MEMBER NEWS

General Membership

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

General Membership Meeting

**Refreshments will be served**

News from the Plants

Archer Daniels Midland -

Congratulations to Rachel King - daughter of Dennis King, as being this year's recipient of the Charles Panzarella Scholarship. She is a graduate of Lakeshore Senior High School and will be attending Oswego State University this Fall.

Darling International -

General Mills - Cereal -

General Mills - Flour -

Good luck to Dave Smith and Bob Krug who will be riding in American Diabetes Tour De Cure. They'll be riding for 100 miles.

Henkel Corporation

International Fiber -

Personal Touch -

Rich Products -

Shuman Plastics -

Steward tip for the week of July 21, 2008 (from BIGLabor.com)

Take Good Notes

A steward in a training session was asked how he know that the notes he took were good. “They’re good notes,” he replied, “because I can find them when I need them later and I can read my own writing!” Like just showing up for life, taking notes in the first place, keeping them, and being able to read them when you need them is 80 percent of the game. Take good notes, because:

You won’t remember all you hear by the time you need to use it for writing the grievance or arguing your case.
A written record can be used by others in the union (the chief steward, a union representative or a union attorney) who may handle grievances at later steps or in arbitration.
A written record helps you compare conflicting accounts of the same situation. It’s not uncommon for the grievant to tell you one version of the incident and the supervisor another.
Writing down what people tell you demonstrates to them that you take your responsibilities as steward seriously and that the union cares. Your notes can also be used as evidence that you conducted an investigation if a worker later claims that the union failed to fairly represent him or her.
Note-taking forces you to organized your interview more effectively and helps you be more thorough.

Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten

	You won’t remember all you hear by the time you need to use it for writing the grievance or arguing your case.
	A written record can be used by others in the union (the chief steward, a union representative or a union attorney) who may handle grievances at later steps or in arbitration.
	A written record helps you compare conflicting accounts of the same situation. It’s not uncommon for the grievant to tell you one version of the incident and the supervisor another.
	Writing down what people tell you demonstrates to them that you take your responsibilities as steward seriously and that the union cares. Your notes can also be used as evidence that you conducted an investigation if a worker later claims that the union failed to fairly represent him or her.
	Note-taking forces you to organized your interview more effectively and helps you be more thorough.