Saratoga Hospital offers help with health insurance. For more details and to view the information, click the link below.

x Saratoga Hospital offers.pdf

Happy Easter & Please Buy Union-Made Easter Treats & Hams/Lamb!

If the Easter bunny knows what's good for him, he'll make sure to drop off union-made in America sweets on Easter weekend. Check out some highlights from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411. These Easter shopping list ideas are brought to you by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

• Cadbury Eggs

• Jelly Bellies

• Laffy Taffy

• Necco Wafers

• Mike and Ikes

• Thin Mints

• Tootsie Rolls

• Peeps (BCTGM)

• Ghirardelli chocolates (BCTGM)

And don't forget to pick up a union-prepared Easter ham or lamb:

• Appleton Farms Ham
• Black Forest Ham
• Butterball Ham
• Chiappetti Lamb
• Cook's Ham
• Farmland Old Fashioned Pit Ham
• Farmland Original Pit Ham
• Fischer Meats Lamb
• Hormel Honey Roasted Ham
• Tyson Ham

The Deadline for Scholarships for You & Your Families--

March 31st, 2013

Scholarships for You & Your Families

Applications for the 2013-2014 scholarships are now being accepted on-line only through March 31, 2013. Click here to apply.

Looking for the IUE-CWA/Circle W Scholarship application (for Marion County, W. VA. high school seniors only)? Click here.

Looking for the IUE-CWA/Edward Fire Scholarship application? Click here.

Which scholarships are you eligible to apply for?

Information about the Available Scholarships

                             ---------------------------------------------------------

EDWARD FIRE SCHOLARSHIP TO GEORGE MEANY CENTER

The Edward Fire Continuing Education Scholarship is available to any IUE-CWA member enrolling in continuing union education classes at a college-affiliated continuing education labor programs such as, but not limited to, the Bonnie Ladin Union Skills Program at the National Labor College or the University of Wisconsin School for Workers. The scholarship covers continuing education classes that will help a trade unionist develop and strengthen his or her skills in such areas as collective bargaining, arbitrations, organizing and other topics that improve the member’s ability to be active and contribute to the strength and growth of the union. In addition to lost time, the scholarship covers tuition, room and board and reasonable transportation costs.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL BRUCE VAN ESS SCHOLARSHIP

One (1)IUE-CWA International Bruce Van Ess Scholarship ($2,500) – Available to all IUE-CWA members and employees and their children and grandchildren. Applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, nursing or technical school offering college credit courses. All study must be completed at the undergraduate level.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL DAVID J. FITZMAURICE SCHOLARSHIP

One (1) IUE-CWA International David J. Fitzmaurice Scholarship ($2,000) – Available to the children and grandchildren of all IUE-CWA members (including retired or deceased IUE-CWA members). The applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college, university or technical school in an engineering program. All study must be completed at the undergraduate level.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL GEORGE HUTCHENS SCHOLARSHIP

One (1) IUE-CWA International George Hutchens Scholarship ($1,500) – Available to children and grandchildren of IUE-CWA members (including retired or deceased members). Applicant must be currently enrolled in or accepted for graduate study in an accredited university or college.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL JAMES B. CAREY SCHOLARSHIP

Nine (9) IUE-CWA International James B. Carey Scholarships ($1,000) – Available to the children and grandchildren of all IUE-CWA members and IUE-CWA employees (including retired or deceased IUE-CWA members or employees). The applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, nursing or technical school offering college credit courses. All study must be completed at the undergraduate level.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL PAUL JENNINGS SCHOLARSHIP

One (1) IUE-CWA International Paul Jennings Scholarship ($3,000) – Available to the children and grandchildren of IUE-CWA members who are now or have been local union elected officials. Families of full-time International union officers or employees are not eligible. The applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, nursing or technical school offering college credit courses. All study must be completed at the undergraduate level.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL SAL INGRASSIA SCHOLARSHIP

One (1)IUE-CWA International Sal Ingrassia Scholarship ($2,500) – Available to all IUE-CWA members and employees and their children and grandchildren. Applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, nursing or technical school offering college credit courses. All study must be completed at the undergraduate level.

IUE-CWA INTERNATIONAL WILLIE RUDD SCHOLARSHIP

One (1)IUE-CWA International Willie Rudd Scholarship ($1,000) – Available to all IUE-CWA members and employees and their children and grandchildren. Applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, nursing or technical school offering college credit courses. All study must be completed at the undergraduate level.

IUE-CWA ROBERT L. LIVINGSTON SCHOLARSHIPS

Two (2) IUE-CWA Robert L. Livingston Scholarships ($1,500) -Available to a child of an IUE-CWA member or retiree. Applicant must be accepted for admission or already enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, nursing or technical school offering college credit courses. All study must be competed at the undergraduate level. Families of employees of the IUE-CWA Division are not eligible.

Please find attached the new, updated E-Health/Benefits Book

With some changes to our Health Care-- Delta  Dental & Express Scripts (formerly MEDCO), we have revised our original E-Health Care/Benefits Book.

Momentive Insurances E-Book--Updated-11-13-12.doc

Union-Made Holiday Gift Ideas

Below is a list of union-made gift ideas:

• Union-Made Clothing -

Use your union-member-only 5% discount to purchase these fine-quality union-made clothes, including jeans, T-shirts, denim shirts, twill shirts and more.

• AFL-CIO Union Shop -- gifts for kids

For your holiday dinner, make sure you serve a full supply of union-made-in-America food. Here's a brief list of choices of products made by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

Fruit & Nuts

Members of the United Farm Workers (UFW) help produce various fruits and nuts with the UFW label, including porducts from: coastal Berry Co., Swanton Berry, Montpelier Almonds, Brown Date Gardent Dates, Mann's California Apples, and cirtus fruit from Sunkist, Sunworld, Airdrome and Big Jim.

*Some products made in Mexico; check the label for country of origin.

Buy Union Made

Find what you need - wherever, whenever - with Aetna Mobile

Use your Aetna Mobile app to view your health plan information - whenever you want, wherever you are. The Aetna Mobile app works with iPhone^® mobile digital device, Blackberry^® smartphone and Android^TM.

Two ways to download your FREE Aetna Mobile App:

• Text Apps to 44040 to download now *
• Scan the code with your mobile device

Learn more, visit us at www.aetna.com/mobile.

Viewing this in a mobile browser? Tap here to download.

Helpful Resources from Your Union

We have a New Page on the left menu--Helpful Resources -- Workers Comp Advocate, Occupational & Environmental Health Center, NYS Division of Human Rights, Disability & FMLA, and FO & A--Law Attorney's.  Please check it out.

Workers' Compensation
(On-the-Job Injury or Illness)

Advocate for Injured Workers

Contact – Ed Ruff

The Advocate for Injured Workers accepts complaints concerning matters related to workers' compensation, investigates and attempts to resolve them. In addition, the Advocate provides information to injured workers to enable them to protect their rights in the workers' compensation system.

When calling the Advocate for Injured Workers, please have the following information available:

CLAIMANT'S NAME; CLAIMANT'S WCB NUMBER; TELEPHONE NUMBER, WITH AREA CODE; BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM AND ANY CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED

For more information about your workers' compensation claim, please contact the:

Advocate for Injured Workers
1-800-580-6665
20 Park Street, Albany, NY 12207

MORE CONCERNS ON WORKERS COMP:   PLEASE ASK ALL MEMBERS THAT HAVE BEEN INJURED AT WORK TO VERIFY THEY HAVE A REAL WORKERS COMPENSATION CASE NUMBER--THAT IS VALID VIA NYS WORKERS COMPENSATION BOARD.  YOU CAN GO ON LINE TO NYS WORKERS COMP. AND VERIFY CLAIM NUMBER OR CALL PHONE NUMBERS ABOVE.

LOW (Lack of Work) Scheduled the Week of November 19-November 25, 2012

Notification from Company....

Due to a slowdown in orders, it is necessary to do a temporary Lack of Work (LOW).  We will be scheduling this to coincide with the Thanksgiving Holiday.

The LOW will affect areas of the plant differently.  Attached is an overview of systems and timing.  By way of an overview, the LOW will affect all areas with the exception of WP I, MQ Resin (incl. T&13), Volatiles packaging, and portions of Fluids, 71, 78, 30PH and 30DMX, which will run to meet customer orders.  Maintenance, Quality, MMOs, MeCI and MCS will be slated for reduced rates and to accommodate material moves.  WWTP and the Boilerhouse will be staffed for normal operation.

For the majority of the Finishing areas, Maintenance, MMOs and Quality, the LOW will begin on the day shift of 11/19 and run through midnights on 11/25. For MeCl and MCS, the LOW will begin on day shift of 11/19 and run through midnights on 12/2.

Employees in areas which are operating will be asked to staff positions on a voluntary basis. However, once a volunteer list is obtained, management will schedule employees based on seniority and qualifications.  Employees wishing to work will need to notify their manager by 11/5.  After such time, employees will be assigned to openings or LOW as necessary.  Brigade members will be scheduled to meet minimum coverage requirements.  Per our agreement, if a junior employee is retained in a work area based on needed qualification, we will retain one senior employee for each junior employee in support of training.  This is done by work area.

Employees who are scheduled to work may be expected to change shifts as necessary.

We fully expect to need to take additional down time around the Christmas Holiday, however, we are unable to clearly anticipate duration and affected areas at this time.

2012 UAW Union-Made Car List---

Click the PDF File Below

2012 UAW UNION-BUILT VEHICLE GUIDE.pdf

Ever wondered exactly what the Affordable Care Act does for you?

Check out our new health care app -- and make sure to pass it on to everyone you know who's asked what this law really means for them:

Some Confusion on Who to Contact Regarding Short-Term Disability & FMLA--

There seems to be some confusion lately regarding the process for Short Term Disability or how to request FMLA.

Effective January 1, 2012, HRConnect is the point of contact. They can be reached at 1-877-888-7599 (toll free) or hrconnect@momentive.com

To clarify...

Short Term Disability - to Initiate Claim

1. Contact HRConnect

2. Contact the Medical Center (so they are informed of your absence)

3. Contact your Leader or Manager

Short Term Disability - Return to Work

1. Contact the Medical Center for your return to work physical

2. Contact HRConnect after you have been cleared to return to work. HRConnect will contact Aetna to inform them of your return to work and most importantly, HRConnect will update the payroll system so you are paid correctly.

Please Note: HRConnect should be contacted after your physical clearance. If you contact HRConnect prior to being cleared, and are not cleared by the Medical Center, you risk benefits being terminated prematurely.

Family Medical Leave (FMLA) - Intermittent and Continuous

1. Contact HRConnect (HRConnect will contact Aetna to initiate the claim process)

Please Note: Intermittent FMLA absences -- Same requirement as before. You must contact your Leader (or manager) each time you are absent due to FMLA. You must also contact Aetna each time you are absent. Otherwise your absence may not be covered under FMLA.

We told you some good updates were coming to our site -- Local 81359 NOW has it's own RSS News Reader Page--

Copy the Link below, get a RSS News Reader on your desktop from one of the links below, and get Local 81359 "What's New" news directly to your laptop/desktop at home--

RSS Feed Selections

Feed Title Link to Copy For RSS Reader What's New http://local81359.com/RSSFeeds/rss_whats_new.cfm

What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and allows you to stay up-to-date with news feeds from our web site by delivering headlines as they are updated right to your news reader. You will be able to quickly read the headlines and then visit our site for the full story. RSS feeds automatically deliver direct links to our most updated content on demand to your desktop.

How Do I Use RSS?
In general, the first thing you need is a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feeds from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive in your news reader, by finding and copying relevant RSS feed links to your news reader.

Popular News Readers
There are many news readers available, most are free. For web based news readers, try My Yahoo or the Google News Reader. The Mozilla FireFox browser has a built-in news reader, or you can find downloadable news readers by clicking here.

RSS Feed Usage Terms
If you run your own website, you can use RSS feeds to display the latest headlines from our website on your site. However, we do require that the proper format and attribution is used when local81359.com news content appears. The attribution text should read "local81359.com News" or "From local81359.com" as appropriate. You may not alter the news feeds in any way. We reserve the right to prevent the distribution of News content.

(Posted--1/15/2012)

We have a Health Care/ Insurance E-Book to help you during the transition of our Insurance Carriers/Administrators. It is NOT meant to replace any inquiries to HRConnect regarding your Healthcare, Medical Benefit and Insurance questions or issues. We ask to continue to contact HRConnect, at 1-877-888-7599, to log cases. We know HRConnect is working hard to correct any and all issues, and is working to update the Benefits page, both internally (Intranet), and externally (a centralized website). The E-Book is available on the Member Home & the Benefit Transition Information pages in the Members Resouces section (menu on left). We hope you find it useful.

       THIS INFOMATION HAS BEEN ON OUR WEB AND HAS BEEN PUBLISHED SINCE 2008 :

     Family Medical Leave will continue to be administered by FMLASource on behalf of Momentive Performance Materials.

Emergency Labor Assistance Program-- ELAP

 Call on Days --518-456-2200; or Nights, Weekends or Holidays-- 518-362-6481

OEHC
1873 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
1-518-690-4420
1-800-419-1230

New York State Division of Human Rights

(Click Image)

The web site is www.dhr.state,ny.gov.  If you any questions feel free to call our office and an Investigator can speak with you. Thanks- Michele

Michele Bateman, HRSI

New York State Division of Human Rights

Region 4 Office Empire State Plaza

Corning Tower, 28th Floor

Albany, NY 12220

Tel: (518)474-2705 Fax (518) 473-3422

mbateman@dhr.state.ny.us

Short Term Disability Process

HRConnect is the point of contact.  They can be reached at 1-877-888-7599 (toll free) or hrconnect@momentive.com

To clarify...

 Short Term Disability - to Initiate Claim

    1.    Contact HRConnect

    2.    Contact the Medical Center (so they are informed of your absence)

    3.    Contact your Leader or Manager

Short Term Disability - Return to Work

    1.    Contact the Medical Center for your return to work physical

    2.    Contact HRConnect after you have been cleared to return to work.  HRConnect will contact Aetna to inform them of your return to work and most importantly, HRConnect will update the payroll system so you are paid correctly.

Please Note:  HRConnect should be contacted after your physical clearance.  If you contact HRConnect prior to being cleared, and are not cleared by the Medical Center, you risk benefits being terminated prematurely.

Family Medical Leave (FMLA) - Intermittent and Continuous 

    1.    Contact HRConnect (HRConnect will contact Aetna to initiate the claim process)

Please Note:    Intermittent FMLA absences  -- Same requirement as before.  You must contact your Leader (or manager) each time you are absent due to FMLA.  You must also contact Aetna each time you are absent.   Otherwise your absence may not be covered under FMLA.