senators to Fund the Frontlines!
Local S6 Reaches Tentative Agreement with BIW that Preserves Maine Jobs
[caption caption="IAM Local S6 members & supporters marching on July 25th." align="center"]
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Late Friday night, the IAM Local S6 negotiating team reached a tentative agreement with Bath Iron Works that keeps existing subcontracting language and protects seniority. The company’s attempts to gut seniority and massively increase subcontracting at the yard were the primary reason 87 percent of Local S6 members rejected the previous contract and began the largest strike in the United States on June 22. The eight-member negotiating team voted unanimously to recommend members support the deal.
“What we were able to accomplish at the negotiating table is a testament to the strength and solidarity of our membership,” said IAM Local S6 President Chris Wiers. “They were educated on the issues and our negotiating committee knew they had the backing of our membership. I am incredibly proud of our entire team and we’re excited to get back to work building the best ships in the world for the U.S. Navy.”
Local S6 members will receive the contract in the mail and vote online and via phone in the next week.
Susan Collins Paved the Way for Attacks on the Postal Service
On Monday American Postal Workers Union Local (APWU) 458 sounded the alarm that 80,000 pieces of mail were delayed after a new scheduling rule forced a truck to leave the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough at a set time instead of waiting 10 minutes for the mail to be ready. The news came following reports that President Trump’s new postmaster general Louis DeJoy had implemented several “cost-saving measures” to slow mail delivery while implementing a massive replacement of experienced management at the Postal Service that some are calling the “Friday night massacre.”
While DeJoy, a major Trump donor, says he is just trying to make the popular agency more efficient and financially stable, he appears to be deliberately disrupting mail service in order to hinder the ability of Americans to vote by mail and also manufacture a crisis to further the Trump Administration's stated goal of privatizing the Postal Service.
DeJoy has justified his actions by claiming the Postal Service is facing a fiscal emergency, but aside from some revenue losses due to the pandemic, the major reason the agency has been losing money is due to 2006 law sponsored by Senator Susan Collins that requires the US Postal Service to pay retiree healthcare benefits 75 years into the future. Currently, $119.3 billion of the agency’s $160.9 billion debt is the result of pre-funding retiree benefits. No other federal agency or private corporation has been saddled with such a massive pre-funding mandate and the fiscal crisis it has created has been used by corporate lobbyists as a justification to privatize the Postal Service.
“[Susan Collins] helped set the stage for the current attacks on the postal service,” John Curtis, a retired letter carrier and active member of the Maine State Association of Letter Carriers, told the Maine Beacon this week. “She weakened the Postal Service to the point where people like our president can point to it and say, ‘There’s a crisis here.’"
Operating Engineers Local 4 Members Win Strong New Contract; Stay Busy This Summer
[caption caption="IUOE Local 4 members working on a paving project this summer." align="center"]
[/caption]Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 4 have been hard at work on a number of projects around the state this summer. The union recently negotiated a three-year contract with Eurovia North East Paving that is putting 75 members to work with a 9 percent raise. Operating Engineers members are continuing to work on Phase II of the Maine Medical expansion project as well as bridge projects in Kittery. They are also currently doing compressor station upgrades in Westbrook and Elliot as part of a newly signed contract with LMC Contracting.
“LMC is already providing our members ample opportunities to work steady hours on both sites,” stated Bobby Burr, labor representative for IUOE Local 4. “They have plans to build upon this successful work and grow their footprint in the state of Maine, and the highly skilled professionals of Local 4 are prepared to help them meet their worker power needs now and far into the future.”
Waterville Firefighters (IAFF 1608) Negotiate Better Retirement Benefits in New Contract
[caption caption="Waterville Firefighters (IAFF 1608)" align="center"]
[/caption]Members of the Waterville Firefighters (IAFF 1608) just ratified a new contract that includes a much better retirement plan. Under the old plan, firefighters could retire and receive a pension of 66.7% of their previous pay, but it didn’t have a cost of living adjustment (COLA). Now IAFF Local 1608 members will receive a COLA every year for life. IAFF 1608 President Ryan Cote said in recent years the department has had difficulty recruiting and retaining workers, but the new pension plan will help keep firefighters in Waterville."It’s a pretty sweet deal, especially for young people coming in,” said Cote. “A lot of people typically leave for better retirement and better pay, so it definitely will help our retention problems for sure. With a better retirement I think people will be more apt to stay.”Tell Our Senators to Fund the Frontlines!
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