District 9 AT&T Contract Ratifies

The ATT contract has ratified by well better than a 2 to 1 margin with only slightly less votes cast than the first attempt . Individual local results will be shared with you by staff.

It is an understatement to say that this has been a long and difficult road. My thanks go to the bargaining committee, each of you and every single member that took action during these negotiations. I also want to specifically thank Louie Rocha for all his mobilization work during the past many months.

Obviously our work is not done. The page now turns to educating, building and enforcing the terms for which we all fought so hard. We must act on all the lessons we've learned through this, both positive and negative. In the coming weeks I'll be meeting with other VP's to bring life to the changes we all made during the convention. I also intend to schedule shortly a face to face meeting for us all to do a debrief within District 9

Our Prem Techs will continue to be a growing force and special building and much education needs to take place among them. To that end I will be coming to you all shortly for input on designing a specific SIF program to identify and capitalize on the positive strengths they've shown during this ordeal.

With this ratification, the grievance and arbitration procedure is in full force to resolve disputes at the shop level and walk outs and grievance strikes are no longer protected. We must use the process wisely and strategically going forward.

Again, my thanks to all of you for your unity.

Jim Weitkamp