November 2015 Volume XX No 10

IAM 2015 Human Rights Conference

By Mark Harrison

Sister Sharon Connors & Brother Mark Harrison recently represented LL700 at the second Bi-Annual Human Rights Conference held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “If you’re crazy enough to think you can change the world, you probably can” was the theme of the conference. There were more than 450 delegates in attend-ance, which included members of Women’s Rights, Young Machinist & Human Rights Committees from across the IAM. Some of the General Session and Panel Discussion topics were; Human Trafficking – Shed light on this societal ill and preventive action. Am I satisfied? – Asked the question, “Have re-cent social victories signified our culture has turned the page on discrimination and prejudice?” Is there still work to be done? Actual experiences from recent organizing cam-paigns was shared. Participants discovered tech-niques to organizing new members using new tech-nology and applications. (continued on page 3)

A Day To Remember Please enjoy these quotes as you honor all veterans – past and present. Veterans Day is November 11. “I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.” -Gary Hart “This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” -Elmer Da-vis “On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our vet-erans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free.”- Dan Lipinski “My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place—police, firefighters, and members of our armed forces.”-Sidney Sheldon “Our veterans accepted the responsibility to defend America and uphold our values when duty called.”-Bill Shuster “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Joseph Camp-bell “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy “The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice

Local Lodge 700 Human Rights Chairperson Mark Harrison.

Above, center, Local Lodge 700 Women’s Committee mem-ber Sharon Connors

C.A.N.E.L. Lodge 700 Website www.iam700.org

Officers President………………..David Durbin Sr. Vice President………….Luther Collins Recording Secretary…...Shirley Dickes Secretary Treasurer…...Robert Deegan Conductor/Sentinel……Nancylee Waters Trustee…………………Joseph Arabas Trustee…………………Paul Dickes Trustee…………………William Neil

Contributing Editors of COMPASS Robert Brzozowski - Educator Shirley Dickes Carl Peterson - Communicator Melvin Tripp

Shop Committee Chairman David Durbin Sr. 1st Shift Mel Tripp 2nd Shift Joseph Arabas William Neil 3rd Shift Robert Deegan

C.A.N.E.L. Lodge 700 Website www.iam700.org

Officers President………………..David Durbin Sr. Vice President………….Mel Tripp Recording Secretary…...Shirley Dickes Secretary Treasurer…...Robert Deegan Conductor/Sentinel……Nancylee Waters Trustee…………………Joseph Arabas Trustee…………………Paul Dickes Trustee…………………Mark Harrison

Contributing Editors of COMPASS Shirley Dickes Paul Dickes Carl Peterson Mel Tripp

Shop Committee Chairman David Durbin Sr. 1st Shift Mel Tripp - Frank Checko 2nd Shift Joseph Arabas - Mike Frei 3rd Shift Robert Deegan

Next Meeting December 13, at

10:00 A.M.

In Memory Of Our Departed Members

James DeSanzo (Retired)

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Understanding Unemployment Dues

The I.A.M. Constitution, Article G, provides that members who are unemployed for the major por-tion of any month are eligible to pay unemploy-ment dues. The cost of the unemployment stamp is $2.00 per month. Your local lodge has provided this payment in the past. However, in 2004 we were informed by the Grand Lodge this practice is not in conform-ance with the I.A.M. Constitution. The Constitu-tion clearly establishes that it is the member’s re-sponsibility to pay the appropriate dues each month. Thus, we had to cease and desist from the practice of paying for unemployment stamps for those members who quality. There are two (2) options available when seeking dues refunds: (1) You may pay $2.00 unemployment dues for each month out when applying for a dues refund. (2) To state on the dues refund sheet to have the $2.00 unemployment Dues deducted from the dues refund check returned to you. The reason this has to be done is so you can maintain your membership in good standing. If you become lapsed because you haven’t main-tained a membership in good standing, you will be charged a reinstatement fee. The advantage for maintaining membership is that you are entitled to attend meetings and vote in local lodge elections. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

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(Conference, continued from page 1)

International, Intergenerational, Intersectional – expressed Why the three I’s are important to labors future. The face of labor is changing; is labor’s playbook sensitive to those issues? Some of the Workshop topics; Strengthening Our Skills as Women Leaders- Par-ticipants interacted with prominent women leaders which shared their stories and offered encourage-ment and suggestions for creating mentorships. What’s next in LGBTQ Organizing- Provided an opportunity to become educated on the issues and discuss ways to incorporate workplace protections into our contracts. Tweets, Posts and Likes- How Is This Organizing? Actual experiences from recent organizing cam-paigns were shared. Participants discovered tech-niques to organizing new members using new tech-nology and applications. To see more photos and video feeds of this confer-ence visit ; goiam.org - #IAMRight15 and on Face-book ; iamyoungmachinists

Community Services Fall Happenings

The Community Services Committee

The Holidays are quickly approaching and be-fore you know it Thanksgiving will be here fol-lowed by the Christmas Holiday. Every year your Community Services Committee works with Mid-dlesex County United Way and the Middletown Thanksgiving Project in helping families in Mid-dletown enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. There are a little over one thousand families who need our help this year. You have seen boxes located through the shop with a flyer attached announcing once again, we are hoping to collect 500 cans each of corn or green beans and this year stuffing was add-ed to the list. Please consider making a donation. Anything you can donate goes a long way to help-ing people in need. The annual gate collection to help our members who are out on long term illness will be held on Friday, December 4th at the end of first and second shifts. AWW members may make a donation di-rectly to any shop steward. If you know of a mem-ber who has been out and may need Christmas gifts for their children eighteen and under, please let any shop steward know so that we may be sure to contact them. Information on the gate collection will be coming out soon. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our members for helping us in making all the upcoming Holidays a little bit brighter for those who may need some help. We wish everyone a safe and healthy Thanksgiving!

2016 IAM Scholarship Applications Available

Applications are available for the 2016 IAM Scholarship Competition. There are three differ-ent scholarship applications: IAM Child of a Mem-ber applying for College IAM Child of a Member applying for Vocational/Technical School IAM Member applying for College Informational packets are available at the Union Hall which is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M. You may also access the in-formation through the web at: www.goiam.org under the Scholarship Department. All application packets must be postmarked by February 26, 2016 and no exceptions will be made. We hope you will take advantage of applying for

the scholarship and wish everyone good luck .

82 Saybrook Road Higganum, CT. 06441

Phone: 860-345-2098 Email: paul.dickes@sbcglobal.net

Mourn for the Dead

Fight For the Living

You can make a

difference MONTHLY EH&S REPORT

C. A.N.E.L . LODGE 700 est . in 1959

To view the full Monthly EHS report, go to iam700.org click on Safety Representative then Monthly Report.

Respectively submitted Chief Union Safety Representative Paul Dickes.

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November Monthly Report 11/8/15

Driving and Parking

In past several months we have had a traffic prob-lem in the facility. This is due to the paving pro-jects, assignment of personnel and closing of upper D lot. Your safety committee is working the issues with the company but it is slow going.

During this time, the IAM LL700 is requesting all members to drive defensively and watch out for each other. There are numerous blind spots in the parking lots. Please park in designated parking stalls, and drive 15 miles an hour or less while in the parking lots.

There are several complaints about parking. Em-ployees are parking in handicapped parking spaces with no sticker, sign or license plate indicating they have received State of CT authorization. This law can be enforced on Pratt & Whitney property.

A violation of the handicapped parking law is an infraction punishable by a fine of $131. Only those motor vehicles displaying a plate or placard are authorized to park in handicapped parking spaces except that any ambulance, which is transporting a patient, may park in such area for up to 15 minutes while assisting the patient. Any motor vehicle parked in violation for the third or subsequent time may be towed and impounded until payment of any fines incurred is received.

Please be considerate of each other. We all want to get out fast and safely. A car accident or hitting someone walking in the parking lot could make it a very bad day for each of you.