August Newsletter
August 2017
The next general membership meeting is Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 at the union hall which is located at 1414 N. Memorial Drive.
Do you know who your Zone Rep/Shop Stewards are?
Zone1: Reggie Williams
Zone 1 Alt.: Montell Ross
Zone 2: Tammy Walkup
Zone 2 Alt.: Kenny Winchester
Zone 3: Roberto Pineda
Zone 3 Alt.: Andreas Serna
Zone 4: Casey Morgan
Zone 4 Alt.: Cameron Caudle
2nd Shift: Sherrie Wright
Weekend Shift: Alex Shaner
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!!!
Delton Bagby, Carletha Brooks, Cody Burris, Devan Cagle, Jennifer Cooper, Kyle Cusey, Colton Franklin, Darin Hayman, Justin Kendal, Amber Lansing, Yesenia Madrigal, Braulio Martinez, Rafael Nunez, Nester Pacheco and Thang Te.
~Quality Corner~
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a noise?”
It is the same with Quality. Only you, the operator, know if you are having Quality issues.
Quality issues can be anything from part issues to tooling issues.
If you are having any issues, that you believe are related to Quality, please let your Group and/or Team leaders know.
If they don’t know you have an issue, they can help you.
And of course, if you are not getting the support that you need, I am always available.
The month of July, was not good for Quality. Let’s keep focused and see if August can be a better month. Remember the better the Quality the more $$$ in our pockets.
For assistance with Quality concerns, please contact Kisty Reeves at (918) 833-6054 or (918) 367-6017
Safety Report
We had 7 Recordables for July 2017
Training in August-September on Fridays for all Group Leads. They will be trained in First Aid, CPR, AED and Blood borne Pathogens.
Aug 3rd-5th Upholstery Department was improved/re-designed and a new bow bender was added to Framing Dept.
On Aug 1st at BSC, employees were pushing a Chassis and an employee was severely injured (lost time) when the Chassis ran over his foot, employees are NOT to push bus/chassis while on chain or on wheels. This incident was reported by us to OSHA due to guidelines set by OSHA reporting requirements, OSHA notification is posted at BSC.
E-magine Optical is no longer in business, we are currently working on getting another company in place to provide service, we are reviewing a contract with Essilor Laboratories in Tulsa area which would give employee more options and multiple locations they can go to regarding glasses for fitting, adjustments, parts/repairs, etc. Employees glasses were not finished in time and will be shipped to your attention from Dunlaw Optical. Their contact information is:
1-800-678-4525 and email dunlaw@sbcglobal.net
For all of your Safety concerns, please contact John Reeves at (918) 833-4077 or (918) 991-9579
UAW Local 5010 Website
The website for UAW Local 5010 has been approved by the union membership and is on the way. That means that content will be needed for the website. The 5010 officers, appointed representatives and committee members will all eventually be asked to write articles and news stories for the website, but that doesn’t mean that members of the union can’t contribute as well. Photos of our members will also be needed to show the world wide web who we are and what we’re all about. Do you have an idea for an article? Are you a skilled wordsmith? Can you draw well? Have funny ideas for union related comic strips? Have you scheduled a committee meeting and need to get the word out? The website needs your help. All content will need to be approved by the webmaster and the Local 5010 President Jeff Jones, but if it’s quality material, the website needs your content. This will be our face to the world and our means of passing information to one another, so the more quality content the better.
Membership Cards
If you’re in need of a membership card, please see Stephanie Allen or Jeff Jones.
*Important things that you need to know about short Term Disability*
I hope none of you ever have a health issue and need to use short term disability (STD), first and foremost. If you do find yourself needing to use STD in the future, here are some helpful tips:
- Fill out the paperwork properly. A good portion of the time when STD claims are denied it’s not because it isn’t a legitimate claim, it’s because the paperwork wasn’t done correctly. Feel free to talk to the Union Benefits Rep and have him take a look at your forms and give you constructive criticism before and/or after the paperwork has been filled out.
- Be prepared to wait on your payment. If you are pre-planning a surgical procedure or going to have a baby, try to have a financial cushion in place. Once the STD paperwork has been received by the STD management group they have 45 days to make a determination on your claim. Once the determination is made they send out a determination letter and, if everything is in order, they then send out your check(s).
- Don’t expect the same amount of pay that you get from your normal paycheck. The weekly STD benefit is 60 percent of base hourly wage to a maximum of 400 dollars per week. That’s a maximum of 400 dollars per week (I just thought I’d stress that point again).
- Fill out the paperwork properly. Yep, it’s the same tip as number 1, but for a different reason. If your claim is denied because the paperwork isn’t filled out properly the first time, you can appeal the decision. You appeal it by writing a letter and explaining why you believe you should have been awarded the claim and you must fix your paperwork. The STD management group then has an additional 45 days to make a determination on your claim. That’s a total of 90 days plus however long it took you to write the appeal and get the paperwork fixed.
- FMLA is used in conjunction with STD. If you have a FMLA claim other than the one needed for filing STD, it will take away from your available FMLA hours. Oklahoma state law allows an employer to use FMLA as they see necessary any time that you miss work. FMLA is categorized as job protected leave, STD is not so the company uses your FMLA to ensure your job.
- STD can NOT be filed or approved ahead of time. You can’t file the paperwork until your first day of official incapacitation. Your 45-day determination period starts when they receive your paperwork after your first day of incapacitation.
Short Term Disability isn’t perfect, but it’s a way to still receive some money if you are unable to work for a period of time due to total incapacitation. Know what to expect when filing STD and be as prepared as possible to make it through a rough period in your life.
For more information, please contact UAW Local 5010’s Benefits Representative John Sigman at (918) 833-6015 or (918) 813-5035