Local 42 lost our beloved President, Bill Wachenschwanz on November 29, 2018.
Bill was a kind, compassionate, fair man who loved his family and the union he represented.
He was a tireless, loyal friend. A fighter for all who labor. who will be missed greatly.
Rest in peace, Bill. Thank you from all of us.
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NABET 42
E-Board Minutes from September 15, 2018
Called to order at 9:45am by VP Ken Koscick with Bill on the phone.
Members in attendance: Ken Koscick; Vice President, Christopher Dolciato, Brian Geiger, Steven Parsons and Kathy Smith. (Bill Wachenschwanz; President on the phone)
Guests: Harriet Applegate & Rick Nagle.
Guest speaker Harriet Applegate from N. Shore AFl-CIO talked about members helping with phone banks or canvasing neighborhoods for November elections.
Minutes: Waved reading of minutes from last meeting by Christopher Dolciato second by Kathy Smith motion PASSED.
Treasurer’s report: No treasure’s report.
New Members: Andrew Robinson (WJW).
Leaving Members: Michael Friend (WJW), Ken Scheck (WJW).
Correspondence: Thank you note from Ed Louloudis (WOIO/WUAB).
Stewards Reports:
(WJW News) has a new Tentative agreement for 2 years because of sale. Not much changed, tighten some items, prompter and sick days.
(WJW Engineering) Kathy Smith and Terry Mullally will be back as temporary “acting stewards” until further notice. Motion by Christopher Dolciato second by Steven Parsons. Motion PASSED.
Negotations are going slowly. Working without a contract since November 2017. Trying for three more meeting dates. Arbitration filed for Jib camera work that did not end in our favor. IA is training.
(WOIO/WUAB) WUAB celebrating 50 years today. Contract is coming up but we are unsure if we are negotiating with Raycom or Gray Media. Some of our members have PSC that are expiring, and the company is trying to force them into signing or they will be let go. If a PSC expires they would fall under our contract.
Motion made not to exceed $800 for food and other items for the general member meeting on Saturday, October 27 by Kathy Smith seconded by Brian Geiger. Motion Passed.
Announcement: Union members are encouraged to see The Cleveland Playhouse performance of “Sweat” on Sunday, October 14.
Next E-Board meeting will be Saturday, October 27 at 9:30am followed by the General Membership at 11:00am.
Motion to adjourn the meeting by Brian Geiger and seconded by Kathy Smith. Motion PASSED.
Meeting adjourned at 11:07am. Respectively summitted by Christopher Dolciato.
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General Membership Meeting 10/15/16
Meeting called to order by VP Ken Koscick at 10:12am with a welcome and update from President Wachenschwanz
Treasurer’s report given and on file. Problems with reimbursements from WJW new software system
Secretary’s report- Please keep your persupdate minutes on website
Stewards reports WOIO/WUAB- (Chris) signed new 3 year contract in January. Biggest issue- allowing reporters with photog working as a team to shoot video. A meeting with new GM Erik Traitor is coming. WKYC-(Cathy) ratified new 3 year contact in May. Unit has dwindled to 29 members. Several members accepted buyout packages from company. These employees will not be replaced. Multi skilled journalists (MSJ) will be used. WJW- (Terry) Suffani retired last year and was replaced by Brian Dick. Unit offered buyouts. Trying to stay ahead of technology and working on jurisdiction with AI terminology. Contract ends at end of next year. Still having weekly meetings with management for open lines of communication.
Took a break for BRUNCH
AFLCIO/Rick Nagin report
Q&A Session
Drawing/Raffle for 9 union bags was held. Congrats to all winners!
Meeting adjourned at 11:52am
Submitted
Secretary, Danielle Banks
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NABET/CWA Local 42 E-Board meeting 9/17/2016
Meeting called to order at 10:00 am by VP Ken Koscick. President Bill Wachenschwanz is currently on short term disability from WJW and unable to preside. Stewards in attendance: Cathy Watkins, Kathy Smith, Brian Geiger, Chris Dolciato, John Potter.
In reviewing the minutes of the previous E-Board meeting, Cathy Watkins noted that issues in the stewards’ report section were attributed to WKYC when they actually belonged to the WOIO report. Motion to accept the changes made by Dolciato, second by Smith; motion passed.
Treasurer Marilyn Oliver shared her report for the months of June, July & August 2016. Motion to accept the report made by Dolciato, second by Smith; motion passed.
New members at WOIO: Dominique O’Neill, Kim McGee, Stephanie Novacek, Chris Dellecese,Jacqueline DeMate, Pat Holmes, Shinnay Grogan. No new members at WJW or WKYC. Motion to accept these new members made by Watkins, second by Geiger; motion passed.
The following members have left Local 42: Joseph Giesy, Maria Scali (retired), Brittany Harris from WJW; Kim Jensen, Gary Graves, Bill Loomer from WOIO; Gary Seawall (retired) from WKYC.
Thank you cards were received from Bill Wachenschwanz for flowers sent during his hospital stay; Dave Kraska, Jim Settecase, John Kaminsky, and George Payamgis.
Stewards Reports: Company says it does not intend to replace any of the positions of employees who took the buy out with like employees; instead, it plans to hire MSJ’s (multi-skilled journalists). Rather than name a Chief Photographer to replace Dan Bowman, who took the buyout, the company chose to split the duties, title & compensation between Craig Roberson and Barry Wolf (WKYC). At WOIO: Grievance filed involving morning EP and microphone; Skype issue in discussion; Morning EP & anchor Go Pro grievance resolved; Chief engineer doing unit work during the RNC in discussion; grievance filed on behalf of Gary Graves; discussion of member cited for bringing “unauthorized guests” into the building; grievance filed on morning EP for shooting rain video with his cellphone; discussion on use of cellphone video; discussion of videographer and live truck incident, in which the investigation concluded that he was not at fault but the company required him to be tested for drugs. At WJW Engineering: Company is offering buy outs of 2 weeks salary for every year of service with the company, up to 26 weeks plus medical coverage for the same length. Must have at least 20 years of service to qualify and qualifying employees have 2 weeks to decide whether to take the package. Lost arbitration regarding NABET upgrades to photographers’ top scale when they shoot. Informed by the company that the Degero/live truck grievance was pulled by staff representative Lou Fallot. WJW Newsroom: No issues to report; got through a very busy summer.
CWA Local 4340 Staff Attorney Chuck DeGross submitted a report, as he had prior commitments and could not attend today’s meeting. In June he handled MMJ issues at WJW, performed extensive work on the SIF applications and submitted it to the national office, and he advised on matters involving all three stations. In addition, he was an invited guest speaker at 2 NABET Regions to discuss mandatory subjects of bargaining.
AFL-CIO has made numerous endorsement requests.
General membership meeting is Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 10:00am. Unlike previous meetings, this will be a brunch-type meeting as the hall is rented out in the afternoon.
Motion to adjourn made by Geiger, second by Potter; motion passed. Meeting ended at 11:35
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E-board meeting 4/16/16
Meeting called to order at 10:07am
Stewards in attendance: Christopher Dolciato, Cathy Watkins, Brian Geiger, Kathy Smith, John Potter, President Bill Wachenschwanz. VP-Ken Koscick, treasurer Marilyn Oliver, Guest: Ed Verba
Agenda
Minutes of (April 2016) previous meeting- accepted
Treasurers Report accepted and on file
New Members-(WJW NEWS)- Megan Keys, (WJW ENG)- 5 new vacation relief members, Thomas Gardner, Mark Dominic, Joseph Zawadzki, Riley Orians, and Matthew Koorsouradis.
Members not here anymore- (WOIO/WUAB) 7 total, Alise Jacobs, Kelly Kazandjieff, Arielle Proctor, Makenzie Miller, Jessica Donelson, Richard Fargo and Carl Arky.
Stewards reports– (WJWENG) Kathy – Arbitration held on 3/23/16. Company replace a permanent NABET with an IA with a Degerio. This is not allowed. Arbitration will be held 4/4 for members performing the job of IA and not getting an upgrade. (WJWNEWS) Brian- nothing new to report. (WOIO) Christopher- new contract reached that contains retroactive raises, that have not been issued. The company says it’ll be done, corporate says we thought it was done. It hasn’t been done yet. The new contracts are signed and filed as of last week. (WKYC) Cathy- Ratification vote held last week, 16 members showed which represents ½ of membership. The company gave out voluntary retirement packets to 17 people. The new contract has been proofed, approved and is ready to be signed.
The provisional ballot idea needs to be addressed in our local by laws
AFL-CIO report– Elections coming up.
JWJ report- dealing with Verizon strike. There is an SEC meeting in Washington next month. The SIF fund issues will be discussed along with staff and legal issues
Old Business-RAB mtg.-Welcome letters from RAB and Charles Braico. Ken will attend as our rep.
New Business- RVP- after 16 years of being President, Bill Wachenschwanz is being challenged for the position. A position he enjoys serving in, is dedicated to and works extremely hard at making a positive impact. We are asking ALL NABET local 42 members to mail back all ballots that will be issued in June. He needs our support!
Website report- annual renewal is due
Meeting adjourned at 11:35am
Next meeting will be Saturday, May 21st ay 9:30am
Respectfully submitted, Secretary Danielle Banks
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