444 News Building our Union – Strengthening Our Communities EDITION NO. 4345 WINDSOR, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2020 From Our Uni444 Family to Yours Happy Holidays! NoNo ProductProduct .. .. .. .. .. .. NoNo Deal!Deal! By DAVe CASSIDY, President, hroughout Local 444’s Unifor Local 444 history, there have been E-mail: [email protected] TTyears that simply rolled into the next without much notice ing and growing our FCA foot- or fanfare. Then there are years print here in Canada. with contracts that come along Bringing Home once in a *generation that can the Goods impact our membership, our com- munity and our industry. This is Your Local and Master bar- est economic package in the past one of those years, and this was gaining team brought home a con- two decades with no concessions. one of those contracts! tract deserving of all our mem- I want to thank our Local and We told this company way bers. A 1.5-Billion-dollar invest- Master bargaining team for their before the third shift's cancella- ment leading to internal combus- commitment and time to our tion that they needed another tion, Hybrid and ELECTRICAL members. Truly this contract will vehicle, but FCA dropped the ball engine platforms. be one that we will be referencing and our members paid that price. Besides keeping our existing for years to come as a key defin- I was furious with the company product portfolio, FCA has com- ing moment in our history. Our and determined to bring all our mitted to adding a product with battle is far from over for I am members back who were laid-off the ability to build three different reminded of the saying from my due to their poor planning! platforms. old reffing days- “You are only as good as your last call”. Our fight I could not wait to get our We will be the ONLY plant team to that bargaining table to and our focus on our members in North America to build three continues! begin a path for our laid-off mem- separate powertrains. bers to return. Against the advice Retirees We will be able to build Vans. of some, I went very public in We will be able to build SUVs. telling this company that we Did we get everything we We will build able to build Cars. needed new product, or we would wanted in this contract – the Wewill build able to build Trucks. have NO DEAL! That was not answer is no. Unfortunately, you theater. If we did not bargain new Why us? Because We Build it never do. But know that we tried; products our plant’s future would Right! we sure as hell tried! The need for this contract was securing the be in serious question. Our team Everyone who is laid-off will future of our plants and paving a was ready like rearing thorough- be BACK to work, plus more! path for our laid-off workers to breds in the starting gates waiting A new vehicle will be coming to go! I lobbied National return. Our retirees are our foun- down our line as fast as humanly dation and although we have President Jerry Dias daily to pick possible! Before the end of this our team to set this pattern! Jerry benchmark pensions there has contract, construction will have been little movement in increases went with Ford, who set a great begun and you will see pilot vehi- pattern. We knew it was a good on anything for a number of cles being assembled at the years. This does not sit right with one when the folks at FCA started Windsor Assembly Plant. to melt as they went over the us at Local 444 and is something Pay Raises. Benefit Improve- details. that needs to be addressed in ments. Lowering the new higher future contracts. The retirees Our team held them tight to grid. Cola maintained. Signing fought hard for many of the gains that pattern and focused on keep- Bonus. This is easily the wealthi- . cont’d on next page 2 – 444 Dave Cassidy . cont’d and benefits we enjoy today. I believe it is crucial for our Local to have a strong foundation and we at Local 444 will do our part to keep that foundation strong! To Our Laid-off Members You will not be forgotten, nor will you be left behind. Please ensure that if you move or change your phone number, the company has all your updated contact infor- mation. In the interim before your eventual call-back your Local has secured big dollars from the Ontario Government, FCA, Integram and TRW to create an Adjustment Center to help find jobs and to assist with your EI file, resume building, explaining the number of resources available for you, etc. The adjustment cen- ter, located in the basement of your Local, is there to help you during this time of lay-off. They have already begun to contact each of you and they have many There are not many relation- are family. For all that has gone resources available to help with ships one can point to that have wrong in 2020, our bond is some- whatever difficulties that you’re been tested by time and survived thing our communities can point facing during this unfortunate like the relationship between to and say~this is good. We have period. Local 444 and the United Way. fostered and built a foundation for Thank You We could not be prouder of our the sole purpose of helping the history and blessed with our rela- most vulnerable in our society. Recently the United Way came tionship together. It is rare for Thank you again for your gen- to our Local and offered us a Local 444 to be on the receiving erosity to my members and I look cheque as an emergency fund to end in our associations and your forward to our historic coopera- help our members who are seri- gesture speaks volumes to the tion in making a difference in our ously struggling financially due to bond between us. You realized the community. the loss of the third shift. They importance of our members and have asked us not to advertise this their need in these challenging If you are one of our members gift and hence, I cannot thank times and you were there to offer who are seriously struggling to them publicly so I wanted to take help. Thank you. We indeed have feed your family please get in this opportunity in our Local’s a loyalty to each other that is touch with the Local and we can paper to thank the Windsor Essex deeper than mere sentiments, a see how we can help. United Way. bond stronger than friendship; we . cont’d on next page 3 – 444 bargained a handful of contracts throwing down a proposal. I miss Dave Cassidy where we did not let this virus live ratification meetings where . cont’d dictate a lower worth for our we can feel the room and be able members and we have laid some to see and hear our members ask good footings for the future in their questions. I hate that our Casinos many of our facilities. gaming members are out of work, Some very positive steps have I am sad for our retirees and older At the time of this writing we been taken for Single Sports folks who are locked-in and can- have just been given word that Betting to be legalized, thus sav- not have visitors. I am worried for Windsor-Essex is now stage red ing and creating new jobs. I have the vulnerable and our frontline which means, for one thing, seen through social media a num- workers. I am frustrated for our Caesars will be closing…again. I ber of members with new babies students and our teachers. My cannot begin to express my frus- (something that is relatively new - heart goes out to all that are suf- trations; this damn virus has thank you new hires) and new fering or have suffered loss due to caused our membership, namely marriages, so 2020 definitely had this virus. There is nothing I want our Casino members! I have been some pluses. more than for this to be over! absolutely clear on my complete So, here is to saying goodbye displeasure with the government But I have to tell you folks, 2020 and being cautiously opti- closing down our Casinos (essen- although this Local has adapted mistic that 2021 will be better! tially government employees fairly quickly to this new way of OLG) and not paying our mem- doing things, I am not a fan. I No matter what comes our bers full compensation like they miss our membership meetings! I way, we will get through like we did when they sent the teachers miss gathering together and hav- always have – Together! home. ing big events! I miss shaking our Always Keep the Main Thing, member’s hands and talking to I have pleaded and explained to The Main Thing them without masks. Bargaining the powers-that-be that no one fol- From my family to all of yours, over zoom is not the same! There lows rules, protocols and regula- is something about staring in the tions, like our casinos. No one Merry Christmas and a eyes of the company and seeing can keep track of persons in a them twitch in real life when Happy New Year! facility like our casinos and there are no casinos cleaner than our casinos.