Secretary Treasurer Joe Vitta told Union Beer management that the firing of seven Local 812 members would amount to the "7 Seven Deadly Sins" of any sort of working relationship between Local 812 and Union Beer. After the confrontation, the company decided to put all the 7 previously terminated 812 members back to work.
"In order to start building trust between the company and the 812 union members we need a fresh start. I applaud Union Beer for showing our members that they want to fix problems. This is the first step to building a partnership that fixes morale and strengthens cooperation on both sides. Stewards like Steve, Benny and Joe work hard to make sure members understand," said Secretary Treasurer Joe Vitta.
The 812 men that were put back to work are Sam Lebron, James Duffy, Vincent Garcia, Tim Bennett, Kendal Martin, Francis Wedzi, and Francisco Martinez.
The committee and board members from Local 812 met to discuss safety concerns and the treatment of employees and the management of Union Beer committed to making changes.
Recording Secretary John Ulrich added, "By bringing people back to work, the company shows respect to Joe Vitta and the effort he puts into resolving issues. We also have responsibilities. Members have to make sure they report safety issues correctly, fill out DVIR forms, check the trucks properly, pre and post trips and make sure we have facts. If we do not have facts we cannot fix it, because it always comes down to who, what, where, why and how. Without specifics, it holds no weight."
Union Beer Shop Stewards Steve Vaccaro, Benny Laurie, and Joe Baptiste worked hard with Secretary Treasurer Joe Vitta in order to put an agenda forward to resolve differences.
"There are always going to be issues in a shop. But it takes trust on both ends to work together in order to fix them. There are still many items that still need to be worked on but getting people back to work is always the number 1 priority," concluded 812 Business Agent John Visconti.
The Union and the company have already set a date for the next Labor Management meeting. We will keep all updated to what has been resolved.
Congratulations to all those involved in getting these "Magnificent 7" members back to work.
