UE NEWS Updates

UE Local 170 is once again in the front line of a worker justice issue in West Virginia. In November, the Finance Board of the Public Employee Insurance Agency hatched a plot to increase employee contributions, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for state employees. State law requires public hearings on such changes, and the board got an earful of protest from workers and other citizens at six events around the state. Dozens of UE members attended the hearings and composed the largest group in attendance at several of them.

UE dispatchers in Winsted, CT have turned back an attempt to privatize their jobs.

The town’s board of selectmen were told by the private firm, Litchfield County Dispatch (LCD), that privatization would save $100,000. It turned out that those “savings” were suspect, and dependent on getting $200,000 from the state through the governor’s scheme to promote regionalization.  The town manager said privatization was inevitable, and told the union not to even bother fighting it.

Joliet, IL

Workers fired from a Bissell vacuum cleaner warehouse in Joliet, Illinois are fighting back, and have already won a partial victory. Their employer has agreed to continue paying them through January 9, claiming that it’s doing this to comply with the WARN Act. But workers are continuing their fight for reinstatement to their jobs, and to build their union.

UE Local 683 members at Liberty Iron and Metal are celebrating the reinstatement of fellow worker Verne Bliss, who was unjustly fired on November 1, 2008.  The union grieved the discharge and won reinstatement and a “make whole” remedy in arbitration. Bliss received over $9,200 in back pay and reimbursement for other benefits.