June 5, 2018
Fighting Today…Focused on the Future!
The union committee, once again, has spent the majority of today reviewing data related to surplus pooling. This data is comprehensive and contains multiple pools covering thousands of members. The company has made it overly difficult to review this information since they have made numerous pooling changes in their proposals.
We also continued reviewing the company’s health care data and preparing for another proposal on healthcare. Our proposal keeps our current plan design and maintains our current cost sharing through the life of the new agreement. The company’s current proposal raises cost, eliminates the stand-alone RX component and shifts more benefit costs to members and their families. This piece wasn’t a highlight in the company’s “final offer” email that they sent directly to each of you – our members.
We rejected the company’s final offer on Saturday and are still waiting for the company’s response to our demands that we submitted to them that same day. Our demands kept the current job security provisions in place, added job security for all others in the agreement, made multiple improvements to the appendices, and included proposals to move work from contractors back to union members here in the Midwest contract.
The Committee members would like to recognize all of you who expressed your outrage over the company’s attempts to bargain directly with the membership through your Unfair Labor Practices strikes. It surely was a shot in the arm for us! Unfair Labor Practice charges take many months to be ruled on, so it is expected that the Company would maintain their position and continue to send emails. They proved that point yesterday. However, there couldn’t be a clearer, louder, or more powerful message sent back to the company than the one you sent them over these past days. It has told the company that no matter how hard they try, or how many emails they send out, bargaining should be done at the table and not directly with the members.
We hope the company understands at this point, we are united and serious about #nojobsnodeal and #bargainatthetable.
Mobilize!
In Solidarity,
Your CWA District 4 Bargaining Team
Curt Hess, Tina Culver, Dan Frazier, Kim Gallardo, Tim Strong, Greg Tennyson, Jay Walther, Ron Gay, Mike Handley
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