To all my Union Brothers and Sisters,

During these unprecedented times of a worldwide pandemic, fear and anxiety have become an everyday occurrence. Fear of, am I or one of my family members going to catch the virus, and the anxiety, does one of my coworkers have the virus and is going to pass it to me and then I take it home to my loved ones. Many of us have become the sole breadwinner while a spouse or significant other stays at home due to the recent shelter in place order. With that, we are the ones doing the grocery shopping and other essential family errands exposing ourselves even more to the deadly corona virus and possibly bringing that virus to work.

Companies all over the Nation have been stepping up and compensating their essential employees with hourly raises, extra paid time off and weekly bonuses. At this time when other companies are stepping up, we are being told there is nothing in our contract so there is nothing that can be done. Our contract states that it can be amended if both parties agree. This is the excerpt from our contract.

1.3. This Agreement shall be subject to amendment at any time by mutual consent of the parties hereto. Any such amendment agreed upon shall be reduced to writing, signed by the parties hereto and approved by the International Office of the Union, the same as this Agreement.

I vote that we should add to the contract

National / State Emergency – Time and one-half (1½) shall be paid for all regularly scheduled hours of work. Overtime and Holidays shall be paid at Two- and one-half (2½) times normal rate. Until such time the emergency is no longer in effect.

This doesn’t seem too much to ask for us putting our lives and our family’s life at risk every day that we are out there. If you agree with this please sign this petition, we need all the signatures we can get to get this moving forward. We only have a small window, so I ask that you send this to every member you know as soon as possible.