LAWRENCE CO. – In October 2023, General Motors reached a tentative deal to end the strike with UAW, Cummins Engine Corp. donated engines to NLCS Career Center, and a retired Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputy was arrested for theft of official misconduct.
General Motors reached a tentative deal with United Auto Workers to end the strike with UAW
In October 2023, General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis reached deals with United Auto Workers putting an end to the union’s unprecedented strike against all three of the nation’s unionized automakers.
The GM deal features a 25% wage increase across a four-and-a-half-year deal with cost of living adjustments, the UAW said.
Terms of the deal included an immediate 11% raise in the top hourly wage rate, additional pay hikes totaling another 14% during the four-and-a-half years of the contract, as well as a return of the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) meant to protect workers from rising prices. When the COLA and guaranteed pay increases are combined, they could lift members’ pay by more than 30% over the life of the contract.
Less senior workers not already at the top pay scale would get even larger pay increases, perhaps as much as 150%. Temporary workers would be made permanent full-time workers after a few months. There would also be improved retirement benefits for senior workers who have the traditional pension plans and larger company contributions to the 401(k) plans of workers hired since 2007.
Agreements struck with Ford and Stellantis called for a roughly 25% raise over four years, and significant improvements on pensions and the right to strike plant closures.
The union struck against all three automakers on September 15, 2023, nearly seven weeks ago, making this the longest US auto strike in 25 years. It started with a strike at one assembly plant at each company, but it expanded the scope of the strike six times since then to put pressure on the companies at the bargaining table.
The automakers had expressed reluctance to meet some demands from the union that they considered ambitious, saying such moves would take investment away from a costly shift to electric vehicles. The companies have also cited the need to compete with non-union competitors.
Cummins Engine Corp. donates engines to the NLCS Career Center
In October 2023, Cummins Engine Corporation donated two diesel engines to the Automotive Service Class at the North Lawrence County Schools Career Center.
The engines are 6.7L diesel engines originally assembled at the Rocky Mount Engine Plant in Whitakers, North Carolina.
The students will be able to learn fuel delivery, combustion, lubrication, and more from using the engines. They will also disassemble and reassemble the engines with the aid of specification sheets supplied by Cummins.
More than 50 students in the grades ranging from sophomore to senior who attend the schools of BNL, Mitchell, Brownstown, Orleans, Shoals, and Medora will be able to work on these engines each year. North Lawrence Career Center has received two previous engine donations from Cummins.
Cummins also provides school-to-work programs that allow qualified students to participate in work-based learning opportunities.
Special thanks are extended to BNL’s Automotive Service Class graduate and Cummins employee Branden Wesner and to the following Cummins employees: Zechariah Hall, Osualdo Botello, Dustin Herron, Nolan Wilson, Jayden Sharp, Mark Gonzales, and Eli Perkins for their integral parts in planning this educational experience to NLCS Automotive Service Class.
Retired Lawrence County Sheriff Dept. deputy arrested for theft of over $40,000 and official misconduct
A retired Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested on October 26, 2023, after an Indiana State Police investigation found he falsified time record-keeping documents to receive personal payment for hours he did not work.
Timothy D. Butcher, 50, of Princeton, was arrested by members of the Indiana State Police’s Special Investigations Unit with assistance from agents of the United States Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General late Thursday evening.
Butcher was arrested in Princeton by agents from the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General on an arrest warrant issued from Lawrence Superior Court I on the following charges:
- Count 1 – Theft, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 2 – Official Misconduct, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 3 – Theft, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 4 – Official Misconduct, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 5 – Theft, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 6 – Official Misconduct, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 7 – Theft, a Level 6 Felony
- Count 8 – Official Misconduct, a Level 6 Felony
Butcher was transported to the Gibson County Jail, where his custody was transferred to Lawrence County, where he was booked into jail and released after posting a $750 cash bond.
The arrest warrant was issued following a two-year Indiana State Police investigation.
According to a probable cause affidavit by ISP Detective Craig Starr, Officer Butcher served as the grant administrator over the federal grants received by the Sheriff’s Department in 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021.
Butcher was responsible for compliance with all state and federal regulations regarding federal grants.
Butcher retired on July 23, 2021, and a new grant administrator examined the grant activity under Butcher and found discrepancies in grant administration on the part of Butcher.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts performed an audit/investigation regarding this complaint. According to the Indiana State Board of Accounts, Butcher worked 1,351.5 hours of overtime through federal grants between 2017 and 2021.
Indiana State Board of Accounts found that of the 1,351.5 hours Mr. Butcher reported working, all but 16 hours had unsupported documentation.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts provided the following information:
- Butcher did not receive any compensation from the federal grants in 2019. In 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021, Butcher received compensation from the federal grants; Butcher was also the grant administrator for the federal grants for the Sheriff’s Department.
- Butcher was compensated for 1,351.5 hours charged to the federal grants. Due to the lack of OAS, lack of citations, lack of tickets, overlapping hours, and minimal activity from federal grants recorded in the dispatch call logs, the Indiana State Board of Accounts could not substantiate the 1,335.5 hours charged by Mr. Butcher to the federal grants.
- The Indiana State Board of Accounts investigation determined that in 2017, Butcher claimed 570 hours of overtime that he was not entitled to and received $17,642.05 as payment for those hours.
- The Indiana State Board of Accounts investigation determined that in 2018, Butcher claimed 642 hours of overtime that he was not entitled to and received $19,870.53 as payment for those hours.
- The Indiana State Board of Accounts investigation determined that in 2020, Butcher claimed 26.5 hours of overtime that he was not entitled to and received $892.52 as payment for those hours.
- The Indiana State Board of Accounts investigation determined that in 2021, Butcher claimed 97 hours of overtime that he was not entitled to and received $3,266.96 as payment for those hours.
- In total, Butcher received $41,672.06, he was not entitled to.
Butcher was interviewed regarding these allegations on October 6, 2021, by Indiana State Police detectives. He admitted to claiming overtime payments that he was not entitled to. Butcher admitted to fabricating activity by just making up names and information. He also got into the department files and took information to make up false activity.
