"We were never really given a chance" EI employees will never forget November 15th 2002.
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"We were never really given a chance" EI employees will never forget November 15th 2002. |
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7/24/07
Endicott
Interconnect/Huron Campus Note
to EI and Huron employees: 07/24/07 - Tier money building Chinese economy 07/13/07 - EI leases space for production in China 03/17/07
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Empire
Zone tax breaks scrutinized 03/11/07
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State might force higher electric bills 01/31/07 - OSHA wants Huron fined Four 'serious citations' issued in fatal explosion Huron Company "strongly disagrees". 10/21/06 - ACTUAL STUDY: Mortality among US employees of a large computer manufacturing company: 1969-2001 Richard W Clapp 10/21/06 - Excess Cancer Deaths Seen Among Computer Manufacturing Employees 10/21/06 - A study finds elevated rates of cancer among IBM workers 9/24/06 - No small change. Hundreds of New York companies tinker with their names to collect millions of dollars in Empire Zone benefits. 9/06/06
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Maines
to propose facility expansion 8/04/06
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Fatal explosion stuns Huron
campus 7/14/06 - Court rules EI can dismiss ex-employee 6/23/06 - Certification of luggage screening unit delayed 6/02/06 - Report shows higher rates of medical problems near polluted site 5/23/06 - Hevesi: IDAs not reclaiming benefits if jobs targets are missed. 4/23/06 - Reality tempers Endicott Interconnect's big dreams 4/12/06 - Lawmakers want DEC to tell public of all spills Endicott incident spurs legislation 4/08/06
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New spill
angers Endicott residents 4/07/06 - Residents outraged over recent Endicott chemical spill. Equipment failure caused refrigerant to leak into sewers that feed river. 3/30/06 - Talks Stall Over Federal Standard For Unsafe TCE Exposure levels. 3/30/06
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EI
defaults on jobs contract with state 3/10/06 - Energy costs force layoffs of 21 at Huron Cutbacks affect variety of positions. Read more... 3/9/06 - Rumors of layoffs at the Huron campus have been heard since Friday March 3rd. Alliance@IBM was told that between 20 and 30 people were cut from Huron's business. The areas affected are Facilities Maintenance, Environmental services, Warehouse, and possibly some Facilities Engineering staff. Also rumor has spread that the cleaning maintenance group has been reduced to one shift; thereby laying off the night shift workers, completely. It is unclear why these cuts occurred in light of the recent press stories about EI getting contracts and their promise of hiring. Although Huron and EI are separate companies, an increase in work contracts and hiring policies, tends to have a simultaneous affect on both companies. Most Huron employees were part of the original 1900 IBMers sold off to EIT in 2002 and part of the NYS tax deal, in exchange for maintaining the workforce near 1900 persons. So, EI and Huron are one in the same as far as the NYS tax deal with EIT originally. 2/26/06 - EI faces potential N.Y. penalty as work force dips to about 1,500 Company misses deadline for employment report. 2/13/06 - Latest rumors are: Apparently EI now has new time clock rules. One rule is the 1 minute rule. If you clock in 1 minute late, 3 times, you can be fired. Rumor is that things are very slow at EI and rather than have a layoff; firing people over time clock rules is a possibility. Also, we've heard hat EI continues to lose key people. The reason some engineers are reported to be leaving, is over last summer's furloughs and 32 hour work weeks. They don't want to go through that again. 2/02/06 - Toughen TCE limits, report says Assembly panel wants more done about vapor intrusion. 12/19/05 - Endicott Interconnect, year three Work force drops; contract calls for $1_6M payback 11/14/05
10/19/05
- EI
appeal disputes worker's firing 10/18/05 - CWA News: Rick White and CWA Win Big in Fight for Rights 10/15/05 - Contaminated water found on Huron Campus in Endicott 09/06/05 - EIT ordered to reinstate fired union organizer. Company is considering appeal. 09/06/05 - State Gives Away Millions For Jobs That Never Come 08/24/05 - New York State "Workshare" program requirements: an excerpt explanation. Read full text here: NYS DOL Workforce NY 07/16/05 - Read the story, found on-line,regarding IBM and EIT: Shrinking Giants and Gentlemen Farmers. Interesting article. 07/11/05 - Latest rumors are that those in manufacturing at EI on furlough for 2 days per week, were offered a deal. You can work 40 hours per week, if you're willing to work weekends and take your days of rest, on a week day. We hear there were very few takers. We have also heard that more EI employees and managers are leaving for Lockheed and other places. Where are all those jobs that EI was supposed to create from their award of $55 million from the Federal Government? The community taxpayers deserve an answer. 06-03-05 - Anonymous comments from EI: Furloughs will continue through July now. EI plans shut down July 4th week. Most employees are told weekly what day to take off as unemployment. Needless to say being told Tuesday is not what people want. Basically, EI seems to be treading water. A passive aggressive work force, smiling but angry... just coming to work for a check, no "above an beyond" work. Team work doesn't seem to be happening. Haven't heard of any new contracts. Complex assemblies, as of now, is not furloughed but the panels group that supplies them the boards, is. 04-01-05 - Anonymous comments from EI. They expect a layoff in April. They expect a major job cut storm. Stay tuned. 01-31-05 - Alliance@IBM has been hearing that EIT is considering offshoring jobs. A number of EI employees have told Alliance@IBM that a discussion of using "low cost operating" facilities took place at some "All Hands" meetings in recent weeks. If you have any information regarding this, please contact us by sending a comment or sending an e-mail or calling 607-729-4652. 12-30-04 - The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (The WARN act) Read this to understand the rules that are supposed to be used by employers, when they conduct mass layoffs. 12-23-04 - Attention: EI Employees considering individual contracts with EI. There are potential problems and disadvantages with individual contracts. Some points to consider:
The Advantages of a Union Contract:
All non-management exempt and non-exempt ARE elligbile to form or join a union. E-mail Alliance@IBM/CWA: endicottalliance@stny.rr.com or call 607-729-4652 12-21-04 - Alliance@IBM/CWA recommends you prepare for the possibility of more EIT layoffs. EI Employees Should Be Aware of the following information: Some EIT employees wonder what EIT gives them when the company conducts a layoff. Some assume there is a severance package. You get nothing! Even if your termination was not performance related! There is not an EIT severance package or any extension of medical benefits. You get your last paycheck mailed to you, on the next EIT scheduled payday. Your medical coverage also ends the last day of the month of when you were laid-off. There is no extended medical coverage provided by EIT. You will need to signup for COBRA coverage immediately. For 2 people, that will cost about $650.00 per month! This is very difficult to pay for when you have no job. Here's a Layoff Survival Plan:
Possible signs of lay offs could be:
..8. If any of the layoff warning signs persist, commit some time each week to the Layoff Survival Plan, to help reduce impacts of sudden job loss. 12-07-04
- Comments
from a former EI employee - I
would just like to thank you for putting out such an informative website
about how corrupt EIT is and how they mistreat their employees. I was
recently laid off a month ago after I just started the job in Laminations
in May. They say that their employees are their number one resource yet
they seem to lay people off and fire people on a whim. 11-05-04 - EI News.... Endicott Interconnect announced job cuts today totaling nearly 200 workers. As many as 85 full time employees and 100 temporarys lost their jobs. The company claims that they have lost orders and that once again, they need to reduce their workforce. Alliance@IBM believes that if EI's orders return; the company should rehire all of these employees. CEO Jay McNamara has said that the work orders should pick up in January 2005. The CEO has said, in the past, to the Press and the community that young people have many opportunities at EI. He has wondered out loud why young people are leaving this area. "We've got to make our young people believe there's a future here in Broome County," he said. Alliance@IBM believes that cutting jobs at EI is not making young people of Broome County believe in a future here. Stay tuned..Read Press & Sun Bulletin Story. 08-17-04 - EI now has a serious attrition problem along with EI business plan bugs. Daily, EI employees are resigning for new jobs. We just heard that 600 applications and resumes sent to Lockheed Martin, came from EI employees! A unionized EI could help stop some attrition and help attract new employees and benefit everyone at EI, including owners. EI fired two project managers in EI's Panel Manufacturing business. The reasons for these dismissals are not clear; however, once again these firings represent the loss of long term expertise at this fledgling company. As it stands, EI has
lost the trust of the workforce and promises are not A few weeks ago, a
story came out, that the CEO had a meeting with 05-19-04 - EI Profit sharing continued...Some EI employees are determining what percentage of EI's 2003 profit sharing they got and what it could be worth as profit improves. What they are realizing is that most will never see any significant money from EI profit sharing. However, EI overtime pay elimination scams, bilk EI employees out of thousands of dollars! Most EI employees received less than $100 in profit sharing. An employee receiving $75 in profit sharing received a mere, .0007% of the $107,000 in total money shared. At this percentage, even if the total profit sharing dollars improve ten times, to $1,070,000, the employees profit sharing cut would only be about $750. It is clear that EI profit sharing is not going to be lucrative, as it's present calculation. However, many employees paid $75 in profit sharing, were paid $6000 less in 2003, because of EI overtime pay elimination scams! Compare what you earned in 2002 to 2003 and most realize that their pay was reduced by thousands of dollars! Some newly made exempts lost as much as $20,000. What EI employees contributed to EI's bottom line with lost pay, far out strips EI profit sharing. This is outrageous! EI employees are paid thousands less and then given less than $100 in exchange. What this means is that EI employees and X-IBMers, need contracts, and a union to deal with EI management owners or continue to be cheated out of money you deserve, as EI increases your workload and weekends away from home without overtime pay. 05-13-04 - Read the letter Congressman Hinchey sent to J. McNamara regarding the firings in April. 05-12-04 - EI Profit Sharing. Most are getting less than $100. It was deposited in EI 401k's on 5/7. As it stands now, even a 10 fold profit improvement, would pay on average, barely over $1000. Looks like EIvil profit sharing is a dud, if it remains as is. A union contract is the only solution. 05-03-04 - Things you should know about NY State Labor Law: Go to this web page for a list of FAQs (frequently asked questions) http://www.labor.state.ny.us/faq.html#wh11 Q: Can an employee be fired without due cause? A: Yes.
New York State is an "employment-at-will," state. Without
a contract restricting termination (such as a collective
bargaining agreement) an employer has the right to discharge
an employee at any time for any reason. This also protects the employee's
right to resign. An employer may fire an employee for "no reason"
- or even for a reason that might seem arbitrary and unfair -- and the
employee is equally free to quit at any time without being required to
explain or defend that decision. Other exceptions to the doctrine of "employment-at-will" exist under § 201-d and § 215 of the New York State Labor Law. Section 201-d prohibits an employer from firing an employee for political or recreational activities outside of work, for legal use of consumable products outside of work, or for membership in a union. Section 215 prescribes that no employer shall penalize any employee for making a complaint to the employer, to the Commissioner of Labor, or to the Commissioner's representative, about any provision of the Labor Law. Violation of § 215, can bring a civil fine and separate civil action by the employee. To obtain the text of these statutes, go to: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?cl=54&a=9 04-29-04 -NIOSH Visits EI today. Today, NIOSH investigator,
David Sylvain, took a tour of EI manufacturing. At each area he visited,
EI management provided an office Bands 3 drill operators told, improvement need! A story is circulating, that the first shift, building 47, drills manager, informed all his band three operators, that they all are now rated as, needing improvement. This has a chilling effect because of the recent ambush firings. Reportedly, when asked why the needs improvement designation, the manager gave little explanation. His attitude was, if you don't know why you need improvement, you need to figure it out. The recent EI ambush firings are bad business because it will paralyze the company. Who will want any extra responsibility or a new assignment, only to receive a lower appraisal and become an EI ambush firing target. A union contract would stop this sort of destructive toxic management. If anyone in drills can provide us with more information on this story, please contact the Alliance/CWA 1701. Your identity will be held in confidence. This sort of management style recently, makes a strong case for forming an EI union and seeking contracts. Join now. If you want a membership
form mailed to your home, call the Alliance 04-27-04 - NIOSH to review safety at EI plant 04-21-04 - Alliance@IBM/CWA Groups protest worker firings. 04-14-04 - Layoffs puzzle Endicott Interconnect employees - 60 workers let go in string of plant cuts - Jeff Platsky, Press & Sun-Bulletin 04-13-04 - Click here to read the letter that was sent to Governor George Pataki, regarding the EI ambush firings 04-12-04 - AMBUSH Firings UPDATE! More AMBUSH Firings have happened today at EI. We have heard that EI has also lost top Human Resources people as well as a top financial executive in the melee. A new financial executive was brought in from the outside and people are questioning why. Many people have speculated that the AMBUSH Firings are part of the 'fix' strategy. We continue to hear that the targets of these firings seem to be ex-IBMers that make too much money. Today we learned that people critical to the SureScan project were fired and told it was a layoff. The profit sharing question now looms even larger in the minds of the employees still there. We heard the stress level is at it's highest and worst since the company was born. We have heard that some employees turned in their badges and walked out of building 257 these recent weeks. We also heard one worker suffered a heart attack from the level of stress related to the ambush firings. If you have been fired or you know someone who has, please contact an Alliance@IBM EIT Chapter representative by e-mail: endicottalliance@stny.rr.com or click these links:Join the EIT Union On-line Now! or Print EIT Signup Form and send it. or call us at 607-729-4652. 04-08-04 - AMBUSH Firings Continue! (Read Press & Sun Bulletin article here) (editor's note: An error in this article claims employees were fired "for cause". This is incorrect. The newspaper was notified of the error.) Today EI accelerated ambush firings that began on Friday April 2nd. The number of victims, so far, of the EI firings has reached 50. We've been told the number of employees fired could reach 100. Many of those fired came from engineering but included process operators and department technicians. Many were x-IBMers that had 15 to 20 years of service to IBM. Their pay was obviously a target of the EI Executive Management and Owners team. In the EI owners and executives frantic attempt to cut expenses, ambush firings were implemented. Ambush firings are firings that come from out of the blue, with little or no warning, while workloads are high and temporary plus permanent employee hiring, is ongoing. EI owners and management had challenged all EI departments a month ago, to save $30,000, each. EI ambush firings are apparently a means to cut business expense and payroll. EI management does not want employees nor the public to think of these resource acts as layoffs. EI human resources, wants them to be considered as merely, firings of poor performers. It is not apparently why EI is adamant about the distinction between layoff and firings. Those fired received no EI severance package. Interestingly, for those fired, EI's main and odd concern was over having the EIT employees handbook returned. EI employees are astonished
that this is occurring because of recent CEO meetings on the state of
the business and the upturn in orders. At these meetings, profit sharing
for 2003 was discussed and that there was a need to hire temporary manufacturing
workers and even engineers, to meet Employees are disgusted with what seems to be insane actions, while demands on the workforce increases. Red flags are going up in the minds of employees over the crazed actions of EI and wonder, "what is wrong here? What's the truth?" One thing is certain,
morale is lower than ever now and most EI employees have choices
to make. Some, over this recent abuse, will send out their resumes and
leave. Those that stay, have to wonder what's next? For those that stay at EIT, the answer is a strong employee union; by the employees and for the employees! Ultimately, EIT employees need employment contracts to stop the insanity. Join CWA local 1701, and form an alliance and union that will defend employees and their families from bizarre business management tactics. 04-06-04 - Stealth Firings? What is happening at EIT? The Alliance@IBM EIT chapter is hearing that there are firings occurring around the plant that appear to be 1 or 2 people at a time. We've heard that 2 and possibly 5 engineers have been fired this week for "not meeting requirements and deadlines" on their job. We would like to know more information on this activity. Please click on "Got EI News? Send Us Your Comments! " and let us know what you have heard or what you know about what's going on in EI. You can also e-mail us at: endicottalliance@stny.rr.com 03-30-04 - The new (OLD) AWS schedule. BS 'ed by EI again! Today, EIT manufacturing management began to assign production workers to, weekend alternate schedules (AWS). These schedules are ultimately intended to eliminate the normal Monday thru Friday work week. By scheduling employees to work the weekend, as part of the 40 hour work week, EI plans to eliminate overtime pay and reduce pay to employees. The new weekend schedules
vary from department to department but all Some embrace the schedule
because they are tired of working six days a Further, vacation time
is to be cleared with managers and employees are Others see the schedules,
just a means to trap them into working While manufacturing
employees are being told quotas and workload will As these pay reduction plans are being announced many wonder, "Where is the 2003 EI profit sharing??" Employees were told profit sharing would be issued this March. Management has indicated they can not distribute the additional compensation because everyone at EI does not have EI 401k's, as promised. EI claims to be seeking information from the IRS on how to issue EI profit sharing, to those without 401k's and still get a employer tax break. Until an answer from the IRS comes forward, EI is holding back the promised profit sharing compensation to employees. Clearly working for
IBM and EIT has it's differences. As workloads The EI philosophy
seems to be more work, more weekends, higher In the short term this
may be smart business for EI and boost owners The ultimate solution
is a contract; that puts EI owners and executive management compensation
promises, in a legally binding labor contract. If you believe a contract
is the right solution; join the Alliance@IBM / 02-12-04 -This week EI management began the process of informing employees, if they will receive pay increases or not. Those that meet requirements or better, are eligible for consideration of merit pay increases. Some are being pleasantly
surprised and shocked with the news of a 30% of the workforce
will receive a salary increase and their raise, At the all hands meetings
held this week, EI CEO Jay MacNamara and HR Unfortunately, 70% of
the EI workforce will not get a salary increase How could a union contract
improve on the current compensation situation The CWA in behalf of
members, would negotiate salary increases, for the Everyone gets something.
Wages do not stagnate, causing fiscal problems Contracts also protect
employees from any shift in company policy, Contracts help attract
new talent and retain employees, which is good In short, nothing beats
a good contract, that protects employees and in 02-05-04- A Yahoo group was created for EIT Union members, called EITUnionYes. Click this link to sign-up: EITUnionYes 02-04-04 - EIT announces 700 new jobs. What's your opinion of this announcement? What do you think this means for EI employees? Send us your comments, and we'll post them anonymously. Most of the EI employees that we have talked to so far, have many questions about this latest news. Click on this link "Got EI News? Send Us Your Comments". 01/31/04 - Big week for EIT. The coming week for the EIT company, is an important one. It could be a major factor in the attrition rate and morale, at EI. Starting February 2, 2004, employees will find out if they will receive raises and salary plans should be revealed. EI has indicated that 30% of the work force should get salary increases. 70% will not. Employees are eager to see the salary plans. Most are hopeful that they will get a raise. To be successful, EI needs to retain it's former IBM employees and attract new hires. The coming week could greatly influence EI's attrition rate and employee morale. Promised profit sharing, soon to be announced, is also eagerly anticipated. Former IBM employees
hope to recoup financial losses, of IBM pension and retirement medical
coverage benefits, over the IBM/EIT deal. Most former IBMers at EI now
have one half or less the IBM retirement and pension benefits, they planned
for, at the end of their 30 year careers. They will have no medical coverage.
EI does not offer a pension or retirement medical plan. Employees hope
EI profit sharing can compensate for some Tragically; many former IBMers under funded their IBM 401K's, not expecting IBM to sell them out. Retirements will now be much more difficult for these former IBMers and current EI employees. With a union contract, EI employees would not need to guess and wonder what salary plans, bonuses and profit sharing, will be. Such information, would be negotiated in writing, in a legally binding contract between EI management and the EIT Union. The EI workload is
strong. New customer contracts and opportunity are on the way. An intact
EI workforce will be essential to meet future commitments. 01/03/04
- EIT
CEO Jay McNamara held round tables with a handful of employees, just before
Christmas. It was the end of EI's first year. The intent was to quell
employee's anger over a cleaning frenzy and cancellation of The CEO hoped that
those attending would spread the news to fellow The CEO also said, there would not be any layoffs and EI workloads would be at a record high for the 1st quarter. He said two new major contracts would be announced soon, worth millions; one of which would be a military contract. The CEO's pitch was
encouraging; however, many of those attending are Employees resent working
weekends, for straight time pay. The EI policy EI needs to trust
employees to work around each other's vacation As far as pay raises
and profit sharing, most will believe it when they see it. The CEO announced
during the fall, all hand meetings, that 30% This is called raising
the bar but seen by many employees as another The good news is that
EI has survived it's first year and there is plenty of work on the way.
Retaining the workforce made up of ex-IBMer's This workforce deserves
respect and should raise the bar, for EI. A 12/31/03
- This
week EI management fired a 3rd shift employee in, complex board assembly
for not agreeing to work last weekend, the weekend after EI
took advantage of this firing to further intimidate employees in, EI employees
are welcome to join Alliance@IBM/CWA,
Communications Start the
new year off with becoming a CWA local 1701 member 12/29/03 - As always, there is the fear that EI will fire/layoff union member s... 1st:
The company conducts layoffs, not the union. The union attempts to 2nd: The union (with a contract) would forewarn employees of company instituted layoffs and try to make the selection process, as fair as possible. The union would make seniority a consideration but would not blindly protect those with seniority but poor work ethics and performance. 3rd: The union would fight for recall rights, in the event of layoffs, rather than permanent ones. The rumor mills says, EI plans to layoff 10% of managers. Also to displace any higher level, higher paid workers, with lower level, lower paid employees; Via February resource actions. It seems unlikely with the workload, but that's the rumor. EI mfg. is understaffed but perhaps this plan could be targeting, engineers and technicians? Most EI management
was in for Christmas weekend. Exempts were in for zero compensation. A
sore subject for those just made exempt. 12/21/03
- EI
CEO Jay McNamara this Friday held two round tables, in a Since Thanksgiving
when EI owner Bill Maines and the CEO walked through the EI site, management
has been auditing for housekeeping; and writing Jay explained at round
tables, made up of management picked attendees, The CEO explained that
there is too much management at EI and described Jay feels the EI site
is booked very well and that the 1st quarter of Jay did warn that resigning or being fired by EI would forfeit any profit sharing and EI 401K matching funds, unless vested by 5 years of EI employment. Many attendees felt leery after the meeting and some even enjoyed it. Even Jay noted seeing in their eyes, they were leery but he hopes to gain their trust.. in a nut shell. The meetings seemed to be the battered wives speech, i.e. 'Just because I I beat you, that doesn't mean I don't love you. Let's makeup!' Many feel, the real
reason for the operations VP order to deny Christmas vacation plans and
parties on company time is to, punish the work force.. rather than production
needs. There are those that feel that the cleaning frenzy caused the Christmas
vacation edict. Either way, the workforce is angry and humiliated and
thinking more about change. 12/12/03 - EI has gone nuts. Managers are everywhere today ....clean up mania has increased! Reprimands for petty things. One person got reprimanded for not having safety shields on when entering the 18-3 hallway. Operators getting reprimanded for having breath mints. Union talk on the floor is increasing! One rumor is that all EI managers, from VP Wade Phalen on down, were put on notice Monday night! Even the Huron side is under high pressure. Management is taking it out on employees. Manufacturing has been
denied all December vacation requests, in many areas. This applies to
all manufacturing. No Christmas parties allowed The entire EI workplace is now a hostile work place, from the top down. With this crazy cleanup mania, people wonder if EI is for sale! It seems more than just housekeeping or EI management just wants fear to rule! Hostile Holidays, from EI and owners! Now would be a good time to sign-up for the AIliance@IBM, EI Chapter Union, and get 5 of your co-workers to do the same. Talk to each other on your breaks and lunch times. The sooner you do this, the sooner we can bring a contract to the bargaining table of EI. What are you waiting for? Sign up now! What are you waiting for? EI Signup Form - print this and mail it in. All member names are strictly confidential. EI employees who were signed up as IBMers will need to sign up again, as EI is a new company. 10/07/03
- THE REAL DEAL at EI - The
big problem at EI seems to be attrition now. Between Huron and EI the
number of employees is down to about 1500 from 2000 last year, 10/31/2002,
when the IBM/EI/NYS deal was closed. EI is understaffed
and currently seeking to employ nearly 130 Sanmina
is hiring temps also and having difficulty, as is EI, in getting Today, some more EI manufacturing departments announced A &B teams for weekends. OT will be paid ONLY if management ok's it. Contact the Endicott Alliance@IBM/CWA 1701 office, 658-9285, or click on the "Send Us Your Comments" feature on this page. We want to hear from you! 9/04/03 - The process of EI declaring groups of employees as exempts, continues this week. The latest group declared
exempt was technicians in the EI maintenance Most in this maintenance
engineering group, rarely do work over 40 hours Some
EI managers tell the new exempts that they work more than 40 hours Employers can force
employees in to exempt status, with little or no Employees that feel
that their employment status change is questionable Alliance@IBM/CWA EI Chapter members made exempt and feel it was unfair, can contact the Endicott Alliance@IBM/CWA 1701 office, 658-9285, or click on the "Send Us Your Comments" feature on this page. We want to hear from you! 8/14/03 - Judge rules in favor of EI Union representative. A Federal Judge has ruled that a former EI employee and union organizer for Alliance@IBM/CWA must be reinstated to his job. 8/11/03 - Berkeley Bowl Hires Big Union Busting Law Firm Read how anti-union law firms help companies fight unions. Their tactics are the "3 C's" strategy: conceal, camouflage, and operate clandestinely. This is information you should know about the company's use of union avoidance law firms. 8/08/03 - November EI to reveal bonus plan! Last week EI's CEO
held meetings with some engineering groups, to encourage them to stay
on with EI. Because of engineering and He revealed that revised salary bands would be released in November, along with, the new salary ranges. Further, it was revealed that the long awaited, profit sharing compensation plan, would be announced. Details as to how the profit sharing for EI employees will be calculated, will be released then. Employees fear that the new salary plans will be adjusted down, making future salary increases unlikely, because of reduced pay grids. Some fear pay cuts. With rising local taxes and utility costs, stagnate salaries would be a blow to EI families and the local economy. The Alliance @ IBM-EI/CWA chapter hopes that these new salary caps and profit sharing formulas, are generous enough to retain the former IBM Endicott employees. Their valuable skills and experience are essential to EI being profitable. Our jobs depend on EI being able to retain current employee and attract new talent. EI employees could
have a, hand in their futures.. if they were able 8/04/03 - EI has begun the process of reducing payroll and overtime costs, by declaring some hourly wage technicians, exempt from overtime labor laws. In the past employees made exempt received salary increases. This is not the case at EI. These employees are being told they will be required to work weekends with no extra compensation. Anyone required to work more than 40 hours per week, just got a 'stealth' pay cut. Their hourly wage has been effectively reduced. Employers do not need to apply to any government agency to make workers exempt. If a worker feels being made exempt is not fair in their case, they can challenge the employer, file complaint with the NYS labor board or hire a lawyer. Union members can file a complaint with the union and the union can defend their case. This will be just one great advantage, of having a written contract as an Alliance @IBM-EI member. 7/21/03 - Know your Weingarten Rights, if your employer calls you in the office and you believe it is a disciplinary interview. This applies to non-union as well as union employees. EI employees need to know these rights! 7/13/03 - Verizon Rehires 2300 workers that were laid-off. This is what a contract can do for you! 7/07/03 - Labor Law Protects Employees Employers Cannot Restrict Talk About Wages or Complaints with Customers or Co-workers 7/07/03 - Vacation control plan at EI - EI management has requested that employees use up one half of their 2003 vacation by the end of August 2003. Management makes this request because July will be slow but expect August to the end of the year, to be very busy with new customer orders. Employees with previously arranged vacation plans, will be allowed to still take time off as planned. Some employees do not like this vacation plan. Many of those with three weeks or less vacation particularly are upset. Overtime Crack down! EI management has told employees and management that "zero" overtime will be paid. OT will only be paid if authorized. An EI VP reviews all overtime requests. EI audits all EI managers to ensure that the EI "zero" OT policy is followed. Managers can be disciplined for failing time keeping audits. Employees are often asked to take a week day off, without pay, if management plans weekend work. This helps EI meet it's cost reduction plans, by maintaining a 40 hour work week, management explains to employees. Employees are required to fill out and sign a time keeping correction form, for any corrections they require, by their manager. For more information on American labor law and over time pay, use this link: Overtime Address: http://jobsearchtech.about.com/library/weekly/aa082602.htm .......................... 5/30/03 - EI manufacturing managers, have begun the process of hiring temporary employees, to meet the coming increased production demands. Some recently
laid off IBM and EI employees, with the needed experience and skills,
are being asked to return to their old jobs or similar jobs, as temporary
EI employees, for $7.00 per hour. The
Alliance @ IBM CWA local 1701 and EI chapter is encouraged that hiring,
apparently, is occurring. A sure sign that business at EI is Hopefully, these former regular IBM and EI employees, will be offered regular employment, at their former wages, in the near future. That would be the decent thing to do. These peoples skills and experience deserve better pay than $7.00 per hour. .......................... EI employees often work weekends for no extra compensation and are paid straight time for weekend hours worked! This phenomenon occurs when EI employees take vacation or are directed by management to take a week day off. Paid vacation and holidays, do not count towards the 40 hour work week, only time actually on the job does. Time and one half over time, is only paid for time worked beyond 40 hours. EI employees do not like this EI policy that cheats them out of overtime pay for weekend days worked. A 10% premium is offered for scheduled weekend work but workers would rather have time and one half overtime, a 50% premium! The 10% weekend premium, isn't even a decent tip at a restaurant. This would not happen with a, collectively bargained and signed, Union contract. EI management maintains that their weekend pay policy is standard for the industry. This is not so. Most companies honor paid vacation as time worked. Locally, Sanmina at Owego, NY, another printed board manufacturer, counts vacation and holidays towards the 40 hour work week and normal overtime is paid out for weekends. EI should reconsider their vacation and holiday policy and match the industry standard, to be competitive. .......................... EI was awarded a major contract to build and assemble super computer boards for IBM’s super computer project, Blue Gene/L. A great tribute to the former IBM employees, now employed by EI. This contract would have been awarded to EI if not for the skilled and exception workforce. Blue Gene/L research was done by IBM and supported by the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security agency. The super computer will take up an area equivalent to two tennis courts. It will have the computing power of the worlds top 500 super computers and do 200 trillion calculations per second. For more information on IBM’s Blue Gene/L project and research use this link: http://www.research.ibm.com/bluegene/ This will create great challenge and work for the EI Company and talented employees. It is expected that the Blue Gene/L assembly work alone with fill EI’s complex board assembly, to half capacity. EI employees are well worth their pay, to do this type of advanced panel manufacturing and should be very proud of this accomplishment. Employees of this caliber certainly deserve great respect. Employees of this rare caliber certainly deserve employment contracts that protect their wages and benefits. .......................... 05/05/03 Good Rumors: EI May orders are up greatly for the month of May. Some management have said that EI has over $16 million in orders booked for May alone. Employee layoff fears are much lower now, as a result of the upswing in orders. Layoffs seem remote for business reasons. Layoffs now would be insane.Last week EI passed it's ISO audit with no issues. BVQi, that audited EI for ISO 9000 conformance, was extremely impressed with employee knowledge. Only one other company impressed BVQi as much, ever, British Aerospace, BAE here locally. EI are X-IBMers and
this ISO audit only makes the point, the most .......................... 04/15/03 Layoff Rumors: Stress levels are higher at EI, former IBM Endicott MD, over rumors of May layoffs, furloughs or both. The Alliance hopes that this rumor is not true, for the sake of the young EI business venture. The EI CEO recently sent e-mail to employees indicating EI business was growing. This seems to make the rumor less likely. However, when employees feel their jobs are jeopardized, they write resumes, even when not sure if the rumors are true. EI management and owners need to create some sense of real job security and loyalty for it's workforce; or valuable and strategic skills that EI needs to prosper and grow, may be lost. The local community will suffer. EI should address this rumor. It would be smart business to keep false rumors, of layoffs, from growing. Employees with a sense of job security are less likely to start the process of job hunting. Just last week EI received a rash of resignations, which is not good for business. Please call 607-729-4652 or e-mail the Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701 office with any reliable information on future IBM Endicott or EI layoffs. Our community and the families of both companies have good reason to be informed on such matters. .......................... The 10 Percent Solution: Rumor has it that weekend work will now be paid for with a 10% or 12% gratuity, on top of straight time. This means that employees used to getting time and a half for 6 or 8 hours on Saturday will now receive a regular days pay, plus 10% or 12% of that amount for that day. Mfg. operators fear being scheduled to weekends with time off on week days. Huron facilities maintenance and EI solution maintenance employees are on schedules already. They are directly affected by the 10% premium weekend pay now! Is your gratuity to a food service person, in this area, greater than what you make on Saturday?? This is overtime abuse, pure and simple. EI gets away with it because they make sure no one works over 40 hours for the week, whether part of that week is on the weekend or not. This would not happen with a, collectively bargained and signed, Union contract. EI Profit Sharing: EI made a profit in 2002. How did that affect employee profit sharing plans? Don't you wonder if those profit sharing plans, in each employee's name, are being managed and contributed to? This year it has been noticed that production levels have picked up. EI employees are being told that contracts are being won. This is good news. This should improve hopes of profit sharing for EI employees. We hope EI comes forward with profit sharing announcements soon. The quarterly finance numbers should be available to management now! Know the truth: EI Owner Bill Maines stated at a meeting with employees that a union contract starts at zero. WRONG! By Federal Law, once employees have signed enough forms asking for a union election, EVERYTHING IS FROZEN -- pay, benefits, everything. You start from where you are, not at zero.
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| About this Site | ||||
| Last Updated: 05/28/08 Contact the This site is designed to allow Endicott Interconnect Technologies Employees to communicate and share methods of protecting their rights through the establishment of an EI Employees Labor Union. Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act states it is a violation for Employers to spy on union gatherings, or pretend to spy. For the purpose of the National Labor Relations Act, notice is given that this site and all of its content, messages, communications, or other content is considered to be a union gathering. All material on this site is copyright 2005 Alliance at IBM/CWA Local 1701, Johnson City, NY |
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IBM Workers United Flyer - Read
the Flyer that was handed out in
April 1981 on chemicals and worker safety 
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