 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Latham, NY 10/13/2011- The final details of the new proposed contract are agreed to. It is now up to the membership to vote for or against the new three year agreement. YES vote. The full text here. |
| 1/2011 Philly Davis contract talks open in March. Company will seek greater flexibility on work assignments and more control over incentive payments. I suspect the Great Texas Takeover will continue to attack the family values of days gone by. 4/4/2011 DV proposes incentive system based on quality instead of pure production. Big Problem....they want to hold Dr. Changes & warranties against the employees.......no end in sight for these negotiations. 6/14/2011 Negotiations slowed to a crawl as the Davis Vision leadership attempted to replace the 408 with the 947. Not a chance. The Philly workers banded together to reject this slimy tactic 81 to 7. If we are forced into a strike vote I suspect it will tally about the same. 7/11/2011 Over the weekend the Philly Strike committee was formed. Various legally protected collective actions were discussed and are now going into implementation mode. Good turnout at our Latham contract meeting later that day. Clearly DV has turned into a greedy, unethical bully. Workers mean no more to DV leadership that the office furniture does. |
| 7/2011 Davis Vision has not bargained in good faith as the Union seeks a fair contract for Philly workers. Rather than make socially responsible concessions Davis Vision & Highmark bully workers by ignoring clear contract language, past practices and by refusing to fill legitimate info requests. Ms. Carson's recent memo to Philly workers skews the truth. The Union has been trying diligently to find a way to accept the Company's demands in a way that is fair to everybody, not just the Executive bonus pool. Ms. Carson is wilfully dishonest when she states that the Union has declared its intention to strike. We have declared our intention to prepare for these events. The Union does not want to strike or protest but it would be a disgrace if we did not prepare our members given the Company's behavior. There is more at stake here than a handful of year-end bonus checks for a dozen top executives. Davis Vision's plan will drive some workers into bankruptcy, foreclosure and auto repossessions. Local 408 will not abandon them in their hour of need. |
Stewards- Marshall & Joe.
10/2011 - On 9/27 Davis Vision locked out the Newtown Square workers for two days. A break time rally by the workers
caused a moronic overreaction. IUE-CWA helped get the workers back on the payroll the next Monday (with a five week no
lockout/no rally agreement) and the Union members responded with an 88 to 3 vote authorizing a strike. Local 408 has
formally petitioned the IUE for assistance and has requested a strike date for early January.
The Newtown lab workers all know that some of them would do better under the Company's demanded contract. But, they
also know that some folks will be badly hurt, forced into bankruptcy or suffer with repossessed cars. The Company just
doesn't give a damn.
The Unions many proposals to delay the transition to a new incentive system or to make it fair have been rejected. A small
fraction of the tax credits and incentives HVHC & Davis is receiving to move into new headquarters could solve this
problem. HVHC and Davis, for reasons only they can fathom, seem to prefer unrest and work stoppages. Bottom line;
these Philly folks will not submit to bullying.
Rather than do the right thing for long time loyal workers HVHC has now forced Local 408 into organizing other ECCA
locations. If it takes more workers banding together to get justice then Local 408 will do what needs to be done. Never
underestimate the stupidity of corporate America. When the non-union ECCA workers find out how much more Union
optical workers make I suspect there will be hell to pay. Way to go HVHC!
| CWA FIGHTS BACK AGAINST CORPORATE GREED |
| 11/20/2011 On 11/16/2011 the Philly workers rejected a final offer from Davis Vision by a 68 to 24 margin. The Union had recommended the contract as the only alternative to a strike. The contract is concessionary as the company seeks to reduce employee earnings to drive greater corporate profits. The union offer to keep bargaining but the Company rejected any further negotiations instead declaring impasse. They have declared that the worst aspects of thee final offer will be imposed on the workers on 11/28/2011 making a strike all but inevitable now. At least the Company is finally being honest about it's plan to destroy the families that built this business so that a handful of executives can get richer. Sad stuff, eh? |
11/23/2011
IUE Rep Joe Giffi commits international to doing "whatever it takes" to get a fair contract at our Philly lab!
IUE Rep Joe Giffi commits international to doing "whatever it takes" to get a fair contract at our Philly lab!
| 12/12/2011 On 11/28/2011 Davis Vision (aka VisionWorks) dropped all pretense of giving a damn about people by declaring impasse in the Newtown Square CBA talks and imposing only the most painful and punitive aspects of their "final offer". The new "quality" initiative is now laid bare for its real intent, a financial haircut targeted at the hardest workers in the Company. A strike now appears inevitable. Workers should be prepared to walk out with very short notice. |
Davis Vision has engaged in a pattern of illegal labor practices and
new NLRB Unfair Labor Practices charges are the result.
For reasons that only Davis Vision leadership can fathom Local 408 is
being pushed into an Unfair Labor Practice strike. Work stoppages at
the Newtown Square facility are imminent and our Philly workers should
be making preparations.
Add to the illegal practices that Davis Vision is engaging in the
concessionary contract that this highly profitable Company has
demanded and the Company's motives become clear; hurt workers to
pad executive bonus payments. They are the 1%.
1/1/2012
Joe Giffi will visit the Newtown Square lab on 1/12/2012 to see first hand
what the Company is demanding. The Company's official position is that
the Union has misrepresented the wishes of the democratic majority of NS
workers. The Union is collecting year end pay stubs to prove to the
international the pay cuts DV is demanding.
Joe Giffi will visit the Newtown Square lab on 1/12/2012 to see first hand
what the Company is demanding. The Company's official position is that
the Union has misrepresented the wishes of the democratic majority of NS
workers. The Union is collecting year end pay stubs to prove to the
international the pay cuts DV is demanding.