There was a good turn out to this month’s meeting. We went over the usual updates with the state of the union and where we stand with some of our issues. We had guest speakers come in from the West Virginia Education Association’s (WVEA) Union, Local Harrison County Education Association (HCEA). We also went over some of the info for the up and coming UWUA National Convention and Union Members and Stewards Trainings.
We started the meeting with a recap of our last meeting and an update on some of the issues we had discussed during January’s Meeting. We covered the recent concern of seniority we have been facing with the influx of transferees from other power stations/branches of First Energy. We talked about the sick time problems we still face with doctor notes and the possible Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations we are seeing.
Most of this month’s meeting revolved around the guest speakers that came to give us updates on the content of Senate Bill 451 (SB451). Greg Phillips, Vice President of WVEA Local HCEA, and Connie Baker, Treasurer of WVEA Local HCEA, talked extensively about SB451 and why it is a bad deal for our children, tax payers, and the state of West Virginia as a whole. They thanked us for the support we showed them almost exactly a year ago during the recent Teacher Strike of 2018. It was an eye-opening experience for those of us not familiar with SB451 to hear what the bill actually contains. There is a link below to SB451 for anyone who wishes to familiarize themselves with what has been the most recent attack from the West Virginia Legislature on our unions here in the state. As of this Monthly Update the West Virginia House of Representatives passed the bill on February 14th, 2019. The link provides all amendments and where the bill currently stands in legislation and is updated in real time.
We covered a little more information about the UWUA National Convention being held in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 24th through July 27th of this year. The Union is still looking to send two members with all expenses paid by the local. If you are interested in attending this year’s UWUA National Convention, please let a member of the Executive Board know. The Union Members and Stewards Training being held for all the Union Locals in Charleston West Virginia is still tentatively scheduled for May 18th of this year. The date is subject to change, but we will go over more about the date and time in next month’s meeting. If interested in attending, please let a member of the Executive Board know.
The next Monthly Meeting is scheduled at Brickside Bar and Grill for March 12, 2019. Due to the Spring Maintenance Outage this year starting in March the time will most likely be changed to 1845. Flyers will be hung on the Union Boards around the plant and the union will try to inform every one of the time changes. I know the outage makes it tough for everyone to attend with the change in work schedules, but if there is anything that you feel needs covered, brought to the union’s attention, or you would just like to stay informed I urge you to attend. Stay focused on working safely with the extra hours and unfamiliar jobs coming up with the outage. Hope to see you at the next meeting.