Mediator Ted Kheel

Having just come off of collective bargaining negotiations I found this memorial fascinating. Watch it here. Last Word | Ted Kheel

Health Care Safety Net

Author David Leonhardt makes a good argument in favor of covering everyone in the Health Care bill. Social Security and Medicare allows our seniors to retire with dignity. Leonhardt writes that "Guaranteeing people a decent retirement and decent health care does more than smooth out the rough edges of capitalism. Those guarantees give people the freedom to take risks." Read his article here: Opposition to Health Law Is Steeped in Tradition

BP Reacts to Spill!

"GLENN BECK HAS NAZI TOURETTES!" - Lewis Black Steamrolls Glenn Beck!

Follow Your Bliss

We are having experiences all the time which may on occasion render some sense of this, a little intuition of where your bliss is. Grab it. No one can tell you what it is going to be. You have to learn to recognize your own depth.All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as the result of invisible hands coming all the time-namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be-Joseph Campbell

On God and Unconscious Will

Saw this exchange between Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell. I thought it was worth sharing. Joseph Campbell was known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. He coined the phrase "Follow your bliss."



MOYERS: So the experience of God is beyond description, but we feel compelled to try to describe it?


CAMPBELL: That’s right. Schopenhauer, in his splendid essay called "On an Apparent Intention in the Fate of the Individual," points out that when you reach an advanced age and look back over your lifetime, it can seem to have had a consistent order and plan, as though composed by some novelist. Events that when they occurred had seemed accidental and of little moment turn out to have been indispensable factors in the composition of a consistent plot. So who composed that plot? Schopenhauer suggests that just as your dreams are composed by an aspect of yourself of which your consciousness is unaware, so, too, your whole life is composed by the will within you. And just as people whom you will have met apparently by mere chance became leading agents in the structuring of your life, so, too, will you have served unknowingly as an agent, giving meaning to the lives of others, The whole thing gears together like one big symphony, with everything unconsciously structuring everything else. And Schopenhauer concludes that it is as though our lives were the features of the one great dream of a single dreamer in which all the dream characters dream, too; so that everything links to everything else, moved by the one will to life which is the universal will in nature.

It’s a magnificent idea – an idea that appears in India in the mythic image of the Net of Indra, which is a net of gems, where at every crossing of one thread over another there is a gem reflecting all the other reflective gems. Everything arises in mutual relation to everything else, so you can’t blame anybody for anything. It is even as though there were a single intention behind it all, which always makes some kind of sense, though none of us knows what the sense might be, or has lived the life that he quite intended.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka on Bill Moyers

Here is the link to the video: Bill Moyers Journal.  Richard Trumka: "There are two economies in this country. There's the real economy that makes things. And there's the financial economy that was supposed to provide them with the capital to make things. This was subservient, and the real economy was supposed to be the master. Somewhere along the line, that got turned on its head. And the financial community became the master. And they actually started sucking money out of the real economy, 'cause you could get a better return passing complex instruments around, rather than making steel or autos or anything else. So, it's up to us to correct that imbalance. To make it so that the real economy is actually the dominant economy. And the financial economy is a servant to enable them to do their job."

Pre-Contract Negotiations Meetings

President Carlos Contreras will be hosting a series of meetings to get your input on the upcoming contract negotiations. President Contreras is asking that if you have a specific proposal to put it in writing so the Contract Negotiating Committee can study it. The meetings will be at the Union Hall in the conference room where the union meetings are held. The meeting times are below. There is a flyer in the Union bulletin boards with further information about the meetings. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact myself or President Contreras.

Hot End          “A” Shift 1/23/10        6:15 am

                       “B” Shift 1/25/10        6:15 pm

                       “C” Shift 1/18/10        6:15 pm

                       “D” Shift 1/22/10        6:15 pm

Cold End        “A” Shift 1/20/10         6:15 am

                       “B” Shift 1/26/10        6:15 pm

                       “C” Shift 1/19/10        6:15 pm

                       “D” Shift 2/5/10          6:15 am

Warehouse      “A” Shift 1/21/10        6:15 am

                       “B” Shift 1/27/10        6:15 pm

                       “C” Shift 1/20/10        6:15 pm

                       “D” Shift 2/1/10          6:15 am

Day Shift       

Maintenance                2/2/10              2:15 pm

Mach. Rep                  2/3/10              2:15 pm

Batch/Janitors              2/4/10              3:15 pm

Unions and health care reform

The Senate version of the health care reform bill wants to tax employer sponsored insurance plans to help pay for health care reform. Plans that have annual premiums of $8,500 for singles and $23,000 for families would be affected. Many union leaders oppose the tax and say that 1 in 4 union members could be affected by the new tax. In the House version they help pay for the reform by imposing an income tax surcharge on couples that make over one million dollars a year. President Obama is meeting with labor leaders today to discuss the issue. My opinion is that a small tax on millionaires, who profited greatly during the Bush administration, makes more sense than a tax on the middle class workers who are struggling to keep their heads above water in these tough times. Read about it here: Unions Rally to Oppose a Tax on Health Insurance, Obama Confronts Labor, Lawmakers on Plan to Tax Health Benefits, White House Defends Health Tax Opposed by Labor

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis

On page A-5 in today’s Modesto Bee is an article about Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and her efforts to protect workers through better enforcement of overtime rules and enforcement of workplace safety regulations. Naturally businesses are not happy and pine for the days of President Bush and what they called “compliance assistance”, which essentially means figuring out how to get around laws and regulations. One new rule Labor Secretary Solis is putting in place will be forcing companies to disclose whether they use anti-union consultants. I had a good feeling about her when President Obama pegged her to be labor secretary. So far she has exceeded expectations. Read the article here: New Labor Secretary Means Business

Health Care Reform

Take a moment to read Paul Krugman’s column on the health care reform legislation working its way through Congress. I have been reading Krugman for years and he is usually ahead of the curve, certainly he called the housing bubble well before the crash. He says of health care reform legislation, “For all its flaws and limitations, it’s a great achievement. It will provide real, concrete help to tens of millions of Americans and greater security to everyone. And it establishes the principle — even if it falls somewhat short in practice — that all Americans are entitled to essential health care." Read it here: Tidings of Comfort

Union Meeting

I would like to thank everyone who attended the December union meetings held on the 16^th. We had an almost 50% increase in attendance from the November meetings, which is a fantastic result. I would like to challenge every GMP Local #17 member who reads my blog to find someone at the plant who has never attended a meeting and get him or her to attend the next union meeting on January 27^th. Spread the word about the union meetings. The union meeting is the heart of any union. It is the time that the leadership conducts the business of the union and a chance for the union officers to inform the membership. It is also a time for the membership to inform the officers about what is happening at the plant, and to hear your ideas about how to solve these issues and problems. It is through union meetings that we build solidarity. I would encourage everyone to spread the news and let’s double the attendance again at the next meeting!

News and Notes

Since the election I have been busy with various union duties, including my first Business Committee meeting, which is a monthly meeting between the union and the company to discuss outstanding issues. Yesterday I attended my first Union Meeting as Recording Secretary and I would like to thank everyone who showed up at the meeting and I would like to encourage everyone to attend the next meeting on Dec 16^th at 6:30 am, 2:30 pm, and 6:30 pm. The rest of my time has been spent with various clerical work, including letter writing, typing up reports, and filing. I have also been fortunate in getting to spend time in conversation with President Carlos Contreras and he has been very generous with his time, educating me on the various procedures and issues that a local president has to deal with on a day to day basis. I will continue blogging about union issues that I see in the news, and write about books and magazine articles that advocate the pro-worker stance that most Americans whole heartedly support. Once again I would like to thank everyone who took the time to vote in the election and whether your preferred candidate won or lost, I would like to see all union members rally around your elected leadership. Our union will face many challenges ahead, including contract negotiations, but if we all stay united and strong we can achieve great things.

Installation of Officers

The officers of GMP Local #17 were installed yesterday. From left to right: Secretary Treasurer Jessie McKaughan, Recording Secretary Stephen Talbott, International Executive Officer Butch Carter, Trustee Denise Ford, President Carlos Contreras, and Vice-President Richard Motsenbocker. Not pictured: Trustee Mindy Browne and Jose Barajas.

Election Results

Results : President Carlos Contreras
Vice President Richard Motsenbocker
Recording Secretary Stephen Talbott
Treasurer Jesse McKaughan
Trustees Mindy Browne, Denise Ford, Jose Barajas.
Thanks to everybody who voted. I’d like to congratulate Joe Whitt and Gary Bogard on the campaign they ran, they are both great union representatives and it was an honor to run against them. Will have to celebrate later, I have to work in the morning.

Election Day

The campaigning is basically over for me at this point. I had planned to greet “A” shift as they left to vote this morning, but my wife is working today, so I made some eggs for my son’s breakfast and got him ready for school. I’ll go to the 2:30 pm union meeting and cast my ballot, then I’ll greet “C” shift as they head to the polls. The best part of the campaign for me was getting out into the different departments and talking union with my fellow union brothers and sisters. Some were enthusiastic about what I had to say, some were not, but everybody was polite, whether they intended to vote for me or not. The hot end guys were great, I was surprised how many knew who I was and to get support there was the highlight of the campaign. Special thanks to VP candidate Richard Motsenbocker for his council during this time. Standing out in the driving, windy cold air with Richard yesterday, handing out flyers and talking all things union with my co-workers is a memory I won’t soon forget. Regarding Richard, I feel like we have developed a true friendship and our union is lucky to have tenacious representatives like him fighting the good fight. As for myself, I have tried to conduct my campaign with dignity and respect. I didn’t badmouth my opponents or others running for office. I respect everybody who runs. To run for and win elected office entails a sacrifice and commitment of your free time, both at work and at home. Just because we have differences of opinions on how our union should be run, in the end we need to come together as a union to face the challenges ahead. I have heard there was some mudslinging going on at work over the campaign, but except for a few bizarre attempted posts on this blog I found most of my co-workers had positive attitudes about our union and the election (Note: This blog will not accept posts from “anonymous” anymore, if you are going to post, be man or women enough to put your name on your letter, otherwise don’t bother). So my message would be get out and vote, and regardless of who wins today support your elected officers, try to attend monthly union meetings, and support your union.

One More Day Till the Election

The best part of campaigning has been talking to fellow union members about our union. People are really looking for a positive change in how our union conducts its business. Many that I have talked to feel that they don’t have a voice in our union, and they were excited to have an opportunity to speak about issues such as lack of sick leave, and the lack of response from the local about issues that are important to them. I heard you and if I am elected you will have a voice in GMP Local #17. I spoke to fellow employees about my ideas for better communication with E-Mail Alerts, a GMP Local #17 Website, and the need for an Education Committee with an emphasis on better training for Shop Stewards. I realize that we lead busy lives, with work and family taking up so much of our time, leaving little time for relaxation. I realize you don’t always have the time to go to union meetings because maybe you have to take your kids to school after work, or pick them up from day care. This is why I want to bring the information to you. I believe I will be an effective Recording Secretary because Labor and Union issues are something I take a great interest in. I enjoy finding out information that affects my working life, like the recent changes in the tax law that is affecting our vacation checks. I would love to share this type of information with you either through e-mail or a website. I believe that access to information will make us a stronger union. We all know the company is unified in their objectives and what they want to achieve. After this election is over, regardless of the results, we need to become unified as a union to face the challenges ahead of us. To accomplish the goals that I have set for myself, I need your vote for Recording Secretary. I’ll see you soon, and don’t forget to vote Wed!

Three Days To Go

Three more days to go until the election on Wednesday October 28th at the Union Hall located at 205 S. Santa Cruz Ave in Modesto. Voting will take place between 6:00am and 6:45 pm. I am at a major disadvantage in this race because my shift will be finishing up our 7 days off on Election Day. We return to work on Thursday. So what I am asking you to do is first, vote on Wednesday. Second, call everybody you know and remind them to vote on Wednesday. Third, ask them to call everybody they know and remind them to vote on Wednesday. Turnout will be key in this race as it is in every election. I am ready to work hard for you the next three years. But I need your help. Take a few minutes, make the calls, knock on doors, and get people down to the Union Hall! Remember: Stephen Talbott for Recording Secretary.

Get Out the Vote Rally

I am holding a “Get Out the Vote Rally” on Friday October 23rd at 2:00 pm at Steve Sottile’s House at 1329 Serene Lane in Ceres. We will be serving food, playing music, and trying to create a little excitement before the vote on October 28th. Voting will take place at the union hall located at 205 S. Santa Cruz Ave between 6:00am and 6:45 pm. I am inviting any union member and their family who can make it to show up, enjoy some barbeque, and we will talk about labor and how we can strengthen our union for the tough fights ahead. Click on My Saved Places below and you can Google Map your way to the Rally. I look forward to seeing you and getting the conversation started.


View My Saved Places in a larger map

Unions Are Good for the American Economy

Next time somebody bad mouths unions, point him or her to the article I’ve linked to at the bottom. In California workers in unions on average make 12.7 percent more then non-union workers. One of the reasons the recession continues in California is because workers simply don’t have the purchasing power to keep the economy going. So the next time you run into a supervisor or manager mention to them that they need to give us a nice raise in the new contract so we will continue to have the purchasing power necessary to drive the economy. If consumer activity accounts for 70 percent of our nation’s economy, then it is in Gallo’s best interest to give us a raise. Mention that it is their patriotic duty to keep the economy rolling. Tell them that if all these various businesses continue to cut wages nobody can afford to buy their product. Read “Unions Are Good for the American Economy” and click on the State fact sheets for California to get a more personal view of California’s labor problems.