IBEW Local 1228

 LOCAL UNION MEETING

 is coming to WJAR

 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 

7:30pm -- WJAR Cafeteria, 23 Kenney Drive, Cranston, RI

This is a great way to hear about other shops and the issues that your Local Union is facing. Please make every effort to attend and be part of the process for the future. 

SURVEY SAYS.....

Thanks to all of you who participated in the Local 1228 SURVEY. You can view the survey in the Member Resources section of this website. Take a look and let us know what you think at ibew1228@gmail.com

NEGOTIATIONS

WCVB (Needham, MA) UPDATE

Last time we met the Company for limited subjects bargaining in October we thought we were getting close to working out a variety of issues. Unfortunately, since that time we have not seen that gel and the Company is still holding fast to some of their more hard line positions. We had two days scheduled for November 29 & 30 but the Company cancelled those and stated they had to re-evaluate how they wanted to proceed. So far we have no dates scheduled fo our next sessions.

CPTV (Connecticut Public Television)  UPDATE

We are back at the table with CPTV on December 1 & 2. Since we met last, the Company has had to become part of a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the UCONN WOmen's basket ball fo rthe first time since they have been covering the teams in the early 90's. Since this has become one of the station's leading revenue streams many were quite newvous about the reason for the change and what the outcome will be. The University will not make its decision until January 1st. 

WBIN ( Derry, NH)

We are about to go into our first set of bargaining with the new owner of CH 50 (formerly WZMY which was formerly WNDS)on December 8. Bill Binnie purchased the Station in May of this year and has made investments to the building and launched a 10pm newscast.  The bargaining unit Employees are clearly much happier with the new owner than they were with the owner of WZMY. We are hoping that this can be a constructive bargaining session and that the Emolyees will continue to have that good feeling.

VPT (Colchester, VT)

We are set to begin bargaiing for a new agreement at Vermont Public Television on December 14 &15. Last time we were only able to agree to a 1 year contract and this summer we worked out some new positions to be added to the bargaining unit. During that time we also saw two long time Employees Ron Clark and Roxie Lauer retire. Not all of the positions ahve been filled yet.

 The IBEW held its 2011 Broadcasting, Manufacturing, and Telecommunications conference the week of March 14^th in Savannah, GA.  Brother Dubrovsky and I attended the conference.  A wide variety of topics were addressed at the conference, but certainly, the recent assault on Labor Unions took center stage.  International President Ed Hill highlighted some of the troubling bills afoot in State Legislatures that are aimed at crippling Labor.  Among them are bills before both the Florida and Tennessee legislatures that would prohibit dues check-off by unions.  In addition, the Tennessee bill seeks to deny collective bargaining rights for public employees.  The Florida bill not only prohibits unions from collecting dues via check-off, but it would also allow employees to withdraw from the union and then collect back dues they have paid.  These are not the only two states to have bills like this before their legislatures.  This threat does not stop at the borders of the US.  It is even spreading north to Canada where in one province “Right to Work” legislation is pending.  Back here in the States, the budget battle continues with the federal government looking to cut funding to agencies that protect the rights of working people.  This year marks the 75^th anniversary of the NLRB.  Sadly, part of the GOP budget plan is to cut the funding of this agency by 18%.  In effect, this cut would result in a 55 day furlough for every employee of the agency, greatly hampering the agency’s ability to function in an effective manner.

There is some good news however.  The events in Wisconsin seem to have galvanized both represented and unrepresented workers in this country.  Currently Labor is engaged in a couple of organizing campaigns across the country.  AFGE is working to organize TSA employees, and I.A.M., a branch of the IBEW, is working to get 3000 AirTran Airways employees represented. Those employees include ramp workers, gate agents, and three call centers.  Southwest Airlines is currently in the process of acquiring AirTran, and as part of that deal, Southwest intends to credit AirTran employees with only 50% of their seniority.

Unions have long helped advance the rights and prosperity of all workers.  They are responsible for the 8 hour work day, workman’s compensation, and a host of benefits that all workers enjoy.  Yet we still battle the perception that we are a bunch of lazy, overpaid slouches.  We need to change the public’s perception of us.  We are really doing ourselves a disservice if the only time the public sees us is when we are hand-billing during contentious negotiations.  We should be out in our communities volunteering.  I know many of you are personally very active in your communities, but as an organization, this local does nothing to get involved in the community.  I would like to see our local embark on some kind of regular volunteering activity.  Anyone with suggestions, please come to a local meeting and share your ideas, or email them to me at kalippert@verizon.net.

The IBEW has a new resource that directly benefits the Broadcast Division.  It is called BURST (Broadcast Unions Resource for Specialized Training), and it offers training on Avid, Final Cut, and Adobe After Effects.  The training is not free, but it is very reasonable.  The classes include three, eight hour days of instruction at a cost of $425 per person.  The class size must be a minimum of eight people.  The union provides all the equipment necessary.  As part of the training each participant writes, shoots, and edits a news package and a documentary style piece.  This training isn’t going to make anyone an expert, but it will certainly give you the tools to get started on this technology.  BURST also offers seminars on lighting, HD technology, Sony Switchers, audio, and writing for news.

Finally, the most useful facet of the conference was the two days of discussions held with Business Managers and representatives of other broadcast locals from around the country. This gave us a great opportunity to share strategies on the challenges we are facing in the industry particularly those surrounding VJ’s( video-journalists), cell phone technology, and control room automation. Many of us are going into negotiations where we know the companies are looking to use AFTRA members or other people to undercut our jurisdiction.  It was very helpful to hear how other IBEW locals addressed these issues.  For instance, in the New York market, the VJ, or backpack journalist (writer, shooter, editor, talent) is a member of both the IBEW and AFTRA and there is a limit of two such employees.  Other markets are dealing with cell phone video from other than IBEW employees by putting time limits on how much of that video can be used and having further stipulations that an IBEW person must be on the way to the scene.  It would be nice if we could stop this technology from infringing on our jurisdiction, but that is just not reality. We need to find ways to keep ourselves in the game even in the face of these trends.  

In Solidarity,
President Lippert

At the 37th IBEW convention held in September of 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, the assembled members voted in a $1.00 increase for every second year from that point until the next convention in 2012.  Therefore it is my duty to inform you that all basic dues will increase on January 1, 2011 from the current $17.50 per month to the new cost of $18.50 per month.  We will be sending notification of this fact to all the contract signatories to make the adjustments for those of you on automatic dues withdrawal.  We will also be sending out a mailing to those of you who pay their dues directly to the union with notice of this increase. Keep in mind that this increase was voted in before the economic crunch hit and is automatic in nature so that it cannot be stopped. 

Local 1228 in Conjunction with Vubiz, an IBEW Training Partner are proud to Announce the Availability of 167 Prepaid Online Training Courses for You our Members and your Friends and Families

We are proud to announce that we have prepaid for courses covering subjects from Improving Your Listening Skills to Time Management to Back Safety to Microsoft Office 2007. The courses will be available to you and your friends and families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until November 30, 2012. Be sure to take advantage of as many courses as possible, we are certain that you and all of your friends and family members will find a number of courses that will address both your needs and interests.

 For a complete list of courses offered send an email request to andydubrovsky@gmail.com  

Hundreds of other online courses will also be available to you for discounted prices that we have negotiated for on your behalf.

To start your learning experiences go to: http://vubiz.com/chaccess/IBEW3/

Every time that you sign on, you will need to enter:

The IBEW Password which is:  IBEW

Your Membership Card Number: That is the number on your IBEW Membership Card for example 123456 or 123456AA or AB123456. If you cannot remember your Membership Number, use any unique identifier such as your e-mail address or your home Zip Code, this field must be a minimum of four characters long.

The First time that you sign on, you will need to enter a little extra information so that we can set you up.

Membership Card Number (confirmation): This is to confirm the information that you keyed above.

Local Number: This is a way to identify what local you are part of.

First Name: So that we can identify you properly in the system when you return.

Last Name: So that we can identify you properly in the system when you return.

Once you are logged in, click on My Content and then launch the course that you would like to view.

We hope that you enjoy the training and make the most of it. The value of the prepaid courses if bought individually would cost over $4,500.00. We are proud to be able to make this opportunity available to you, our members and your friends and families.