Received 12-15-04

S.O.S., Somebody help! The captain (Don) and his first mates (also known as 
the lead team) are sinking the ship. Unfortunately us deck swabbers (also known 
as those who are not the lead team) are on the ship somewhere near the bottom 
of the hull. Hope somebody gets our S.O.S. message before it's too late! Sure 
does make you understand the concept of mutiny (also known as anything against 
Don, speaking the truth, union talk, or well what every excuse suits him at the 
time).

Thanks Don for screwing my labor day plans all to hell.  Tony told me that in twenty years of his employment they only worked one other. Just goes to show  just how much respect Don has for the working people on a holiday that was set up to honor us.

I noticed the new Bill page on your sight.  And I really don't know what to say about it. I'm sure Bill has his faults and some of them are pretty bad but it has always been Noort that seemed to me to be the biggest holdback at this plant.  I think Bill does some pretty underhanded things but I think he does what Don tells him to do like the rest of us. That is exactly what I'm going to tell anyone that asks. 

Stand your ground people. If in the next few weeks you are asked what you think of this operation and it's management. Be honest and blunt. Don't pull any punches and point the finger at the one person that pulls all the strings...Noort. When anyone is written up at this facility it is approved or denied by Noort. All policies, practices, and operations are directed by Noort. Management is ruled by one man... Noort. So why blame your problems with management on anyone else? They were just doing what Noort told them to do.  The best week I think I have had in years is the one week Noort was gone last month. You could feel the collective sigh of relief from this factory. 

In the Spirit of Brotherhood and Unity, we have the cure for you and Mr. Noort. Send him to my facility, his ass or attitude wouldn't last a week. As a good Union operation, we will break him down,  teach him some humility, and give him a lesson in working WITH the people and not against them OR we will put so much pressure on the higher ups they will fire him before his backside finishes warming his new chair. We don't care which choice he makes, because here he will make a choice  or we will make it for him.  But that's just what we would do. The question is...what will you do? Chose to be bullied by this man or chose to stand up to him as a good Union operation. That's one choice we can't make for you. We already made our choice We are Union and we wont be bullied!  Go PACE!

Hourly workers have a choice to defend themselves with a union. Some of us do not have that option. Don't blind yourselves to the facts of what is going on here. Make a choice to open your eyes and protect yourselves as this corporation seems so unwilling to do. I assure you that were I given the ability to join a union today, I would do so with no hesitations. 

Wow! Don has really been laying low over the last couple of weeks since his smoking ban went into effect. I must say that he was dragging the bottom of the lake for something else to take away from us when he layed this one on us. What a childish joke this rule is. But I guess you have to consider the source it came from.

It should be our goal to make this facility the best it can be but we must not forget the engine that drives us... the employees. The people that sell, manufacture, and service our products are the nucleus of this operation. For anyone to place their needs on the bottom shelf is the equivalent of turning our backs on what made us what we are.  By his actions, Don has forgotten or omitted this basic rule. Efforts that have been made to remind him of his obligation to the people of this facility have fallen on deaf ears. In past postings, I have not voiced my full support for this organization. I must now grant that support and implore all others who do not support this campaign to reconsider. Quite frankly, thanks to Don's totalitarianism,  I am now a firm believer in the concept of organized labor. 

In a recent meeting, The question was brought up to Don about how much money this plant made in the first quarter of 2004. Don replied that he wasn't sure. Think about that!  What kind of manager doesn't know the exact amount of money his operation makes from week to week much less in a quarter?  Isn't it his job to know? If he truly does not know what our profit margin is... why is he running this plant?  If he does know, what right does he have to hide information from this plant's employees?  Most all of us are investors in a public held company through the 401k program and, by law, we have a right to know this information.  

What's Don's deal? Anybody can see that this smoking law does not apply to us as a private business. Does he really think we aren't smart enough to see this? Have we taken so much of his crap for face value that he feels nothing he says will be contested or at the very least, checked up on? 

 In your campaign I wish you well and truth be known and not said, most all members of management wish you the same.  I will be in contact with you soon and once again, thank you for allowing me this chance to speak. 

I work for International Paper, Shelbyville, IL. Food Service Division. Our plant is very similar to yours in the aspect of management. Knowing what it's like to work at a great plant and then have a new plant manager totally make us all hate work. Many people have lost jobs since this guy has taken over and moral is a thing of the past. So to all Lexington Employees I say good luck and kick ass all the way!

The comments concerning corporate ideas and comments are greatly 
appreciated but I'm afraid they cant be true. Ignoring this website and the union's 
activities to organize the Lexington Plant can mean only one thing. High level people 
are happy with the way DON runs things. They have to know and our cries go 
unheard. So I personally have as little faith in I.P. at the corporate level as I 
do in DON. Mostly they are people that cant lie well enough to be politicians 
nor are able to do an honest days work so they feed off us. if they did have 
a clue or cared we wouldn't be in the state we are in.

Received via  e-mail 4-13-04

  Bravo guys for standing up to this guy! This page is a gem! I am pleased to see that the choke hold Don has on his management team does not extend to this group.  In all fairness it must be said that International Paper, as a corporation, is not a bad company to work for. At the corporate level, their rules and policies are fair, comparatively speaking, to other corporations. The issues most frequently brought up at the Lexington Plant are not the norm for International Paper. I am quite sure if higher level management was aware of the petty situations that have transpired at your facility, they would intervene. Getting this information to the right people and by the wrong people is the problem. The IP. chain of command is complicated at best and, unfortunately,  even managers wishing to help sometimes find their hands tied by the bureaucratic buddy system that exists in some segments of this company. In most situations I am apposed to a union's collective bargaining agreement. However, if I were in your situation, it is something I would strongly consider.    My best advice to this organizing committee... stick to your guns and the facts.  Congratulations on a really nice web page and best of luck to you all.  

Received via e-mail 4-6-04

 All I have to say is that whoever Don's boss is, he has to be spineless not 
to fire Don for letting an hourly worker  take another hourly worker to a drug 
test. It shows how little respect this company has for us in here. I think 
they both need to be fired. I have no respect for either one of them. I knew 
this was true, but I thought Don would get it for this one. This is a hell of a 
lot more serious than running a few bad boxes. I hope they sue the hell out of 
IP for this one. 

I enjoyed your site and all it's postings lot of good reading. Keep up the good work. fellow p.a.c.e brother IP Chicago ( formally Wabash)

Hello Lexington Employees. I'm a union brother from IP Chicago Formally Wabash Fibre Box.  Remember them? I stumbled across your web page and found some interesting reading. Good luck with your organizing efforts. I couldn't imagine dealing with these people without a Union. There is strength in numbers. Union Yes! Good luck, stay strong. IP Chicago

Good luck guys! What we know of your plant manager is enough to say you need The PACE International Union's help badly!  Solidarity

You know, just once I would like to come in to this plant and not hear a Don Noort story. Everybody has heard them... like the time he took nearly 2 weeks to comply with his scheduled drug test or how he Banned Marcus Bryant from the shipping office and the break room. Stomping out a pizza order right before lunch was really a dandy. Holding meetings in the break room with his sales manager, office manager and production manager is a good one too. Oh Yeah!! Remember the one about how he got suspended for 2 weeks for a lock out violation? The nasty habit he has of following employees into the bathroom to harass them is a real popular tale also.   The one I really hate is how he allowed an hourly employee to take another hourly employee to a company drug test! That's right! A Company Drug Test!!  What was he thinking? or was he thinking at all?  I say "GO UNION!" and put a stop to story time!