Minutes ∙ 3657 By-Laws Committee Meeting
By-laws Committee Meeting
Reply
Senate Filibuster Reform Outcome
A deal over Senate filibuster reform was reached late Wednesday, January 23, 2013.
Not sure what was being debated? Check out the information about the Senate reform here.
The changes are modest and not the more deliberative process that we wanted, but without the calls and outreach of our members and allies, we would’ve had complete status quo. As The Hill points out in an article about the deal, this is the biggest change to filibuster rules in decades.
For more details about the votes, click here.
Thank you – to every member who made a call urging their Senator to support filibuster reform. every call makes a difference.
Protected: Proposed Agenda for December 20, 2012 Meeting
USW Local 3657: Looking Forward
A look back at our Local Union’s accomplishments in 2012 and a look forward of the exciting work to come in 2013.
A Great Year
2012 was, without a doubt a groundbreaking year for United Steelworkers Local 3657. We came together to win a new collective bargaining agreement; we dramatically opened up our communications structures to include members in the field in ways we have never done before; we built stronger and more functional committees to do the work of our union and involve more Local 3657 members in our union; and through our new project, Fight Back Pittsburgh, we have started the ball rolling in building more political power for our local union. At the same time we have watched our treasury grow significantly and we have fought and won grievances on contractual issues that matter deeply to our members.
Membership Meeting, UNITE-HERE Rally, United Way Drive Continues!
As a quick reminder we have a meeting scheduled for 12:30 pm eastern time this Thursday, December 20th. The meeting will be held in the lobby conference room in the headquarters and, as always, live streamed at https://uswlocal3657.org/live-stream/
We realize that many 3657 members will be taking some much deserved vacation time later this week. If you’re not in the office please enjoy your time with your families! But if you are working on Thursday, please try to attend the meeting.
United Way Drive Continues
A few weeks ago we learned that this year’s United Way pledges from the USW staff are down more than 20% for the year. Need in our community, meanwhile, is through the roof. We realize that these can be tough economic times for some folks—some of us have kids in college, sick parents, and other tough financial situations. If you can’t afford to contribute financially, that’s fine. If you can afford it, please think about giving what you can. Also, you may want to think about pledging some of your time as well. You can find volunteer opportunities online at:http://www.unitedwaypittsburgh.org/index.php/give-help/volunteer
You can make a recurring pre-tax contribution to the United Way by pledging online athttps://doyouliveunited.org. If you choose to pledge online, you can select an amount to be deducted from your paycheck (it will be deducted pre-tax). Any amount, from $1/paycheck to $100/paycheck helps. Your user ID is USW + your first initial + your last name (for instance my ID is USWpyoung) and your default password is usw-united. The process will take about 5-10 mins.
Rivers Casino, Pay Your Fair Share!
Our sisters and brothers from UNITE-HERE Local 57 are holding an important demonstration tomorrow, December 19th at the Rivers Casino, calling on the Casino to agree to pay their fair share of taxes to support local schools. If you’re in Pittsburgh, please try to attend!
WHO: Community groups, Unions and other citizens concerned with excellent, adequately-funded public education
WHAT: Press Conference & Delivery of over 1,000 petition signatures to Rivers Casino
WHEN: 2:30 pm on Wednesday, December 19th
WHERE: Meet on the (public) River Walk in between the Carnegie Science Center & Rivers Casino (closer to the Science Center). There is no overhead cover, so please come weatherproofed.
WHY: Because Rivers Casino needs to pay its fair share & be the community partner it promised to be!
Help out people in our community… But don’t forget to ask why they’re poor.
A few weeks ago we learned that this year’s United Way pledges from the USW staff are down more than 20% for the year. Need in our community, meanwhile, is through the roof. I don’t have to give you statistics or numbers to let you know that people in our community are hurting, just look across the street from our building at about 6 o’clock every day. Five years ago we would see a dozen or so people in line as the local churches distributed free meals and essential supplies. Now we’re seeing crowds of 100 or more standing out in the cold every night just to get a warm meal. Continue reading
ACLC Labor of Love Stuff the Bus Event!
This Thursday, December 6th join all area unions and affiliates along with Allegheny County Labor Council on Hot Metal Street, Pgh.,PA (IBEW Union Hall) for the 13th Annual welcoming of Santa and an even bigger bus to fill this year to help collect toys for children all across Allegheny County from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM. Ho..Ho..Hope to see you there!
For more information contact Local 3657 ACLC Delegate Chris Patberg
Local 3657 Updates!
Contracts are Printed
Copies of our new Collective Bargaining Agreement (July 1, 2012-March 30, 2015) have been printed and are being distributed as we speak. Local 3657 members in the field should have received your copies already and Members in Headquarters should be receiving them in the next few days. If you don’t receive your copy of the contract, please let us know and we’ll be happy to get one to you!
As a reminder, an electronic version of our contract can be downloaded from the Local 3657 Website athttps://uswlocal3657.org/important-documents-for-members/
International Union Holiday/State of the Union Address
Every year, the International Union holds a holiday celebration in headquarters. This year’s event is tomorrow, December 4, at 2pm Eastern Time. To kick of the celebration, President Gerard and the other officers often provide a brief ‘State of the Union’ address updating us all on the progress we’ve made over the past year and outlining some of the union’s key priorities for the following year.
While this is always an interesting presentation for those of us in the building, we recognize that historically 3657 members in the field have not had an opportunity to hear the State of the Union addresses. To give everyone an opportunity to hear from the officers, we’ll be live streaming their addresses on the Local 3657 website. We invite all 3657 members in the field to tune in to https://uswlocal3657.org/live-stream/ at 2pm Eastern Time to hear President Gerard and the other officers address the union.
Next Local Union Meeting Moved
Because of the Holiday Shutdown and vacation schedules we have moved next month’s meeting. The December Local 3657 Meeting will be on Thursday, December 20 at 12:30 eastern in the Lobby Conference Room. As always this meeting will be livestreamed at https://uswlocal3657.org/live-stream/
**We apologize for the technical problems with the live streaming during last week’s meeting. We’ve worked out the glitches and we hope we can provide more seamless livestreaming of meetings in the future.
AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Day Observance
The AFL-CIO will be holding the annual Martin Luther King Day Observance in Philadelphia, PA on January 17-20. The event will kick off with a day of volunteering in the Philadelphia community on the 18th and educational sessions on the 19th and 20th. At this month’s local union meeting we agreed to send two people (one from the field, one from headquarters) to the entire weekend-long conference, and up to 10 people to the one-day volunteer event on Friday, January 18.
The volunteer event is a great opportunity for the labor movement to get together in a real and visible way and help out people in our communities. I know that we are all very busy, but I would strongly encourage any of you who have the capacity to think about traveling to Philadelphia to stand with our union sisters and brothers in helping out our communities.
For full details or to add your name to the list to participate, please e-mail Lori Bookwood (lbookwood@usw.org) by December 14.
Draft Meeting Minutes are on the USWLocal3657.org Website!
As everyone knows, we have completely overhauled our local union’s website and now we have a fully functional site. The preliminary meeting minutes from our last local union meeting are now available online atwww.USWLocal3657.org. Because the new site is much easier to manage and post to, we anticipate being able to keep the information that’s up on the website much more current and up-to-date.
A New Kind of Unionism
Fight Back Pittsburgh, a project that is being spearheaded by our organizing committee is having a special educational event in headquarters at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, December 4 called “A New Kind of Unionism.” The workshop will explore different approaches to collective action at work and open a discussion on possibilities for new types of worker organizing in Pittsburgh.
If you can’t make it in person you can watch it live streamed online at www.FightBackPittsburgh.org
Thank You All!
There is really a ton of amazing work happening in this local union and I wanted to take a minute to start to recognize some of the amazing work that’s been done over the past few weeks.
THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort! We raised more than $2,100 to help Steelworkers who have been impacted by that terrible storm.
THANK YOU to the Fundraising and Recreation committee who organized an incredible holiday fellowship event for those of us in the building!
THANK YOU to everyone who signed up to provide holiday presents to striking or locked out members through our Women of Steel’s Gift Tree. So far we have had enough people sign up to buy presents that we’ll be able to provide each striking or locked out child with three presents.
THANK YOU to everyone who showed up to Fight Back Pittsburgh’s rally at Costco in support of the striking workers at Palermo’s Pizza. We had a great turnout and a really successful event! 
United Steelworkers Local 3657 