Chris         Marotta 

                         PRESIDENT’S UPDATE

                                           February 2012

      This report is a brief summary of the President’s report from the January 2012 membership meeting. Please come to the monthly membership meetings and you will hear the unedited version and be able to ask questions of your elected Union officials on what's going on in the plant. All of your elected Officers, Plant Chairman, and appointed Chairpersons give reports and answer questions. All members in good standing have a vote and voice. By majority vote we started having meetings on the fourth Monday of the month at 3:30 PM. This will be on a trial basis only for January February and March. It was good to see our Union Hall filled at January's meeting with members wanting to be part of the process. I hope to see more members at February's meeting. This is your Union!

      The company recently paid out 8.31% for the 2011 performance pay and the 2011 attendance period recently ended on January 31, 2012. Perfect attendance will be paid out in February. As you know September 30, 2012 our contract ends and it would be wise to start preparing for that financially. I'm not saying that we’re definitely going to go on strike but what I am saying is to be prepared just in case. At this point the company and Union have not had any discussions concerning contract proposals. Anything you hear concerning our upcoming contract out on the floor is a rumor and is false. The only discussion concerning the upcoming contract so far has only been about the location to have negotiations. The Bargaining Committee is beginning to prepare for contract talks. We will be coming out in the future with a questionnaire asking for your input and your comments to help us better represent you, our members, at the contract table.

     We will be holding third step grievances on February 16^th and 17^th and if you have any grievances at this level your respective Chair will be contacting you shortly. We have again accumulated a backlog of third step grievances and we are in the process of trying to confirm two more dates in March with the company. I know a lot of you have been asking, but at this point we have not heard from the arbitrator on a decision concerning the two discharge cases that were heard back in July 2011 or the breaks and cleanup case that was heard in October 2011. The company is just as anxious as we are to get answers. So to address some of the rumors out there about this, there are no backroom deals, no horse-trading, and no corporate international handshake. Everyone is just waiting for the arbitrator to make a ruling.

      For those of you that have not been to the Union Hall recently. The woman's bathroom has been completely remodeled and our Building Chair John Thomma is currently working on the men's bathroom and is doing an excellent job. Once the bathrooms are both finished we will be painting the interior of the Union Hall and replacing the floor.

      Although this winter has been unusually warm we still have some departments that are experiencing extreme cold temperatures when the temperature drops. Our Safety Chair Jose Valles has done an outstanding job responding to these issues and getting temporary heaters in the plant until the Engineering Department comes up with a permanent solution.

      The company is gearing up for a big celebration to dedicate the new 50,000 ton press on February 13, 2012 and has invited dignitaries from the corporate office, our major customers, politicians, and the UAW. Our UAW local 1050 flag will be hung for the press dedication. The membership of UAW local 1050 took a two-year contract extension in the fall of 2010 that froze our wages for two years and had major concessions for the new hires. This membership has contributed significantly to make the 50,000 ton press a reality.

      The last few months we have been working through a problem that was discovered in the way we collect our Union dues from members that are receiving sub pay. We sent out notification letters to the members that were involved but unfortunately it became apparent real fast that there was an error. We have made informational requests to the company concerning this matter and we have identified the shortcomings in our system. We will be changing how the Union dues are reported from the company and how we process that information. We are also working to make sure that your work records are correct with Alcoa also. So until this matter is resolved the Union will not be taking any additional Union dues. I apologize for any inconvenience or stress this may have caused you.

      As you may have heard, the company had supervisors working in the press room this past weekend. Many of you started calling your Union officials right away, which is what we want you to do. Everyone out on the floor is our eyes and ears and let your Union officials know of anything that you feel is wrong. Once I became aware of it I came into the plant Saturday at 11 AM to talk to the members and see what's going on. Shortly after arriving in the press room my phone started ringing. Management wanted to know what I was doing there and what was going on. Management stated that they were only working supervisors because all of the UAW members had been asked to volunteer for over time and they didn't have enough volunteers. After I had a few phone conversations with management they decided to withdraw all supervisors off the floor at noon. Later when we found out that the company did not ask everyone in the UAW if they wanted to volunteer for overtime. We had members come up to us and tell us that they wanted to work the weekend but were not asked.

      The company wants to have discussion with the Union to try and come up with a resolution. It is the Union's contention that the company is running this plant without the appropriate manpower. The Union believes that the solution to this problem is a recall of our laid-off members and not to blame attendance for their lack of manpower. Our laid-off members have always been a top priority to this Bargaining Committee and we are committed to work towards having them all recalled.

In Solidarity,

Chris Marotta

President, UAW Local 1050