Well, our union has once again prevailed against the latest attempt to scrap our progress over the past decade.
Now what?
Every union member wants their local to be strong, united, and a true brotherhood of union Brothers and Sisters. Every union officer wants to know when they negotiate with the company that the entirety of the membership has their back.
All this is possible, but it doesn’t come cheap or easy. It takes an engaged and informed membership who are willing to give the union and each other the benefit of doubt.
304 has weathered it’s share of storms. A protracted battle over the course of years for a first contract, with a decertification attempt in the middle of it. Many other decertification attempts and battles with management to further define and develop our CBA with grievances, arbitrations, Memorandums of Understanding, and other tools available to those who are union.
Many of our members come from other unions. IBEW, Boilermakers, Pipefitters, and even the UMWA. 304 is thankful to have such a seasoned member pool, but those members are sometimes the hardest to assimilate into 304. That’s because 304 has only been around fifteen years, while those other unions and locals have been around for anywhere between a half century or more.
Some of the themes circulated the last couple weeks have accuse 304 of favoritism in the departments they represent, failing to realize that the departments who may seem to have more success within our union have individual members who are committed and act in solidarity.
We have an election of officers coming up, not to mention our upcoming contract negotiations. A recently offered amendment to our By-Laws opens the door for those who’ve opted out to once again become members in good standing.
Please consider this as your open invitation to be reinvested in YOUR Union. 304 will only be whatever the membership makes it and we all benefit from that.