By: Shaun Windels

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

Ah, we made it to October! Goodbye summer and hello fall. The leaves are changing and the nights are crisper, and the days are getting shorter. Hopefully by now, all your kiddos are getting used to going to school and all that comes with that.

First and foremost, I’d like to wish all the October birthdays a Happy Birthday, including my own dad, who always looks forward to reading my articles and also points out when I miss a month, or in this case two. (Sorry)

Now on to the meat and potatoes, or onto the business side of things. However you phrase it. As we head into the rest of the year, we are in for quite the work load, with all the Saturdays and Sundays scheduled. I know this can feel repetitive and you can often feel like there is no end in sight. Just remember to keep your head up and try to stay positive. We often get caught up in the day-to-day stuff, and it can sometimes get overwhelming and frustrating and really drags our moods down. It’s important to get along with one another and rely on each other as someone we can talk to.

As most of you have heard, the plant will be down for a month for the Christmas holiday, with December 23 being the last day and January 25 being our return-to-work date. Of course, that’s probably subject to change.

We have been in talks with management trying to figure out the unemployment situation, to make sure you won’t have to seek work while you are off. They have assured us they are on top of it, so we shall see.

We’ve also been talking to them about possible project work during the shutdown. As of now, we don’t have an answer to that yet, but hope to soon. Please see your Committeeperson if you have any questions regarding the upcoming shutdown.

I would like to thank Latrice Byas and Chanta Thrower for all their efforts in selling the breast cancer awareness shirts. They did a fantastic job with heading that task and I’m super proud of both of them and all the membership for participating and buying a shirt. You all rocked it out.

So, I think that’s it for now! I guess I hit a writing block or something, I don’t know. Anyway, stay safe out there!