General Items
This week I attended the station closing arbitration in Chicago. I thought the case went very well, and the Company finished its case in principal followed by the Union’s rebuttal case. The last phase will be the post hearing briefs and they will be filed in early September. The reason needed for the time after the physical case was concluded is that both parties are waiting on the stenographic report which will take about a month and both parties need time to review this material before compiling their briefs.
There was a piece on the blog about how much an 1100 a month annuity would cost on an individual basis. I was very surprised at the amounts as the plans would cost between 237,000 and 254,000 dollars for me and my wife. This makes a defined benefit pension plan such as the WCT plan a real value to the membership with the understanding that our investment into the plan would be roughly 4000 dollars a year.
I met with Mark Prpich for a couple of minutes after the arbitration in an attempt to resolve some open issues. No progress was made unfortunately.
MM
There was one issue this week involving pay when on a field service that was tentatively resolved. The issue dealt with how you are paid if you never go off the clock for your next regular shift. The answer was found in the old Series 75-2 and it states that you remain on overtime for all hours of your regular shift worked.
GQ
There is nothing to report this week in GQ.
PV
There was one issue with the Attendance Group this week that I am trying to resolve.
That’s all for now,
Bob
